Badin High School parking lot expansion get final city approval
Jan. 28—Hamilton City Council gave its approval for Butler County's only Catholic high school to move forward on its parking lot expansion.
Last spring, Hamilton Badin High School presented a plan and rezoning request to expand its parking lot, and with that plan was a preliminary proposal for an on-campus athletic complex. The city approved the preliminary plan and rezoning request last year, but the private school is only moving forward at this time with the parking lot expansion, which is an urgent need due to its anticipated student growth.
The Final Development Plan also included a rezoning request for a property they acquired (at 625 New London Road) since the approval of the preliminary plan. If Badin officials want to pursue the athletic complex, they must submit a separate Amended Planned Development application, which would undergo internal reviews, require a 500-foot mailing notice to adjacent property owners, and a public hearing at Planning Commission.
Etta Reed, the project engineer with Bayer Becker, said during a Jan. 11 public hearing that they were "comfortable with all the comments staff has made" with regard to the plan.
"We made some great improvements to the plan," she said.
This Final Development Plan is revised from the preliminary plan and is adding 343 new parking spaces to the west of the school building at 571 New London Road. In all, there will be 709 parking spaces.
The home Badin purchased is in the middle of the planned parking lot expansion will be razed. But first, the parcel needed to be rezoned from R-1 (single family) to a Business Planned Development zone.
Badin High School had been acquiring properties over the past few years on both New London Road and Jerdan Lane with the intent to expand its parking, which has been needed in recent years. The school currently enrolls 640 students, up 15 from last school year and nearly 100 more than its student population in 2017.
Badin President Brian Pendergest said the additional spots will give the school "much-needed parking for our increased student population, our parents and guests for events in the building and for any future growth on our campus."
He said they have been working with the city to ensure the landscaping and sidewalks are up to Hamilton's specifications, and "We hope to have this project completed in the spring of 2023."
All of the land, except for the home on the recently rezoned parcel, had been leveled prior to Wednesday's vote.
This approved parking plan is a departure from the initial plan as residential stakeholders had serious concerns, and Badin officials and Reed's team worked with them to find a solution. This new plan will have the parking lot access only from New London Road, and not Jerdan Lane as it was originally planned.
It also provides 61 more parking spaces.
In December, Hamilton Planning Director Liz Hayden said Jerden Lane residents had concerns about light from the parking lot, but the goal was to add 40 more trees and install a fence.
