Where golf carts used to roll across a Kenton County golf course, soon hikers will walk trails, dogs will play and kids will run around playgrounds. Work begins this month to transform the long-closed 225-acre Independence golf course into the county’s newest park.
“I think people understand and respect the fact that it's so healthy for people to get outside, so the need was there,” said Judge-Executive Kris Knochelmann.
Plans to transform the site have been in the making for years — Knochelmann remembers having virtual public forums during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was amazing because we had probably the most response of any public feedback sessions ever virtually,” Knochelmann said.
Back then, the county was evaluating what to do with the land and realized they would have to return money if they sold it to a private developer — since the original golf course was bought with federal grant money.
“So we said ‘well you can either do nothing with it, we can cut the grass and make it somewhat accessible,’” Knochelmann said. “Or do we do something exciting like a park?”
The privately-owned golf courses next door to the park will stay open.
According to a release from Kenton County, construction will only affect about 30% of the existing acres — but this doesn’t mean the rest won’t be developed. Officials hope to preserve as many mature trees and grass as they can by clearing walking and biking trails through the vegetation.
“But the other part of it, the 27% to 30%, is where you're going to have things like parking, shelters, the roadways, the bathrooms,” Knochelmann said. “Because of the amount of space we have an opportunity to really preserve the green space while making it functional.”
The new flagship park is not the only green space development currently ongoing in Kenton County. In Erlanger, the highly-anticipated Eons Park is taking shape, with a dog park, bike park and an overlook recently opened to the public. For Knochelmann, these projects are both part of an economic development effort.
“What we find when we have companies visiting Northern Kentucky to look at growing or relocating here, one of the things they ask for, in addition to workforce, is what kind of green space [we] have,” he said.
Construction on the new Independence park is slated to start Sept. 14 and is estimated to wrap up in 2028.
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