On Sept. 8, the Frankfort/Franklin County Planning Commission voted 6-3 to delay a decision related to a proposed text amendment that would allow the county and city to put bourbon barrel warehouses under conditional use in agricultural (AG) zones. In effect, Commissioner Paul Looney made a motion to table the items and send them to the zoning update committee, a subcommittee of the commission, pending the comprehensive plan update.
He said that the commission needed to hear more from the public. This is despite the commission voting to close the public hearings portion on the matter during the previous month’s meeting. Looney didn’t agree with the outcome of that decision, so rather than joining the commission in the next step of the process, he made a motion to table the text amendment until the comprehensive plan was updated.
Incredibly, Looney and five other commissioners voted to delay the decision and then lamented their decision when they realized the negative implications of their vote.
For highlights, at 6:30 minutes into the meeting, Looney made a motion to table the discussion about a text amendment and send the items to the zoning update committee “pending the Comprehensive Plan Update.” The motion was seconded by Patti Cross and affirmed by David Boggs, Bill May, Sherron Jackson and Darrel Sanderson.
It was opposed by Keith Lee, Tim Luscher and Russell Wright. That vote halted all conversation about the future expansion of Buffalo Trace, or any distillery warehouses, for a minimum of two years — the expected time to complete the Comprehensive Plan.
At 52:19 minutes into the meeting Ed Logan, legal counsel for the planning commission, asked to clarify the vote. Looney reiterated, at 52:45 minutes that he indeed said, “pending the Comprehensive Plan update.”
Yet when Logan clarified that this would hold up the progress of this amendment for at least two years, Looney stated that “he didn’t know that it would be that long.” Eric Cockley, City Director of Planning & Development, gave an update on the Comprehensive Plan update at the beginning of the meeting and said they were “on track” with the schedule. The schedule indicates that it takes more than two years to update the Comprehensive Plan and to redesign the zoning codes.
Logan and Wright tried several times to explain that they had public hearings giving everyone in the room and online who wanted to speak the opportunity to do so. Both sides were allowed to present evidence and testimony.
Logan reiterated, “We made a motion to do a text amendment. It was voted on 9-0. We are now crawfishing to say we didn’t understand that, and we are taking it back.”
After more convoluted discussions, it became clear that Looney and the other five commissioners who voted with him didn’t understand what they had voted for and said that it wasn’t their intent to delay the decision for over two years. However, the meeting was adjourned with the vote standing that they will wait for the Comprehensive Plan update completion. Now they must wait until the next meeting when they can try to correct their ill-informed decision.
This planning commission is the group responsible for vetting proposals that advance this community’s growth or lack of growth for years to come. This meeting showed how the planning commission voted to delay a very important decision on Buffalo Trace’s expansion proposal that has been going on for two years. In the context of businesses considering capital investments, local government decisions that are delayed are the same as decisions that are denied.
Frankfort cannot afford to continue to take months and years to make zoning decisions. To truly be business friendly, local government needs to move faster or businesses will locate and expand in communities that can make faster decisions. To do otherwise puts Frankfort/Franklin County's economic future at risk.
Mary Palumbo is a long-term resident of Frankfort with a business and marketing background. She can be emailed at Palumbo.963@gmail.com
Well, obviously nobody sets the type for my comments, and the way this program is set up where I only see two lines at a time, it makes it very difficult to proofread what Siri writes when I dictate it to her. If I dally too long, it cut me off and I lose everything. So sometimes it’s pretty mishmashef but with a little imagination you kinda get the gist of it. In defense of the state journal, I think they do a pretty good job considering how few people they have doing this anymore. It’s a small town paper that’s suffering from the newspaper blues because Gen Xers don’t read newspapers anymore, and I’m told by my granddaughter that nobody reads newspapers anymore that she knows. They wear that like a badge of courage, instead of a smear on their character. Where do they get their news? Well the Internet and Facebook, of course! I asked her does she know what a Russian bot is…
The author makes conclusions that are not supported by the facts. Things like, “That vote halted all conversation about the future expansion of Buffalo Trace, or any distillery warehouses, for a minimum of two years — the expected time to complete the Comprehensive Plan.“
This statement is untrue, as it only holds up the planned expansion next to Peaks Mill Elementary School and an existing dense neighborhood, Arnold Ridge. Buffalo Trace has already built 12 behemoth 60,000 barrel (3.2 million gallons of ethanol) warehouses 2000 feet from the school and neighborhood in a very clandestine manner, that had no real public input because the way that it was not advertised.
Buffalo Trace is free to pursue building their gargantuan finishing industrial product warehouses anywhere else that they wish, does not next to the school and neighborhood. I would miss Palombo distort the facts like that? It sounds like Bradshaw wrote that herself. It certainly doesn’t give much confidence that our economic development CEO can be trusted to disseminate accurate and truthful information.
Mary Polumbo was Terri Bradshaw‘s only “witness“ in her false criminal SLAPP suit complaint to the Sheriff contending that I was “obsessed” with and stalking Bradshaw, harassing her and breaking into her office twice. Pulombo was interviewed by the detective although she had very little of substance to add. The sheriffs office investigative report concluded that there was nothing to any of Bradshaw’s gross allegations. Case was closed, but the damage was done! Mary Polumbo seems to still be caring Bradshaw’s water!
I watched this meeting online via live stream and I thought Mr. Looney's actions were based on the fact that there had been misinformation presented to the planning commissioners from the county planning staff at the previous two meetings - such as the commissioners being told they had voted on a matter related to this issue, yet when the minutes were reviewed, there had not been a vote. I believe that Mr. Looney and the majority of the planning commission were acting responsibly and being protective of the community (both city and county) and since there was great confusion and misinformation circulating, it would have been bad to proceed in such a manner. Especially considering the Comprehensive Plan is under current review and the actions of the planning commission are based on the language in the Comp Plan. I applaud the commissioners who had the wherewithal to publicly state they were confused and wanted to hold until clarifications to this proposal could be determined. Remember folks, this is all about allowing a text amendment to our zoning regs that will allow an unlimited number of bourbon warehouses to be built on any/all rural residential and agricultural lands. It is a sweeping proposal that can have effect all over our community - both city and county - and is tailor-made to a single industry/business. Thank you, Planning Commission, for taking a sensible and practical approach and your quest to get as much info as you can on the effects this action will have. And thanks to the members of the public working on the Comp Plan update. Remember, we're all in this together!
I was in attendance at the P&Z meeting where Director Robert Hewitt tried to ram his “ Bourbon is an agriculture product”, it says right here in this KY Dept. of Agriculture letter, so it must be true. To which the crowd booed, and Hewitt held up the letter and literally turned his back to the crowd waving it above his head like Richard Nixon getting on the Helicopter One and flipping off America that one last time. It was an embarrassing display for our community but it indicated where Hewitt’s allegiances lie. There had been other instances by both him and attorney Logan where both seem to be working for Buffalo Trace not the people of our community! Both were trying to hurry this thing up, because they knew that the new Comp Plan was coming. There is no doubt that KCDC’s Terri Bradshaw is working for Buffalo Trace, as she was sitting In solidarity with buffalo trace is crowd of first line employees still in there named shirts and hats as well as the distillery’s attorney and Master Distiller Harlan Wheatley, chatting it up with them. It was very obvious. They were all in it together, for sure!
Mrs Paulmbo is all wrong in her presumptions . Her hyperpartisanship with BT is exactly why we need to wait for the new plan. I seems to me that she and others mentioned would rather see BT destroy our green space in Franklin county for mega $ profits ($ billions)from their products, that we will never see here in Franklin county ,in the first place . The owner will have that $ in another state . And MORE IMPORTANTLY is we don’t want BT’s spills and black fungus destroy Elkhorn Creek’s ecology and environment ,along with our personal property . These anti environmentalist that want to sell our county to BT is beyond me . Are they really so self centered with their myopic vision way of thinking, that they really can’t see the danger to our childrens future , with their sycophantic worship of a mega pollutant ,natural resource destroy ,ethanol industry? Don’t we have anyone in our county and city that is hired ( not by BT) that has a Environmental Sustainability degree? Are ther all anti environmentalist working against the citizens in our community? Is Ky really 50 years behind the times?
State-Journal.com’s comments forum is for civil, constructive dialogue about news topics in our community, state, nation and world. We emphasize “civil” at a time when Americans, in the words of the current president, need to “turn down the temperature” of political debates. The State Journal will do its part by more carefully policing this forum. Here are some rules that all commenters must agree to follow:
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Who set the type for these letters?????
Well, obviously nobody sets the type for my comments, and the way this program is set up where I only see two lines at a time, it makes it very difficult to proofread what Siri writes when I dictate it to her. If I dally too long, it cut me off and I lose everything. So sometimes it’s pretty mishmashef but with a little imagination you kinda get the gist of it. In defense of the state journal, I think they do a pretty good job considering how few people they have doing this anymore. It’s a small town paper that’s suffering from the newspaper blues because Gen Xers don’t read newspapers anymore, and I’m told by my granddaughter that nobody reads newspapers anymore that she knows. They wear that like a badge of courage, instead of a smear on their character. Where do they get their news? Well the Internet and Facebook, of course! I asked her does she know what a Russian bot is…
The author makes conclusions that are not supported by the facts. Things like, “That vote halted all conversation about the future expansion of Buffalo Trace, or any distillery warehouses, for a minimum of two years — the expected time to complete the Comprehensive Plan.“
This statement is untrue, as it only holds up the planned expansion next to Peaks Mill Elementary School and an existing dense neighborhood, Arnold Ridge. Buffalo Trace has already built 12 behemoth 60,000 barrel (3.2 million gallons of ethanol) warehouses 2000 feet from the school and neighborhood in a very clandestine manner, that had no real public input because the way that it was not advertised.
Buffalo Trace is free to pursue building their gargantuan finishing industrial product warehouses anywhere else that they wish, does not next to the school and neighborhood. I would miss Palombo distort the facts like that? It sounds like Bradshaw wrote that herself. It certainly doesn’t give much confidence that our economic development CEO can be trusted to disseminate accurate and truthful information.
Mary Polumbo was Terri Bradshaw‘s only “witness“ in her false criminal SLAPP suit complaint to the Sheriff contending that I was “obsessed” with and stalking Bradshaw, harassing her and breaking into her office twice. Pulombo was interviewed by the detective although she had very little of substance to add. The sheriffs office investigative report concluded that there was nothing to any of Bradshaw’s gross allegations. Case was closed, but the damage was done! Mary Polumbo seems to still be caring Bradshaw’s water!
I watched this meeting online via live stream and I thought Mr. Looney's actions were based on the fact that there had been misinformation presented to the planning commissioners from the county planning staff at the previous two meetings - such as the commissioners being told they had voted on a matter related to this issue, yet when the minutes were reviewed, there had not been a vote. I believe that Mr. Looney and the majority of the planning commission were acting responsibly and being protective of the community (both city and county) and since there was great confusion and misinformation circulating, it would have been bad to proceed in such a manner. Especially considering the Comprehensive Plan is under current review and the actions of the planning commission are based on the language in the Comp Plan. I applaud the commissioners who had the wherewithal to publicly state they were confused and wanted to hold until clarifications to this proposal could be determined. Remember folks, this is all about allowing a text amendment to our zoning regs that will allow an unlimited number of bourbon warehouses to be built on any/all rural residential and agricultural lands. It is a sweeping proposal that can have effect all over our community - both city and county - and is tailor-made to a single industry/business. Thank you, Planning Commission, for taking a sensible and practical approach and your quest to get as much info as you can on the effects this action will have. And thanks to the members of the public working on the Comp Plan update. Remember, we're all in this together!
I was in attendance at the P&Z meeting where Director Robert Hewitt tried to ram his “ Bourbon is an agriculture product”, it says right here in this KY Dept. of Agriculture letter, so it must be true. To which the crowd booed, and Hewitt held up the letter and literally turned his back to the crowd waving it above his head like Richard Nixon getting on the Helicopter One and flipping off America that one last time. It was an embarrassing display for our community but it indicated where Hewitt’s allegiances lie. There had been other instances by both him and attorney Logan where both seem to be working for Buffalo Trace not the people of our community! Both were trying to hurry this thing up, because they knew that the new Comp Plan was coming. There is no doubt that KCDC’s Terri Bradshaw is working for Buffalo Trace, as she was sitting In solidarity with buffalo trace is crowd of first line employees still in there named shirts and hats as well as the distillery’s attorney and Master Distiller Harlan Wheatley, chatting it up with them. It was very obvious. They were all in it together, for sure!
I second Ms. Mitchell’s factual accounting!
Mrs Paulmbo is all wrong in her presumptions . Her hyperpartisanship with BT is exactly why we need to wait for the new plan. I seems to me that she and others mentioned would rather see BT destroy our green space in Franklin county for mega $ profits ($ billions)from their products, that we will never see here in Franklin county ,in the first place . The owner will have that $ in another state . And MORE IMPORTANTLY is we don’t want BT’s spills and black fungus destroy Elkhorn Creek’s ecology and environment ,along with our personal property . These anti environmentalist that want to sell our county to BT is beyond me . Are they really so self centered with their myopic vision way of thinking, that they really can’t see the danger to our childrens future , with their sycophantic worship of a mega pollutant ,natural resource destroy ,ethanol industry? Don’t we have anyone in our county and city that is hired ( not by BT) that has a Environmental Sustainability degree? Are ther all anti environmentalist working against the citizens in our community? Is Ky really 50 years behind the times?
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State-Journal.com’s comments forum is for civil, constructive dialogue about news topics in our community, state, nation and world. We emphasize “civil” at a time when Americans, in the words of the current president, need to “turn down the temperature” of political debates. The State Journal will do its part by more carefully policing this forum. Here are some rules that all commenters must agree to follow:
Absolutely no attacks on other commenters, on guest columnists or on authors of letters to the editor. Our print and online opinion pages are sacred marketplaces of ideas where diverse viewpoints are welcome without fear of retribution. You may constructively critique the ideas and opinions of others, but name-calling, stereotyping and similar attacks are strictly prohibited.
Leeway will be given for criticism of elected officials and other public figures, but civility is essential. If you focus your criticism on ideas, opinions and viewpoints, you will be less likely to run afoul of our commenting rules.
Keep comments focused on the article or commentary in question. Don’t use an article about the Frankfort City Commission, for example, to rant about national politics.
Hyperpartisanship that suggests anyone on the other side of an issue or anyone in a particular particular party is evil is not welcome. If you believe that all Democrats are socialists intent on destroying America or that all Republicans are racists, there are lots of places on the internet for you to espouse those views. State-Journal.com is not one.
No sophomoric banter. This isn’t a third-grade classroom but rather a place for serious consumers of news to offer their reactions and opinions on news stories and published commentary.
No consumer complaints about individual businesses. If you’ve had a bad experience with a private business or organization, contact the Better Business Bureau or the government agency that regulates that business. If you believe the actions of a private business are newsworthy, contact us at news@state-journal.com and we will consider whether news coverage is merited.
Absolutely no jokes or comments about a person’s physical appearance.
No promotion of commercial goods or services. Our outstanding staff of marketing consultants stands ready to help businesses with effective advertising solutions.
If you state facts that have not been previously reported by The State Journal, be sure to include the source of your information.
No attacks on State Journal staff members or contributing writers. We welcome questions about, and criticism of, our news stories and commentary but not of the writers who work tirelessly to keep their community informed. Corrections of inaccurate information in news stories should be sent to news@state-journal.com rather than posted in the comments section.