In trying to point out the need for more industry in Franklin County, Terri Bradshaw often says that only nine acres of land in the county is “truly developable.”
One local property owner takes issue with that statement from the president/CEO of the Kentucky Capital Development Corp. (KCDC), the community's economic development agency.
O. Gilbert Newman contacted The State-Journal last week regarding property next to The Frankfort Christian Academy at 1505 Leestown Road/U.S. 421, which he co-owns with David Clark as part of CHN Developers. The property totals 32.87 acres, is zoned for industrial or general use, and sits partially on a slope that leads into Slickway Branch Creek.
Judge-Executive Huston Wells said that runoff mitigation on the property, which is located next to The Frankfort Christian Academy on Leestown Road, would cost around $2 million. (Austin Horn | State Journal)
Newman said the existence of his property, which is listed on KCDC’s website, makes Bradshaw’s nine acres statement a “factual inaccuracy.” His Realtor, Sonny Clark, agreed.
“(Bradshaw) had emailed me and wanted me to give my blessing to the farm out on Duncan Road to be rezoned because there was only 9 acres supposedly for industrial development,” Clark said. “I’m thinking ‘that is not true.’ I emailed her back and told her that, but she keeps saying it.”
The landowner's request to rezone the Duncan Road property was recently denied in a 4-3 vote by the Fiscal Court.
While Bradshaw agreed that the Leestown Road property is zoned appropriately, which Planning & Zoning Director Robert Hewitt confirmed, she said that doesn’t necessarily make it “developable.”
“We do have other properties that are currently zoned industrial in Franklin County,” Bradshaw said. “They could be made developable, but they do not meet the criteria that is made out for us (KCDC) by our consultants.”
Bradshaw said the current cost to make that property developable is simply too high for most businesses. She estimated that mitigating runoff into Slickway Branch Creek alone would cost around $2 million. Franklin County Judge-Executive Huston Wells, who has been looking into the runoff issue, confirmed that figure.
Hewitt estimated that 1.5 of the 32.87 acres is a designated flood plain, and Clark acknowledged that 7 or 8 acres of the property would require a lot of work.
The price currently listed for the property on KCDC’s website is just over $1 million. Franklin County PVA Kellie Lang said the property’s most recent assessment in 2020 totaled $328,700. That makes it valued around $10,000 per acre.
Clark said it “hit a sore spot” that his client’s property was overlooked in the 9-acre figure, but Bradshaw said she still shows it to potential developers.
“I still show it to everybody who comes to town, but every time they see the blue line stream (Slickway) they ask questions,” Bradshaw said. “A company is not going to come and purchase a property that’s going to take a year to mitigate that issue when they can go 10 miles in either direction and find another property.”
Clark said he’s had several companies inquire about the property in the past, including a company trying to do business with Toyota in Georgetown.
Bradshaw emphasized that the Leestown Road property is not “build-ready,” a term that the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development describes as “proof to a company that unknown obstacles have been removed, that the site due diligence has been performed and the project implementation timeline has been significantly accelerated.”
Several properties, including the Leestown Road tract, are listed on KCDC’s website as industrial land. Bradshaw said the closest to “build-ready” among those properties is the aforementioned 9 acres, which is located along Georgetown Road and Steadmantown Lane.
Post a comment as
Report
Watch this discussion.
(6) comments
Talking about fiction? My favorite line in a sci-fi movie was where Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were fighting Edgar/ Bug, the giant cockroach, where Edgar / Bug says: “y’know, I’ve noticed an infestation here. Everywhere I look, in fact.
Nothing but undeveloped, unevolved, barely conscious pond scum, totally convinced of their own superiority as they scurry about their short , pointless lives.”
Funny to here an “ imagined “ bug say that! Great movie!
If alien beings did exist from another world - looked and studied us humans , watching us destroy our environment by polluting it with factories making frivolous objects that aren’t vital to health- what would they think? Funny! This article did explain that these developers that threaten our environment have been “ reined in” to the point that they know what a blue line stream is!
Of course it’s $$$ (2 million ) that determines whether they can dump into it or not! Only thing stopping them from having their runoff go in to a blue line stream ? Funny! Of course theirs plans to leach the toxins and slow the erosive force of water into ponds ect. From their “ factories “ Hence the $ 2 million quote they are cackling about like a hen that just laid an egg! KCDC cackles a lot and doesn’t ever lay an egg! We’ve got” old “ unproductive hens on the farm that go into cackling fits about other hens eggs !
There is no reason to assume that the conversion of our farmland to build any additional industrial parks is going to result in polluting of our environment with factories. The parks that we have now look like ghost towns. A quick drive through all 3 of them will show that they are hardly filled up with gleaming modern factories, churning out frivolous objects made by high paying factory jobs! They look like driving onto the base at Ft. Knox, where obviously something was going on there in the past, but whatever it was is long gone.
None of these factories, existing or futuristic, are going to be dumping anything into a blue line stream, regardless of how much or little $$$ they make. It is storm water runoff that they will have to deal with, but unless they are producing some really toxic materials, or have a spill of toxins, that shouldn't be a big problem. I think that what they are talking about is making the site flat enough for the floor and parking lots. Of course, as you said, water running off of roofs, and parking lots does so quickly, and could have some serious erosion without mitigation measures.
The last thing Frankfort has to worry about is being overrun with factories! What we do have to worry about is urban sprawl, where development happy realtors have taken over our P&Z agency and are all too willing to allow developers like Tierney to come in and convert farmland to industrial parks when there is no real demand for it. Once you convert agricultural land to industry ready plots, there is NO converting it back, as mixing top soil with heavy clays and rock is fine to pave over, it is not worth a hoot to try to grow anything on for about the next million years. And there probably will not even be any human beings alive when that occurs.
Where in Franklin County do you find this developable land that is not connected somehow to a blue line stream?
Ha! True!
If you’ve been around chickens much , you have to admit they remind you of humans!!?
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Use your real name. Anonymous commenting is not allowed. Only State Journal subscribers who are willing to identify themselves have commenting privileges. Posters caught using a fake name will have their commenting privileges revoked.
Keep it clean. Avoid obscene, juvenile, racist or sexist language.
No personal attacks. Share your own opinions rather than denigrate those with opposing views. Absolutely no name-calling.
No conspiracy theories. This is a forum for thoughtful discussion of issues in our community. There are plenty of places on the internet to peddle in conspiracy theories. This is not one.
No commerce. There's plenty of advertising space available on this site for those looking to sell products or services. Keep commercial messages out of the comments section.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link to let us know of posts that violate the rules in this section.
Share with us. If you have first-hand knowledge of facts related to a news story or an error in our coverage, email us at news@state-journal.com.