Zoning change request filed for a second new whiskey warehouse complex

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Friday, July 24, 2015, 4 p.m. — Another rezoning request for bourbon distillery warehouses was filed this month that seeks to rezone four tracts totalling 154.7 acres on Loretto Road south of Bardstown from A-1 Agriculture District to I-2 Heavy Industry.

A second zoning change to allow construction of a bourbon warehousing complex has been filed with the Joint City-Council Planning Commission.

The zoning change request was filed July 14 by Harry and Laura Hurst LLC of Cox’s Creek. The land is located just south of the Willett Distillery complex on the east side of KY 49 and extends to the Bluegrass Parkway overpass.

The zoning request did not include a development plan for the property, but the application noted the property would be used for distillery warehouses. Jan Johnston-Crowe, director of the Joint City-County Planning Commission, said the land was located near other distillery property that is also zoned I-2.

The application did not specify a specific bourbon distillery who might have an interest in developing a warehouse complex on the site.

The planning commission will hold a public hearing on the request Aug. 24.

BOURBON BOOM. The filing is the second one in recent weeks related to bourbon whiskey warehousing.

Heaven Hill Brands and property owners Donnie and Mary Margaret Clark have a pending request to rezone 174 acres now zoned for agricultural use to I-2 Heavy Industry. That application was accompanied by a development plan with a proposed layout of a warehouse complex.

The application indicates the property would be accessed directly from Louisville Road. The property would also require approval of a conditional use permit.

Distilleries — and their warehouses — require the I-2 Heavy Industry zoning. However, the planning commission is considering a change that would allow distilleries to build warehouse complexes in rural areas zoned for agricultural uses.

If approved, the change would require the warehouse complex plan to meet specific guidelines before the would be allowed.

For example, the site must be a minimum of 100 acres; the warehouses must be traditional rickhouses and not palletized ones; sprinkler systems would be required in all warehouses, which could be no larger than 55,000 square feet in size nor taller than 60 feet. Any structures in the complex would need to be built a minimum of 200 feet from the property lines; at least 25 percent of the property would be dedicated to agricultural uses.

The Heaven Hill zoning request will be discussed in a public hearing 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, 2015, in the Fiscal Court meeting room at the Old Courthouse on Court Square. The meeting is open to the public.

The planning commission will hold a public hearing on this and other proposed zoning regulation change at a public hearing on Aug. 11.

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