Council members get close-up look at Bardstown Fire’s newest apparatus

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022 — The Bardstown City Council received a guided tour of the city fire department’s newest apparatus prior to the council meeting Tuesday evening at the Bardstown Fire Department’s Station 1 on East John Rowan Blvd.

Firefighter Trevor Mattingly showed the council around the truck, which includes an array of additional features that provide extra margins of safety for firefighters, as well as equipment features that will assist firefighters in fighting fires.

Fire Chief Billy Mattingly noted that the truck has a visual indicator that can be viewed from a distance that will indicate the amount of water the truck’s internal tank is holding. As the water is used, the indicator lights — on either side of the cab — show a different color. This allows firefighters to know how much water they have at a glance.

The council approved the purchase of the new truck in August 2020 at a cost of approximatley $671,822.

GUMBALL 3000 RALLY. The council approved a request to close North Third Street on Monday, May 30, 2022, in preparation for downtown’s role as the lunch stop for the 22nd Annual Gumball 3000 Rally.

The annual event is the world’s largest luxury car road rally, and will bring celebrities and the rich and famous from around the world for the 7-day, 3,000 mile event.

The rally begins May 27, 2022 in Toronto, Canada, and ends in Havana Cuba on June 3rd. The rally’s stop in Bardstown on Monday, May 30th, is the lunch stop between the day’s starting point — Indianapolis — and destination that day in Nashville.

The council approved the request from the Touristt Commission to close the first two blocks of North Third Street from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 30, 2022.

SHORT-TERM RENTALS. The council approved the first reading of changes to the city’s regulations governing short-term rentals in the city limits.

The biggest change will affect short-term rental properties that are owned by investors or others who own the property but don’t live there.

The new ordinance, once approved, will prohibit short-term rentals from being closer than 400 feet to one another.

According to Planning Administrator Jan Johnston-Crowe, the changes won’t prohibit short-term rentals, but will limit their density. The new rules will give much-needed guidance to the city’s board of adjustments, whose job it is to consider applications for new short-term rentals.

Nelson Fiscal Court has briefly discussed the new regulations, but has not voted if the county regulations will match those of the city.

The changes are the first revision of the regulations since they were put in place in 2017.

In other business, the council:

— approved a $6,700 change order regarding the replacement of the American Greetings sewer pump station to allow three months of additional construction time to complete the job.

— approved a request to accept a sewer main extension for four single-family homes on Rowan Creek Drive.

— awarded bids from Superior Technologies for locked-in labor rates for services provided on city projects. The bids are only for labor and not materials.

— approved a bid of $377,042 for the labor to construction a pre-engineered steel building that will serve as the shop building for the city’s cable TV shop that will be build on Kelly Drive.

— the council approved a five-year tax moratorium request from the new owners of the former Holiday Inn property on New Haven Road at the Bluegrass Parkway. The new owners plan to invest as much as $10 million in renovating the property.

NEXT UP. The Bardstown City Council’s next regularly meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, 2022, in the council chambers next to the Rec. Center gym on Xavier Drive.

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