Covington board denies appeal to allow two homes on unimproved Eighteenth Avenue

The City of Covington Board of Adjustments on Monday, July 21, denied an appeal by property owner Michael Wertchelck seeking permission to build two single-family homes on adjoining lots accessible from an unimproved portion of Eighteenth Avenue.

The board’s decision, reached by a 3-2 roll call, upholds a mayoral determination limiting development at the end of the dead-end gravel right of way. Board members Miss Williams, Mister Lucas and Mister Romage voted to deny the appeal; Miss Butler and Mister Gilley voted no.

The petitioner told the board he had paid for right-of-way improvements the city asked for and that he had invested “about $35,000” to clear and install culverts and pipes. He said he bought the two lots in 2017 and expected to build two houses on them under the R-2 zoning. “I invested already... about $35,000 of my money between the right of ways, the pipes,” he said during the hearing.

City staff and emergency responders opposed allowing two additional residences on the unopened, gravel right of way. The city attorney, Rod, said the corridor is “a public right of way that is undeveloped and closed,” and described the city’s longstanding practice of allowing limited, owner-funded gravel drives into unopened rights of way when they serve a single residence. The fire chief warned that the narrow, unpaved drive “does not meet the minimum requirements for a drive” for heavier apparatus and said fire vehicles would be at risk of sliding off if they left the center of the track.

Neighbor Lewis Marion, who lives at 329 South Johnson Street and said he helps maintain the drive, told the board: “We have spent 20 years paying for the rocks, cutting the grass, and maintaining the driveway, Eighteenth Avenue.” Marion and a written statement from J.W. Lobdale described a long history of residents privately maintaining the unopened portion of the street and expressed concern that additional houses would increase maintenance burdens and create a cluttered row of mailboxes and trash cans at the Johnson Street entrance.

Staff described prior approvals: in 2017 the council granted a right-of-way permit for the first extension; later a second permit was issued to develop part of the Grant Street right of way along the petitioner’s property. Notes cited in staff files indicate a 2017 staff recommendation recorded that the owner intended to combine Lots 4 and 5 into one lot, though the petitioner told the board he never completed any lot-combination filing.

Officials explained that extensions of water, sewer and street improvements are typically the responsibility of the applicant, and the city said it does not unilaterally fund water/sewer or roadway extensions. Staff also noted that the city can require a front-foot assessment to pave a gravel road if property owners request it, but the administration said it had no current plan to extend Eighteenth Avenue at city expense.

After discussion, a motion to deny the appeal — which on the record was explained by staff as the action that would allow one new house rather than two — carried by a 3-2 vote. The board did not adopt any additional conditions at the hearing.

The board’s written order and any instructions about next steps (for example, how to pursue a front-foot assessment or a formal city street improvement petition) were not read into the record at the meeting and are not specified in the transcript.

The item included extensive public comment and a detailed review by staff and the fire department; commissioners debated maintenance, emergency access and the limits of prior right-of-way approvals before reaching their vote.