Maywood, Heaven Hill warehouses target of proposed city annexation plan

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Annexation Committee chairman Fred Hagan, right, starts the committee’s meeting Wednesday with a discussion of options for the city’s latest annexation effort.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 6 p.m. — The Bardstown city limits may soon include the residents of Maywood, the Heaven Hill Distilleries warehouse complex and Barton Lake.

That was the recommendation approved Wednesday afternoon by the Bardstown City Council’s annexation committee. The committee agreed to recommend the council begin first with an economic analysis of taking in the proposed annexation areas.

Committee chairman Fred Hagan noted that annexation is a part of the natural growth of a city.

“I personally think its time we look at this,” Hagan said. “The city needs to grow in an orderly fashion, and I think its time we get started.”

ANNEXATION OPTIONS. The committee closely examined how it will propose an annexation that will extend the city limits to Maywood via the Pottershop Road corridor.

One annexation option would include annexing properties along Pottershop Road as well as those on Breezy Way and Winddrift Court, Larry Green, assistant city administrator told the committee. Homeowners there however do not have city sewers or annexation agreements, which prevents property owners from contesting annexation, Green explained.

The city currently requires developments that request city sewer services to have agreements in place that property owners they will not oppose future annexation.

To avoid homes without sewer agreements in the Breezy Way area, Green suggested annexing a strip — 10 or 20 feet — of the backyards of the properties necessary to extend the city limits to Maywood. The move would allow the Maywood annexation while avoiding homes without agreements.

Green said the Kentucky League of Cities recommends consulting a legal expert to evaluate the annexation plan as a way to avoid problems.

Councilman Bobby Simpson said he would like to confirm the legality of annexing 10 or 20-foot strips of homes’ backyards in order to extend the city limits to reach Maywood.

Green said avoiding homes without annexation agreements was probably the best option. “Maybe I don’t like to make people mad, but we aren’t changing any services they have,” he said.

The annexation will also avoid taking in homes along Gilkey Run Road, Green said.

“If we make this recommendation, I want us to be rock-solid sure how this happens from a legal standpoint and a taxing standpoint,” Hagan told the committee.

Public Works Director Larry Hamilton noted that historically, sewer service has been the determining factor of which areas the city has annexed.

In his motion, Hagan said the annexation should avoid homes without annexation agreements for simplicity’s sake. The proposed annexation would include Maywood, Barton Lake, the Heaven Hill warehouse complex, the homes on McDonald Lane, and the strips of property necessary to avoid homes without annexation agreements.

Several visitors attending the meeting, including two representatives from Heaven Hill who did not have an opportunity to speak to the committee.

UP NEXT. The committee’s recommendation could be presented to the Bardstown City Council at its meeting Tuesday, March 24.

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