Mr. Meier stated that the NKAPC staff had a hearing and they seemed to agree with the text amendment that would delete congregate living of any sort from the Research Park zone. However, the KC&MP&ZC recommended that the City not remove congregate living as a conditional use to the Research Park. The KC&MP&ZC felt constraints could be put in place to limit the number of such living facilities in the area. Mr. Meier recalled how the Economic Development Committee started to remove the conditional use in December.? KC&MP&ZC felt that removing the use would put a constraint on the developers.

There was heavy discussion on whether a project could be grandfathered in or even if the building permit approval stays with a project for a certain amount of time [referencing the Communicare project that had obtained Phase II approval then dropped the project]. There must be action on a building permit within a ninety day period, otherwise the permit goes void. Mr. Maloney stated that although he did not want to hurt the developers of the Research Park, council’s first obligation is to the City and what is best for the City. If the City does not amend the code now, then there could be several more assisted living projects that apply and the City would have no recourse in the situation. Last month, it was decided to definitely postpone the decision to amend the code and two more facilities came in. While these types of facilities are needed, Crestview Hills does not want to be saturated with them.

John Curtin (Hemmer Co.) noted that a number of companies have shown interest in Crestview Hills as a building site for their facilities. Hemmer has remaining a total of 160 acres in the Research Park, 3 of which, Mr. Curtin claims, is being used for assisted living facilities at this point. The developers requested an indefinite postponement in the deletion of an assisted living facility as a conditional use of the Research Park. Mr. Meier stated that the Economic Development committee received a letter from the developers wanting the council to honor a "gentleman’s agreement", presented at the April 7^th Economic Development meeting, that the developers would impose upon themselves a restriction to five conditional use facilities. Mr. Meier also suggested that the text amendment be tabled for six months. Mr. Laird felt six months was too long to table the issue. There was very lengthy discussion among council as to how the number five was determined to be a fair number and the fact that if five were the agreed upon number, then there would be three assisted living facilities, one nursing home and one altzheimers facility. Mr. Laird suggested a compromise of tabling the amendment until the July, 1998 council meeting. Mr. Sommerkamp agreed that would be fair to the developers.

Mr. Maloney was concerned about what would happen should the assisted living or nursing home facilities go out of business or decide to move on. Basically, he felt, what would be left would be apartments. Mr. Celarek assured him that a zoning change would be necessary for the facilities to become apartment living.

Mr. Meier made the motion to delay until the July, 1998 council meeting the second reading of the text amendment that would delete congregate living from the zoning ordinance. The motion was seconded seconded by Mr. Sommerkamp. The Mayor called for a vote.

VOTE CALL

Mr. Drummey - Yes, Mr. Maloney - Yes, Mr. Laird - Yes, Mrs. Draud - Yes, Mr. Sommerkamp - Yes.

Mr. Celarek informed council that he voted for the light rail mass transit system that was the recommendation of OKI. He also voted for an environmental engineering study to be done to decide exactly where the best places to build the system would be. Cost of the project is still a big concern.

Mr. Celarek introduced Jonathon Wocker from Pflum, Klausmeier & Gehrum Consultants, Chuck VanArsdale from Estes Engineering and Nishan Topsjans from Manor Care to give a presentation on Stage 1 development plans for the project called Arden Courts. Mr. Wocker stated that the project would be built on lot 15 between Chancellor Blvd, and Valley View Ridge condo complex. Manor Care appeared before the Board of Adjustments on April 1^st and received approval from them. Then Manor Care appeared before the Economic Development Committee on April 7^th and the committee recommended approval of the plan. The building will be one story, 60 rooms, 27,500 square foot facility that will house mild Alzheimer or dementia patients. There will be 33 parking spaces on site, mostly for staff and visitors as none of the patients will be driving. Controlled access and exiting will be provided by a lattice fence around the back of the facility.

Mr. Topsjans explained that Manor Care is a top 500, nationally recognized company specializing in Alzheimer’s patients care. It was then explained what Alzheimer’s disease is, it’s stages and how it is diagnosed. The cost monthly is between $2,500 and $3,500 with no funding coming from Medicaid or Medicare. The entire amount is privately funded. There will be 17 to 20 people on staff per shift.

Licensing is not mandatory for assisted living facilities however Arden Courts is subject to inspections by the State Housing Department at all times. There was some discussion about the fence and how council was not pleased with it. It is necessary with dementia patients because they are agitated by seeing motion and sound that is not in the immediate area so the visual buffers aids with minimizing outside motion and noises.

Mr. Meier made the motion, upon the recommendation of the Economic Development committee, to accept stage one development plans for Manor Care’s Arden Courts contingent upon the recommendations from the Board of Adjustments and the NKAPC staff. Motion seconded by Mr. Sommerkamp. Council approved with a majority, Mr. Laird voted nay.

Ms. Monhollen reported that the recreation program is expanding this year to include not only the usual activities of gymnastics, tennis, racquetball, aqua aerobics, cooking and putt putt golf, but introduce scuba, snorkeling, basketball and volleyball. There will be an addition of one or two more movie days this year at the Erlanger Showcase Cinemas depending upon the upcoming movie schedule. Reds tickets are also on sale for May 15^th vs. the Chicago Cubs and June 13^th vs. the Houston Astros.

Springfest ’98 is coming along great with 50 booths at present which include food, beverages, crafts, hands on activities for the kids, moonbounce, spin art, sand art, stress management with chair massages, caricatures, etc. The Erlanger-Ft Mitchell Rotary car show is expected to have 200 to 225 entries and concluding the day will be a concert by the Van-Dells in the Convocation Center. Mr. Meier pointed out that parking can be at the Crestview Hills Mall and attendees can take a shuttle bus to the festival.