The number and quality of nearby parks are key factors when people consider buying a home, the Home Builders Association of Northern Kentucky says.

        So, the 2,150-member organization is contributing $5,000 toward Northern Kentucky's first scientific poll on whether residents of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties would support a new property tax for the creation of a regional parks system.

        Forward Quest, an organization formed by Northern Kentucky business, civic, government and social service leaders to chart growth in the region, also has contributed $10,000 toward the $20,000 to $30,000 survey, which would be done within the next year.

        “Parks add to the quality of life in a community, just as good schools do,” said Dan Dressman, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Northern Kentucky. “They help sell the community.

        “A lot of the counties have nice parks,” Mr. Dressman said. “And some Northern Kentucky cities have decent parks. But (local governments) don't have enough resources individually to go out and purchase large tracts of land. If we had a regional (park) board or authority, we would have the means to do that.”

        Supporters want Northern Kentucky to develop a regional parks system similar to the award-winning one of Hamilton County. It could include regional parks of at least 1,000 acres crossing multiple government jurisdictions or a county-by-county park system linked through interlocal agreements.

        As development moves south in the three Northern Kentucky counties, the Northern Kentucky Park District Task Force wants to make sure that enough parkland is set aside, said John Vissman, vice president of Forward Quest.

        Bill Scheyer, chairman of the Northern Kentucky Park District Task Force, said the discussion about developing large regional parks can be traced to a 1996 green space report by the Northern Kentucky City and County Management Association.

        The group determined that Northern Kentucky has about half the green space it should have for an area of its size.

        “The consensus was we should have some process in line to identify the land that we really want to preserve and to have some way to acquire that land for public use (before it's developed),” said Mr. Scheyer, who also is Erlanger's city administrator.

        In 2000, a survey found that two-thirds of residents in Kentucky's three northernmost counties would be willing to pay more for improved recreation.

        Unlike past surveys, this one would be a scientific poll that would ask whether taxpayers would support the creation of a regional park district, as well as address how much they would be willing to pay to support more and better parks, Mr. Scheyer said.

        Although many other parts of the country boast major park systems, Northern Kentucky has lacked a dedicated source of money to support a regional park district, and no one government had the resources to do so, Mr. Scheyer said.

        There also was no unified organization with the stated mission of implementing a regional park district or a mechanism for linking parks and recreational resources, he said.

        In 1998, the Kentucky General Assembly created a property tax to fund regional park districts.

        The recreation tax of up to 5 cents per $100 assessed property cannot be imposed by a government but must be approved by voters. The tax would be on tangible property, such as boats, cars and real estate.

        “Maybe we would (put the tax issue on the ballot) next year, if we had time, but we haven't decided on that yet,” Mr. Scheyer said. “The first step is to get a clearer sense of what the public would be willing to support.”

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