RICHMOND, Ky. (LEX 18) — In September 2023, Madison County adopted a new set of regulations for land use and subdivision developments. Of the additions, distilleries can now be built in agricultural zoning if conditional use is granted.
The change has some locals on high alert as distilleries eye Madison County as prime real estate.
Just last month, a conditional use permit application was filed on Jacks Creek Road for the purpose of building a large-scale distillery.
Developer Guinness McFadden, founder of Blackwood Distilling Co., outlined his vision for the distillery in a meeting with the Indigo Run HOA.
His plans call for a large-scale operation on the 586-acre parcel of land on Jacks Creek Road, yet he said the operations would take up only 15% of the property. The distillery would employ around 125 people and manufacture up to 500,000 barrels of bourbon.
Despite the potential for economic growth, some neighbors aren’t thrilled about the proposal.
“It makes me extremely concerned to have such a big facility right here neighboring the property that we run,” said Brittany Maggard, whose family farms more than 2,000 acres in the area.
“The roads out here are horrible; Jacks Creek is one of the worst in Madison County,” said Maggard, listing other concerns like traffic and whiskey fungus. Most of all, she fears the project would diminish the area's natural beauty.
“It could completely destroy our properties around here,” said Maggard.
Another Indigo Run neighbor, Savannah Westerfield, questioned why the distillery couldn’t be placed in an area with existing infrastructure, perhaps in an industrial zone.
“It's just not something Madison County needs,” said Westerfield.
After moving to Richmond from Lexington to escape the developments there, Westerfield is disappointed that a new neighbor could threaten the serenity of rural Richmond.
“I understand the bourbon industry is interwoven in Kentucky's history and it cannot be separated, but it is not interwoven in the fabric of Madison County,” said Westerfield.
With distilleries now allowed to apply for conditional use in agricultural zoning, she worries that this is far from the last proposal they’ll face.
The Madison County Board of Adjustments will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, at the Joint Information Center.
There, the proposal is expected to be discussed.
The meeting is open to the public.
