Magistrates delay decision on Luxco’s Botland bourbon warehouse project
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Monday, Dec. 11, 2023 — Nelson Fiscal Court conducted public hearing Monday night regarding Luxco Inc.’s application to build whiskey warehouses on 182 acres of land in Botland community but delayed taking final action.
After hearing testimony and public comments for just over 90 minutes, the magistrates tabled Luxco’s application and said they make a final decision at an upcoming Nelson Fiscal Court meeting.
The proposed warehouses are on property located in the heart of Botland and lie primarily between US150 Springfield Road to the north and Greer Lane and part of the Oak Knoll subdivision to the south.
Bardstown attorney Jim Willett represented Luxco — the parent company of Lux Row Distillers — and provided the magistrates an overview of Luxco’s investments in Bardstown and its plans for the Botland property.
The initial plan is to build five warehouses, though in a January presentation to fiscal court, the company said it planned to build as many as 22 warehouses on the property.
Willett, accompanied by Nick Nicholson, an attorney with the Lexington office of Stoll Keenan Ogden, presented the company’s application, highlighting how the application fits in with the county’s comprehensive plan.
COUNTY LEGALLY OBLIGATED? Additionally, Nicholson highlighted part of the agreement the county approved regarding Industrial Revenue Bonds for this project in January.
Part of that agreement states that the county has a legal obligation to approve the project. In the IRB agreement, the county agreed to “take or cause to be taken such other acts and adopt or cause to be adopted such further proceedings as may be required to implement” the proposed warehouse complex.
Several magistrates said they were never told where Luxco was planning to build their warehouses.
When the IRBs were discussed in January, the company had not purchased the property, and only referred to the project as “186 acres of land in Nelson County.” The agreement did not mention a specific location in the county.
Magistrates Jeff Lear, Jon Snow and Adam Wheatley disagreed with Willett’s contention that the magistrates were told where the project property was located.
Wheatley said he asked where the property was located and was unable to get an answer beyond “186 acres in Nelson County.”
PUBLIC FEEDBACK. Many area residents who spoke questioned how the project fit with the county’s comprehensive plan, which considers Botland a “hamlet” of a suburban/residential character, and not truly a rural area.
Willett explained that the comprehensive plan looks at future land uses, and it has its own descriptions for land uses. Fiscal court’s zoning regulations do not use the same terminology, he explained. The ordinance simply refers to “rural area” and does not use the same terms as the comprehensive plan.
Others voiced concern about the black whiskey fungus said to be fueled by the “Angel’s breath,” the evaporated alcohol vapors that escape from bourbon warehouses.
The magistrates voted 5-0 to table the application to have time to review all the exhibits and testimony. The magistrates’ decision will be at an upcoming Nelson Fiscal Court meeting.
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