INDEPENDENCE, Ky. — Kenton County has chosen a design firm for its newest 225-acre park project, referred to by officials as the new "Kenton County Park."
Last week, the Kenton County Fiscal Court authorized Bayer Becker, a design and consulting firm based in Mason, Ohio, with offices in Fort Mitchell, to oversee the design.
Kenton County is developing a new park at 604 Independence Station Road in Independence. The site, formerly home to the closed Fox Run Golf Course, borders the 78-acre Lincoln Ridge Park. The county aims to connect these two areas into a single, cohesive recreation zone.
“It was a good proposal,” Commissioner Beth Sewell said, who was filling in for Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann.
A selection committee consisting of Knochelmann, County Administrator Joe Shriver, Assistant County Administrator Scott Gunning, and a representative from J.S. Held evaluated each proposal and ultimately selected Bayer Becker over seven other applicants.
During the fiscal court meeting, Gunning stated that Bayer Becker’s bid met the county’s requirements.
Within the bid, Bayer Becker said they plan to use a “Sky Frame’ concept for the new park. Sky Frame positions nature as the central draw of the park, using the site’s ridges and valleys to create a “constellation of experiences” for visitors.
This involves weaving together the park’s streams, forests, and elevation changes to create picturesque scenery and lookouts for visitors. Roads and trails will follow the contours of the land, allowing visitors to experience a layered perspective while hiking.
“The Bayer Becker team stood out from the other proposals, based on their experience in natural and organic Park design, their extensive record and experience of public parks and along with their team being well qualified and having a local presence here in Kenton County,” he said.
Bayer Becker Principal John Cody wrote a letter within the proposal stating that the firm has an opportunity to transform the land into a lasting community asset.
“Kenton County’s new regional park represents a transformative opportunity to deliver a lasting public asset shaped by community priorities, ecological sensitivity, and long-term stewardship,” Cody wrote. “As the team who authored the Master Plan through extensive community engagement, we bring irreplaceable continuity-deep understanding of the site’s ecological systems, stakeholder priorities, and technical constraints that position us to deliver a park that is both visionary and implementable.”
Bayer Becker has extensive experience in designing parks across Greater Cincinnati. The firm contributed to the development of Eons Adventure Park in Erlanger, Chamberlin Park in Deer Park, Ohio, the Ziegler Park expansion in Cincinnati, and Old North Dayton Park in Dayton, Ohio, among other projects.
In January, the fiscal court announced that it had chosen the Cincinnati-based consulting firm JS.. Held as the project’s owner representative or project manager. J.S. Held is responsible for overseeing the park’s architectural, engineering, and construction teams. As a result, it played a key role in the selection of Bayer Becker.
In October 2022, Human Nature, a planning and design firm based in Cincinnati, first proposed a master plan for a new county park to the fiscal court. The plan featured amenities like a hillside amphitheater, zipline tower, ropes course, family shelter, community gardens, and a mountain biking hub. Currently, the site is accessible to the public for activities such as hiking and fishing.
