Friday, October 01, 1999
Camp Springs ponders becoming city
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CAMP SPRINGS — Much of this rural Campbell County community probably looks the same as it did when German immigrants settled here in the mid-1800s.
Stone houses stand erect and strong along winding roads. Trees, already slipping into their autumn hues, fill the rolling countryside. Neighbors pass time and sip beer at a roadside tavern. A Catholic church sits perched atop a steep grade as members of a silent congregation rest in an adjacent cemetery.
A group of residents is taking an extraordinary step to try to keep Camp Springs the way it is.
An organization called Members of the Citizens of Camp Springs Future have begun an effort to incorporate a 15-square-mile mostly rural area into a city of about 1,300 people.
The group believes that by becoming a city, residents will have more say over their future, including determining whether and how development occurs.
“We know our area best and we believe we can control our area best,” said Steve Fay, 43, chairman of the incorporation group. “This whole project is designed to give us more control over our lives and our community.”
But local government experts and some business own ers say there will be a steep cost to turning Camp Springs into a city.
“I can understand what people are trying to do, but I don't think they realize that becoming a city will bring a lot more responsibility to the community,” said Fran Reitman of Reitman Auto Parts in Camp Springs. Four generations of Reitmans have operated businesses in the community since the late 1800s.
“I don't know where we are going to get the funds to even operate a city. People need to sit down and make sure they think about that.”
The move to incorporate started about two years ago, when the Sanitation District of Northern Kentucky proposed building a sewage treatment plant near Camp Springs.
The residents banded together and were able to convince the district not to build the plant. But the district has since said that a treatment plant will be built in Campbell County.
Camp Springs residents fear the district will again choose their community for the plant.
Development is also encroaching, heading down the AA Highway and spreading out to the county from the fast-growing Cold Spring and Alexandria.
Camp Springs residents are concerned about being annexed by Alexandria.
“I don't want to be annexed by Alexandria and governed by a bunch of city slickers,” said Pete Garrett, a Newport gunsmith who owns a 50-acre farm near Camp Springs. “If I'm going to be annexed or become part of a city, I'd rather be part of a community where the people in Camp Springs are going to have some say about things.”
But at this point, Alexandria has no intention of annexing Camp Springs, according to Mayor Dan McGinley.
Incorporating into a city would give Camp Springs more control over its land, said James Clingermayer, an assistant professor of political science at Northern Kentucky University.
“And there's a good shot they would be able to forestall any annexation,” Mr. Clingermayer said.
But a sewage treatment plant could still be built there, said Campbell County Commissioner Dave Otto.
“The sanitation district could again pick Camp Springs and it wouldn't matter if it was a city or in the county,” Mr. Otto said. “You could fight it, and we helped fight it last time. But it could still come.”
While Camp Springs has its own fire department, it gets all other services — including police protection and road maintenance — from Campbell County.
It the area becomes a city it would have to contract with the county for those services, or start its own police and maintenance departments.
Either way, that likely would mean higher taxes, Mr. Clingermayer said.
Joe Ritter believes turning Camp Springs into a city is worth the cost.
A postal worker and the father of three daughters, Mr. Ritter, 38, lives in the stone farmhouse where his father was born in 1920. Several of his brothers and sisters live on nearby land, and the whole family helps out on a Christmas tree farm his father started years ago.
“The bottom line is money, and I think people know that,” Mr. Ritter said. “But I think people are willing to pay a little bit more because they don't want to get annexed or see this area change a lot.”
The incorporation group is circulating the petitions it needs to start the process of becoming a city, Mr. Fay said. The effort was discussed at a meeting Thursday night at the Camp Springs Fire Department.
Bill Thielen, general counsel for the Kentucky League of Cities in Lexington, said the petitions must contain the signatures and addresses of registered voters equal to two-thirds of the people who voted in the last election, or property owners who hold two-thirds of the assessed property value in the community.
Mr. Fay said the exact number of signatures needed is still being determined. Information about the effort and a copy of the petition are available on the group's Web site at www.Campsprings.com.
Once the petitions are collected they must be turned over, along with a plan for providing services and establishing a government, to the Campbell County Circuit Court, Mr. Thielen said.
A judge would then decide whether Camp Springs can become a city.
The move to incorporate bucks the trend toward fewer governments in the state and the region. The state of Kentucky is trying to convince small counties in southern Kentucky to consolidate to reduce the number of counties and county governments.
In the Camp Springs Tavern, owner Diane Pelle hears some talk about the incorporation effort from her patrons.
“I still think a lot of people are just getting to know about it,” said Mrs. Pelle, who owns the tavern with her husband, Damien.
“People are starting to get interested, but I can't really tell if they are going to want a city out here.”
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