Boone Co. Fiscal Court OK's Thornwilde Apartment Plan; Traffic Anxiety Rises

By Travis Thayer (Hebron, Ky.) - Homeowners in northern Kentucky fear a new apartment complex will create a traffic nightmare in Hebron. On September 19, approximately 80 Thornwilde subdivision residents packed a Boone County Fiscal Court meeting to voice their concerns about a proposed apartment complex along Kentucky 237 in Hebron. Despite pleas from the nearby residents, the Fiscal Court voted 3-1 to approve the Thornwilde Village plan, reports the Boone County Recorder.  The already clustered area near the North Bend Express Worldwide Boulevard industrial park will likely create even more traffic. The Thornwilde Village plan would add 170 apartments, in addition to increased traffic from nearly 2,700 new employees Amazon plans to hire in the coming months. Frequent travelers of Ky. 237 believe additional traffic will increase the likelihood of collisions, in addition to adding more travel time to their daily commutes. Judge-executive Gary Moore said developer Phil Drees has agreed to a handful of conditions as part of the apartment complex plan. The conditions include preventing some left-hand turns out of the Thornwilde Village, and changing the name to avoid having Thornwilde in the name. The planned apartment complex dates back to 2014 when it was first brought up at a Boone County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. At the time, only one Thornwilde subdivision resident attended the meeting.