Southern Campbell County is getting a taste of the same growth pressure the rest of Northern Kentucky has been feeling. On Oct. 13, the Campbell County Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend a zoning change for Camelot Ridge, an 87-home subdivision on about 23 acres along Alexandria Pike, just south of Campbell County High School.
According to LINK nky's report, the commission also approved the project's Stage I development plan. The zoning change still needs a vote from the Campbell County Fiscal Court, and no date has been set.
What's planned
The developer is Grand Communities LLC, which LINK nky has identified in its Boone County coverage as a subsidiary of Fischer Homes. It wants to rezone the land, owned by Plum Creek Partners LLC, from Rural Residential Estate to Residential One-D with a residential cluster development overlay. Right now, the property is zoned for about one home per acre.
The new plan calls for 87 detached single-family homes on lots generally 50 feet wide, which works out to about 4.37 homes per acre. The homes would range from roughly 1,400 to 3,000 square feet, each with a two-car garage.
Don't look for dirt moving right away. Grading is tentatively set for fall 2027, with infrastructure and home construction to follow in spring 2028.
Amanda Webb, Grand Communities' planning and entitlements manager, said about 20% of the property would stay open space, including wooded areas and two stormwater detention basins. "Most of these lots will have either very deep backyards or they'll be backing to some type of an open space area," she said.
County Planning and Zoning Director Cindy Minter said the plan lines up with the comprehensive plan, which marks the corridor for higher-density housing, and pointed to a 2023 regional housing study showing a shortage of homes for working households. "We do have an issue with that missing middle housing," she said.
The neighbors weren't sold
Many nearby property owners came to the meeting in red, holding "vote no" signs. "Cluster and country don't really go together," said resident Mike Howard. Tim Stevenson, who owns two properties next to the site, said he understands development is coming but thinks the density doesn't fit. "I moved to Campbell County for a rural environment," he said.
Others raised stormwater runoff, school capacity, traffic and the lack of landscaping between the new homes and existing ones. Attorney Steve Megerle, representing several residents, spent about 25 minutes cross-examining and argued the plan didn't match the surrounding properties. "All they're asking you to do is to listen to them, or to postpone this, and order them (developer) to come have a conversation and be neighborly to their neighbors," Megerle said.
Commissioner Justin Verst saw it differently. "One way that you preserve rural agricultural lands is by increasing density in areas where the infrastructure is there, the sewers are there, the water lines are there, the roadways there," he said. Still, he acknowledged that "for the folks that live in that area, this is an area that's going to, over time, transition."
To meet the neighbors partway, the commission added a condition: a 20-foot vegetated buffer along the property's western and southern boundaries, preserved or planted after grading and protected by a conservation easement recorded on the final plat. The buffer will be worked into the Stage II plans using noninvasive plants, preferably native species. Grand Communities agreed to the conditions.
Why it matters for Contractors
Eighty-seven single-family homes on one site is a solid multiyear job for a Northern Kentucky builder's trade partners: grading and erosion control, sewer and water, streets, two detention basins, foundations, framing, roofing, siding, MEP, drywall and finishes. With grading not expected until fall 2027, there's time for site and utility contractors to get on the bid list early.
The buffer condition is worth noting too. A planted 20-foot buffer with native species and a conservation easement means landscape contractors will have specific work, and grading crews will need to protect existing trees where they're preserved.
Most of all, this vote is another sign that Northern Kentucky planners are willing to approve smaller lots along major corridors, even over neighbor objections. That's where the region's next round of entry-level and move-up homes, and the work that goes with them, is likely to come from.