Campbell County Recorder
News
November 19, 2009
Residents sue Cold Spring, SD1 By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
Homeowners on Madonna Lane have been complaining to Cold Spring since 1990 about storm water runoff eroding their backyards, and now they’re suing. The complaint, filed in Campbell Circuit Court Nov. 5 on the behalf of the owners of 59,61,63 and 65 Madonna Lane alleges that rainwater draining off a street has caused “slippage and landslides on their property because of an improperly constructed and maintained storm sewer system.” The property owners filing the complaint include the Estate of Peter J. Noll Ruth Grothaus, Ruth Grothaus, Jim and Hazel Losey and Stephen and Vickie Trauth. Cold Spring and SD1 are both named as defendants in the suit that requests $500,000 in damages to repair the properties. In an attempt to correct the storm water overflows, the city and SD1 agreed in 2004 to split evenly the $70,000 cost of a project to
increase the size and number of catch basins and redirect the flow of water. “It was a contract between the city and SD1 to solve the problem and it didn’t fully work,” said Steve C. Martin, an attorney for Crescent Springsbased Ziegler & Schneider, P.S.C. The homeowners allege in the complaint that the project didn’t solve the runoff problems, breaching a contract with the residents affected. According to the complaint, the homeowners also experienced infiltration of the sanitary sewers and the “washing out” of “numerous tons of dirt” by “millions of gallons of uncontrolled storm water.” The suit claims the damage, which continues, was caused by diverting storm water and sanitary sewer onto the properties without permission. “By their actions they made the property worthless,” Martin said. “The city will zealously defend the case, and the city has done nothing wrong in this matter,” said Brandon Voelker, city attorney for Cold Spring. If there was a design issue with the
project, it’s the responsibility of the developer, Voelker said. “At this time we don’t own or maintain the public storm systems,” said Peggy Casey, SD1’s spokeswoman about the storm sewers in Cold Spring. Casey said the lawsuit filed by the homeowners is not related to the lawsuit Cold Spring has filed against SD1. “This is I think something that goes back a while,” Casey said of the homeowners’ lawsuit. Cold Spring sued SD1 this August alleging a breach of contract of the terms and conditions of the stormwater inter-local agreement signed in 2003. Multiple other cities and governments have turned over their storm sewer management to SD1 this fall, including Crestview, Woodlawn, Campbell County Fiscal Court for the unincorporated county, Dayton, and Silver Grove. SD1 will assume responsibility for the storm sewer systems in Alexandria, Fort Thomas and Highland Heights Dec. 10.
BRIEFLY Group offers Behind the Scenes Tour in Newport
The organizers of Newport’s gangster tours are holding a new Behind the Scenes Tour at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 starting at the Newport Syndicate. For $40 per person, patrons will see parts of five
buildings that used to host casino gambling that are seldom if ever open to the public. Highlights include areas where tunnels used to go under the streets, old safes, escape routes in buildings and other casino-related features. For more information visit www.newportgangsters.com.
Remodel for first Cold Spring Kroger By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
The Kroger Co. will remodel its store at 70 Martha Layne Collins Boulevard in Cold Spring. A revised site plan was approved by the Cold Spring Planning and Zoning Commission Nov. 11. The renovations include upgrades and modernization in almost every part of the store according to the plan. City Administrator Mick Vank said there had been some concern about what the fate of the store would be after Kroger opened a new store in the southern end of the city off the AA Highway in the Cold Spring Crossing shopping center. “To hear they are going to make a major improvement is very encouraging,” Vank said of the renovations. The Kroger store being renovated was build in 1998, and is located at the far northern border of Cold Spring with Highland Heights and neighbors Northern Kentucky University residence halls. A previous plan including a request by Kroger to expand the liquor store by building an expansion to within 26 feet of Martha
Layne Collins Boulevard instead of the 50-foot set back required by the city, had been rejected. The liquor store, just one of the renovations, will still be expanded under the new plan. But instead, the expansion will be underneath the overhang in the front of the store that is now a covered, but open-air area. Other renovations will include a drive-thru kiosk for the pharmacy where people can have their prescriptions filled by way of a pneumatic tube system similar to that of a bank. The drive-thru will eliminate 15 parking spaces, but leave 345 spaces, well above the city’s zoning requirement of at least 272 spaces. The front door area of the store will also be remodeled including spreading apart the space between the entrance and exit doorways. There are also plans to expand the Fifth Third Bank. The store will remain open during renovations, and so far there is only a tentative start date said Rachael Betzler, spokesperson for Kroger Co. “We are looking at probably the end of April before we get started on that,” Betzler said.
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November 15, 2009 | 3:28 p.m. Right now, John is having a Cookie ‘n Cream moment with his granddaughter Grace, and to him, “better” means taking her mind off of
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