Council moves to buy greenspace, revisits sign ordinance definitions
Councilmen Bobby Simpson, left, and Tommy Reed discuss the sign ordinance prior to the start of Tuesday’s Bardstown City Council meeting.
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014. 11 p.m. — The City of Bardstown is taking the first steps necessary to purchase approximately 16 acres of land between the city-owned educational complex (the former Old Kentucky Home Middle School property on East Muir) and My Old Kentucky Home State Park.
The city awarded bids at its meeting Tuesday for title review and an appraisal of the property. Crestview Hills-based Excel Title Services LLC submitted the low bid of $1,150 for a title opinion, while Rick O. Baumgardner of Elizabethtown was the sole bidder for appraisal services.
The property is part of a larger tract that was known at one time as “Tannery Hill,” eight acres of which is being held for development by its current owners. The 16 acres the city wants to buy is the hillsides, wetlands and wooded areas that make up the balance of the tract that is unsuitable for development.
“It’s part of this greenway project we’ve had in mind to go from the (Beech Fork) river to KY 245,” Larry Green, assistant city administrator told the council. A walking trail from KY 245 along this greenway to the river is one of the long-term plans, he explained. “This will be one link in that chain.”
Councilman Francis Lydian reviews documents during Tuesday night’s Bardstown City Council meeting.
Funding for the project is made available by a $85,000 grant from the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund Board. After the title examination and appraisal, the next is negotiating a purchase price, Green explained.
SIGN ORDINANCE. The city’s sign ordinance was the topic of discussion again on the city council agenda Tuesday night. The council held first reading earlier this month of revisions to the ordinance. However the definitions in that version needed additional work, which meant the ordinance process started over Tuesday night.
The revisions focus on definitions dealing with portable signs and vehicle signs. The new definitions classify a sign mounted on a vehicle that extends beyond the original surface of the vehicle as a portable sign.
Vehicle signs are defined as two-dimensional signs that conform to the original surface of the vehicle and are “incidental to the use of the vehicle, in conjunction with a bona fide business and are not for the purpose of display of signs.” Under the revised ordinance, vehicle signs would not require a permit “provided the vehicle maintains its mobility and is moved at least twice per week.”
The revised ordinance makes allowances for roof-mounted signs used by pizza delivery, taxi cabs and other businesses that make deliveries.
Councilman Tommy Reed emphasized the revisions are necessary in order to have all aspects of the city’s ordinance administered once again by the zoning administrator. The revised ordinance will go before the council for final approval at its Sept. 9. meeting.
The city’s sign ordinance committee will meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday to begin the review process of the entire ordinance, Reed told the council. A public hearing will be scheduled in the near future to get more input on possible changes to the sign ordinance, he said.
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