A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

City Explains ‘RIPPLE Effect’ plan to revitalize a neighborhood at open house; residents excited


By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune reporter

If Steve Ward and other residents have their way, the city’s Austinburg neighborhood will soon have a project in place to create their own mini-MainStrasse, a commercial corridor with restaurants and foot traffic, including retail stores with apartments on top.

Covington Economic Development Director Tom West speaks to residents at Tuesday’s Ripple Effect Open House (photos by Ryan Clark).

At least, that’s the vision. And with the aid of Covington’s new RIPPLE Effect plan, it could become a reality.

Tuesday night at City Hall, officials met with about 50 residents — including Ward — to discuss the idea.

“We’re excited,” Ward said. “This may be a great opportunity. As a neighborhood, we’ve had some ideas and gotten some plans together. We’ve talked to the city about it and they’ve been very cooperative.”

The RIPPLE Effect, an acronym that stands for “Revitalization Includes People, Places, Lifestyles (and) Economic investment,” is a new city initiative that will focus resources on a specific neighborhood business area.

In August, the commission originally heard the idea of The RIPPLE Effect in a meeting, and they then designated $300,000 from federal grant money to fund improvements for the chosen area. City officials will choose from neighborhood proposals and provide cooperation from all city departments for the winner.

Those interested in submitting proposals came out for the information session Tuesday, where members of city departments and other groups gathered, like Parks & Recreation, the Neighborhood Services Department, Code Enforcement, Solid Waste, Renaissance Covington, Public Works, and the Police Department, among others.

Tom West, the city’s economic development director, Jeremy Wallace, the community development manager, and Kate Greene, program manager for the Center for Great Neighborhoods, each took a turn addressing the crowd, explaining the initiative, its timetable and what was expected to be included in each of the proposals.

Part of the process includes creating a one-page summary for eligibility, as well as a full project funding request, then submitting a recommendation for approval and creating a partnership with the city to implement the improvements.

“We really want to give those residents a voice in how these investments are made,” Wallace said. “These are the same types of improvements we’ve always made, we’ll just be using their vision.”

Ward, who said he will be applying for the grant, explained that this could help the Austinburg neighborhood’s mini-MainStrasse idea, which would transform 20th Street between Madison and Greenup into a commercial area. 

“This has been one of the top items on our list (of ideas),” Ward said.

The meeting Tuesday did not decide which neighborhood would get the funding, or even who is officially applying. City officials said they hope to award the grant in February 2019, and begin working on the project, which could include public improvements (such as street reconstruction or resurfacing, sidewalks, landscaping, lighting, etc.).

Potential increases in city services could include small-business incentives, façade improvements, waived or reduced permits and code-enforcement sweeps. 

“It’s a new way of doing business,” West said. “It’s about what we can do together.” He noted that an emphasis could be placed on neighborhoods that receive less of the spotlight. 

Both Paul Patton and Lisa Gillham of Latonia came out to the meeting Tuesday night, eager to learn what had to be done.

“We will definitely be applying,” Patton said. “We have to re-think what we want to do, but yes, we’ll be putting together a project.”

Possibilities could include asking for funding for an ongoing idea the neighborhood has been working on called Latonia Uptown, which is an initiative to bring more private businesses to the area. “Kind of like Renaissance Covington,” Gillham said. “You want to fill up vacant storefronts with viable businesses.”

But just one area will be chosen for the grant this year. Still, if the initiative works, West said the city can foresee working with multiple areas in the future. He noted this is an “experiment,” and that they know they won’t get everything right the first time. 

“We’re not going to get it absolutely perfect,” he said. “But we are going to give it our best shot.”

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

City Manager West explains how the Ripple Effect is envisioned to work.

Nov. 14, 2018:  Mandatory pre-applications are due by 4:30 p.m. to Jeremy Wallace, Community Development Manager, 20 West Pike St., Covington, Ky., 41011 or emailed to jwallace@covingtonky.gov

November, 2018:  City staff reviews pre-applications and notifies program applicants if their pre-application is approved. Applicants are then instructed to submit a full Project Funding Request Application. 

Jan. 11, 2019:  Project Funding Request Applications are due by 4:30 p.m. to Jeremy Wallace, Community Development Manager, 20 West Pike St., Covington, Ky., 41011 or emailed to jwallace@covingtonky.gov

January 2019:  A committee of city staff will review and evaluate project submissions based on the program’s scoring criteria and will select and recommend the winning proposal(s) to city commission for approval. 

January-February, 2019:  Covington city commission approves winning project proposal(s). 

February, 2019:  The city’s Project Manager will work with the winning applicant(s) to coordinate city programs and services and the proposal’s private leveraging efforts to create a final scope, schedule and logistics for implementing the project. 

Contact the Northern Kentucky Tribune at news@nkytrib.com


Related Posts

Leave a Comment