Monday, June 14, 1999
Crescent Park in final days
With annexation, it's Fort Mitchell
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CRESCENT PARK — Tiny Crescent Park, which could squeeze all of its 421 residents into a big-city neighborhood, will mark its 47th year as a city by ceasing to exist.
Thanks to state legislation that took effect a year ago, the sixth-class Kenton County city, built as returning World War II veterans hit the housing market, will merge with neighboring Fort Mitchell (population 8,000) on July 1.
Now largely made up of retirees and young families, the city of 122 homes and seven businesses on six streets is often mistakenly thought to be part of one of its larger neighbors anyway, townspeople say.
“It's kind of sad to think there'll be no more Crescent Park, but it's for the betterment of the city,” City Clerk Mary Ward said.
She and her husband, Maston, the town's mayor for 18 years, fell in love with the community “where everyone knew all their neighbors,” while out house hunting 42 years ago.
Today, however, a declining interest in Crescent Park's government, coupled with the rising cost of services, have led to the city's demise.
“You miss working for the city, but it's time to move on,” Crescent Park Commissioner Robert Taylor said. “If we have to be annexed, Fort Mitchell is my No. 1 choice. There isn't a No. 2.”
In November, nearly 66 percent of Crescent Park's voters chose to become part of their larger neighbor.
Next Monday, Fort Mitchell City Council is expected to give final approval to an ordinance annexing Crescent Park, effective with the new fiscal year in July.
Both cities say the merger makes sense because Fort Mitchell has been providing police, fire, public works and emergency medical services to Crescent Park for several years.
With last year's adoption of House Bill 610 — the law that cleared the way for Fort Mitchell's annexation of Crescent Park — officials predicted that other cities would soon follow suit.
But while two other Northern Kentucky cities looked into annexing their smaller neighbors, neither did so.
In Kenton County, Taylor Mill (population 7,400) was rebuffed by neighboring Ryland Heights, when officials of the larger city proposed annexing its rural neighbor (population 278).
“As far as we're concerned, it's a dead issue,” said former Ryland Heights Mayor Ken Lewellen. “They've really got nothing that would interest us.”
In Campbell County, a number of Crestview candidates opposing annexation of their town of 350 by neighboring Cold Spring (pop. 2,886), won big in the November election.
Statewide, the Kentucky League of Cities also can find no record of a third-, fourth- or fifth-class city that has used House Bill 610, or is considering using the law, to annex a smaller sixth-class neighbor.
But the head of a committee studying the future of Northern Kentucky's governments predicted that local governments and agencies will continue to explore consolidation.
“The trend is toward better service at lower cost, and the cities are under a lot of pressure to provide those services,” said Bob Cooper, chairman of Forward Quest's task force on futuristic governance.
As the cost of running smaller cities rises, Mr. Cooper predicted that some will merge with their larger neighbors on an “as needed basis.”
“I think some have enough sense to say, "We can't provide the services our constituents want,'” Mr. Cooper said. “And it's not just in city government. (Locally), we went through this issue with the sanitation district and police dispatching. In many cases, I think it just makes sense for a smaller city to decide to want to be annexed (by a larger neighbor).”
Once the annexation takes effect, all assets and liabilities of Crescent Park will become the property of Fort Mitchell, and Fort Mitchell tax rates will apply to the city's newest residents.
Crescent Park residents also will have access to all Fort Mitchell recreational programs and facilities, Mr. Goetz said, and Fort Mitchell has added two new zones to its zoning ordinance that mirror Crescent Park's.
At Crescent Park's last regular city meeting Tuesday, officials reminisced about past highlights in the little town's history.
They recalled the campaign entourage by Gov. Martha Layne Collins that virtually blocked the main street, the succession of city attorneys that have gone on to prominent positions elsewhere, and the former practice of meeting at a tavern just outside city limits, before a home on Avon Court was converted to Crescent Park's city building in 1972.
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