By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The Barren County Fiscal Court hosted a discussion on countywide zoning Wednesday, April 2. For roughly an-hour-and-a-half county residents voiced their views of zoning throughout the county.
“This is a very open-ended meeting,” Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd said. “We’ve been dealing a lot here within the last… year with a lot of growth here in Barren County. So we just want to hear from you. Of course, the major topic tonight is planning and zoning. We have planning in the county, but we do not have zoning.”
The Barren County Fiscal Courtroom was filled with roughly 50 people, who were there to voice their opinions on countywide zoning — or lack thereof — in the county. Michael Crimmins/Glasgow News 1
The catalyst for the public forum was the Wood Duck Solar Project, which plans to build solar farms on 2,300 acres of land in western Barren County, however only a dozen of people spoke directly about the development. Many instead talked about the pros and cons of county zoning in general.
Michele Snyder said countywide zoning “was a dangerous game to get into.”
“We didn’t need it 30 years ago and we don’t need it now,” said David Dickerson, who is a former Barren County Judge-Executive. He was one of the attendees and left shortly after speaking.
Each of the seven magistrates had a chance to speak after the public forum, and most said they were still listening to pros and cons before voicing their opinion. Magistrate Derek Pedigo did not speak.
“This is a big deal,” Magistrate Tim Durham said. “I’m learning…that’s what we’re here for and this is helping each and every one of us.”
“The best thing about this is that everybody got to come together and the ones affected by this got to tell their side of the story,” Magistrate Ronnie Stinson said. “I like owning my land, I worked hard for it…but we need to know how everybody feels and what we can do to best help our county, whichever way that is.”
Tim Coomer was the only magistrate to voice support outright, saying zoning would provide some say on what’s built in the county.
“I’ll say right now I am for zoning in our county,” Coomer said. “The reason why is right now we have no say. I think everyone needs to be able to do with their land what they want to do to a certain extent, but when it starts taking value from other peoples’ land we need to have some setbacks.”
“We’ve got to start somewhere in controlling all this,” he added.
Magistrate Marty Kinslow said he had a different way of looking at this than others.
“I believe that the solar farm…is getting a bad wrap,” Kinslow said. “I already don’t like seeing land I use to work on not [being] a farm anymore. I don’t like seeing the land go.”
At the end of the town hall each magistrate got to speak. Magistrate Marty Kinslow said he had a different view on solar farms. He said he believed they had “gotten a bad wrap” and he hated to see farm land being taken and used for any reason. Michael Crimmins/Glasgow News 1
As previously reported, if county zoning was to move forward, Myatt said it would take “multiple, multiple” public meetings to inform as many people as possible and provide an opportunity where the public could weigh in on the Joint City-County Planning Commission’s proposed zoning maps.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission is the sole agency regulating the Wood Duck project and thus, as Byrd said, the decision to move the project further is not the county’s call. The Geenex solar farm is still awaiting final approval from the commission.
The project’s case with the commission and public comments can be viewed here.
