Marshall County Fiscal Court in a 3-1 vote Tuesday granted a Calvert City request to allow the city additional zoning privileges as it relates to wellhead protection to land that, if developed, could affect the city’s only aquifer.
The request is part of a plan to include land near the corridor of U.S. Highway 62 from Exit 27 to Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park in city authority for the purposes of protecting the city’s well heads from potential contamination. The land is not within Calvert City limits.
Calvert City Attorney Greg Northcutt and Mayor Lynn Jones appeared before the court on Tuesday to discuss action that had been taken since that meeting and the city’s intent.
“Our goal here is not to be oppressive and dictatorial to them, but to be a partner and a friend and to protect their properties at the highest level of protection that we can provide,” Jones said. “And the wellhead protection would provide those wells that are on North Marshall water or Calvert water (this) office and protection and search for information much more readily accessible to property owners. … So we would anticipate that that dialogue would continue. We will have another meeting pretty soon.”
The city introduced its request during the April 11 fiscal court meeting, during which time the court agreed to consider the resolution pending notification of affected property owners.
However, the court tabled action on the resolution during its May 2 meeting, after several property owners turned out to express concern over the project. The court directed the city to contact the 53 affected property owners and arrange an informational meeting on the issue before the court would pass the resolution that would give the city zoning authority in the area.
Jones said the city contacted the 53 identified owners to schedule an informational meeting, which took place May 11. Jones said, overall, that meeting proved successful.
“From the response, we had 24 property owners that either attended the meeting, called me personally to ask questions or had a representative present at that meeting,” Jones said. “I’m glad to report to you that for the wellhead protection paradigm all property owners with the exception of one, and I’m having to guess from his demeanor and from his rhetoric (he) would have opposed any kind of wellhead protection, all the rest of those property owners are in favor of the wellhead protection.”
Jones said the city would return to the court to request at a later date to renew its request for general zoning authority in the area, after the city had conducted additional meetings with property owners on such matters. Jones said most residents had questions surrounding general zoning rather than wellhead protection concerns.
Still, some property owners had unanswered questions, such as what would be unacceptable material to put in the ground or utilize at their residences. Judge-Executive Kevin Neal said some residents had reached out to him since the meeting expressing confusion and disapproval. Neal questioned whether proper education of property owners had taken place as well as why a resolution was necessary if the same objective could be met with ongoing education efforts.
“What I’m learning about the wellhead protection … is that there are other options,” Neal said. “Education for the landowners is one of those options. … I know that there’s been a lot of landowners, that when it comes to zoning or when it comes to regulations, obviously they have questions. But I think looking at this, correct me if I’m wrong, if there are landowners that are in that aquifer that may be contaminating, obviously you want to contact them. Find the source, educate maybe – it’s not being contaminated, I don’t think it is – the education piece is huge for this. … If you educate them on what they can and can’t do, the dos and the don’ts, the things that are common across the state as far as what contaminates an aquifer or whatever program, you might find that you’ll get landowners who will follow.”
Northcutt said while the majority of property owners would do the right thing and had the community’s best interest at heart, others were less altruistic.
“From my perspective, the zoning element allows us to head it off before it becomes a problem,” Northcutt said. “… Say, if somebody wanted to put a gas station in, and you didn’t have the ability to say that you’ve got to put terms to contain petroleum spills and so forth, then they … can do whatever they wanted to do. Now, they might have to deal with EPA after the fact, (but) on that portion of water, it would be too late at that point. It serves, from my perspective, it serves a real critical function, because unfortunately sometimes people don’t care about the community as much as they do their pocketbook.”
Neal expressed concern that only those affected property owners living within city limits had been notified of city plans on zoning and wellhead protection in prior years when preparing to submit five-year plans. Neal also suggested putting together community planning teams to improve that communication.
District 1 Commissioner Bob Gold said the court could approve the resolution upon condition that the city maintained communication and education efforts with property owners.
“I can tell you that according to the county attorney that we can revoke that privilege at any point in time,” Gold said. “And if they do not continue on with education and we don’t get a report back that that’s being done … that’s something we can remove. We can remove their authority, absolutely, (and) it’s just a vote of this court.”
Gold and fellow commissioners Rick Cocke and Johnny Bowlin voted to pass the resolution; Neal opposed the measure.
In other business, the county took the next steps in replacing the bridge that suffered damage during July 2016 flooding on Shar-Cal Road. Shawn Miller, marketing coordinator for the DLZ Corporation, the engineering and architecture firm tapped to design and build the project, said the project was in its final steps prior to construction. Project estimates were also lower than initially expected, with total construction costs expected to reach $605,516; original estimates were up to $850,000 to complete the project.
“We realized that we had money in there for utility work, if … utility relocation was going to be an issue,” Miller said. “From all the conversations I’ve had with the City of Calvert City, Paducah Water which has a line nearby, Casey in the GIS office, there’s no utilities to deal with, so we were able to save a lot of money there. Right now, there’s only a couple things left that needs to be done before we can actually put this out for a construction bid. One of the issues that still is outstanding is the right-of-way. … The county believes there is right-of-way, general right-of-way, going 30 foot out from center line on that road. I did the deed research myself, and all I could find was one deed … referencing 170-foot out from the center of the channel going in each direction.”
Miller said ideally DLZ would have 260 feet of right-of-way with which to work, however, it was the county’s decision to determine for certain if that right-of-way was good or if more was necessary. Miller said temporary easements would need to be obtained to move equipment in and out of the area to complete construction.
The court elected to obtain a survey for right-of-way for the project.
Miller said otherwise, the project hinged on obtaining the necessary permits. Miller said DLZ hoped to have the project bid for construction next month and completed by mid-fall.
In other business, the court:
- Approved the 2016 tax settlement with Sheriff Kevin Byars in the amount of $2,018,086.19 on real and personal property;
- approved the 2016 franchise tax settlement with Byars in the amount of $82,277.45;
- approved the 2016 supplemental and unmined mineral tax settlements;
- approved budget appropriation transfers of $32,423.43 for 911 salaries and $459.89 in 911 communication expenses;
- entered into agreement with the Marshall County Treasurer’s office for accounting services;
- entered into an agreement with the Kentucky Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau for the Marshall County Treasurer’s office to provide accounting services to KLCVB;
- voted to provide office space to CASA;
- entered into an interlocal agreement with Hardin, Benton and Calvert City to consolidate building code inspector services and form a joint board to enforce Kentucky Building Codes; and
- entered into an interlocal agreement with the Marshall County Refuse Department for the Marshall County Treasurer’s office to provide accounting services to the refuse department.
To read full tax settlement reports, click here. Watch for the full video of Tuesday’s fiscal court meeting on our YouTube channel.