BY RAY SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDEPENDENCE - Six agencies, 38 property owners and about 600 acres could someday equal one regional park.
The Kenton County Fiscal Court agreed Tuesday to write a letter of support for the proposed 600-acre Dry Creek Park along the Boone-Kenton County line.
Kim Patton, with GBBN Architects, the Florence firm designing the park, said Forward Quest of Covington is applying for a $200,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to study the proposal. The letter of support is needed as part of the application process.
"I hope it can come about and turn into a nice project," Kenton County Commissioner Steve Arlinghaus said.
Kenton County Fiscal Court joined the city councils of Crescent Springs, Erlanger and Villa Hills in providing letters of support. Mr. Patton said Boone County Fiscal Court, which decided against the letter last spring, would be approached again in January.
The park would include 4.5 miles of paved walking trails, 7.5 miles of unpaved hiking and walking trails, and space for soccer and baseball fields. It is part of a site of just over 900 acres, but Mr. Patton said the other 300 acres are being used for other purposes and the property owners are not willing to sell or donate the land.
"It's really needed," Erlanger City Councilman Thomas Rouse said of the plan. "It's a good way to preserve a natural area of our community."
Mr. Patton said his firm has been working on the design since the spring. He said the EPA grant would be used for a more detailed engineering study that would determine the cost of the project and to figure out who would own and maintain the park.
Ownership and maintenance could be a thorny issue because the site includes land in Boone and Kenton counties.
Mr. Patton said there are three options: Develop an agreement among Boone and Kenton counties, Villa Hills, Crescent Springs, Erlanger and Forward Quest; identify one of the cities or counties to own and maintain it; or create a park district.
He said Forward Quest is expected to complete the grant application within 90 days.
In other action, commissioners approved spending just over $177,000 for two road repair projects.
Ralph Wolff, district planning engineer at the Kentucky Department of Transportation office in Fort Mitchell, said about $120,000 will go to resurfacing a 2.6-mile section of Ky. 536 from the Brushy Creek culvert east to Ky. 16. The work will cross the intersections of Shaw and Harris roads and Ky. 17.
The second project involves just over $57,000 to fix slippage of a portion of Fowler Creek Road near the mile 3 marker. Mr. Wolff said steel rails and panels would be installed to shore up the road.
