By Brenna R. Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BURLINGTON - Another new subdivision will be built in Boone County. Another new apartment complex won't.

Boone Fiscal Court sided with the Boone Planning Commission on Tuesday night, approving a 96-home subdivision on Camp Ernst Road and denying a 150-unit apartment complex off Dixie Highway.

The Creekside subdivision will be on 44 acres on the south side of Camp Ernst, just south of the Pebble Creek subdivision.

Fiscal Court members voted unanimously to approve a zoning change needed to allow the development.

The county's comprehensive land-use plan calls for the area to become subdivisions. The Planning Commission had unanimously recommended the change.

The developers must adhere to 13 conditions, including moving a connector road closer to Camp Ernst Road, donating 13 acres of open space to the county or the Boone Conservancy, building acceleration lanes on Camp Ernst, and providing access to the open space along Gunpowder Creek.

"It looks like an appropriate development now," said County Administrator Jim Parsons, who helped negotiate the conditions.

Fiscal Court turned down a proposed 24-building apartment complex in an area zoned for industry.

Belmont Greene LLC wanted to build the complex on 18 acres off Dixie Highway between Weber Lane and Mikkelson Drive.

The Planning Commission had turned down the request because the comprehensive plan calls for industry in the area, which is just south of the Northern Kentucky Industrial Park.

Fiscal Court agreed and voted unanimously to deny the zoning change needed for the complex.

"The revenue generators for our county are businesses and jobs that are created," said Judge-executive Gary Moore. "We should preserve this area for industry."

Residents in the area were also opposed to the apartment complex, with 55 residents of Weber Lane and Mikkelson Drive signing a petition against it.

The comprehensive plan also calls for those streets to become industrial.

In other action, Fiscal Court voted to issue $5.8 million in industrial revenue bonds to Kirk & Blum Manufacturing. The ventilation manufacturer is considering moving from its Cincinnati plant to Gateway International Business Park near Hebron.

It would provide 25 new jobs with an average salary of $52,000.

E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com