GEORGETOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — Thursday Night in a Scott County Fiscal Court meeting lasting more than three hours, a big focus centered on a comprehensive plan for the county's vision for the next ten years at the very least.
"This is a plan that's formed out of community input and feedback. We took into consideration previously enacted items and which areas needed improvement," Elise Ketz, Planner for the Georgetown-Scott County Planning Commission, said.
Ketz presented the plan, and shortly thereafter, on the agenda, the county continued discussions to create a business park on a 500-acre parcel of agricultural land off McClelland Circle in Georgetown.
"What was endorsed was the comprehensive plan, and that included the future land use map, which includes this area, so that was a big plus," Joe Pat Covington, Scott County Judge Executive, said.
There's pushback on the idea for the business park in part from a group of 750 members on social media, The Friends of Great Crossing, calling it a huge waste of natural resources.
"We just really want to make the point that the community is organized and they're opposed to this development and we want to ensure that everyone's aware of that," Erin Hsu said.
"I just don't want to see it all gobbled up by the highest bidder for industry and saying that we're going to increase tourism and saying we're going to increase jobs," Sarah Price said.
"We have 1.6 miles of Elkhorn Creek on the property. A business park is going to be a big threat, not only with flood zones but for the wildlife in this area. There are so many concerns that it's incredible to even think about why our local leaders are so woefully out of touch and wanting to put a business park in this particular area," Michael Crisp said.
"It's really kind of troubling because the way I see it we have nearly 6,000 students that could potentially be impacted in their travels both to and from school and for high schoolers that go back and forth to ECS. What that means is increased traffic could impact their drives to school and could add to potential accidents," Connor Price said.
Scott County Judge Executive Joe Pat Covington says the proposed business park could create 1400 jobs.
"The goal is to have product to attract good business and good paying jobs to our community," Covington noted.
Funding for the business park still needs to come through, stemming from the Kentucky Product Development Initiative.
Covington adds that they have the option to purchase a contract on this property, which costs $200,000 upfront, and those dollars go toward the purchase. There’s an option to extend for six months and that was amended and approved with an additional $100,000 at the most recent Scott County Fiscal Court meeting. That allows them to share the draft of the interlocal agreement, which will be shared with the Scott County Community.
Once financing is secured, the county wants to start construction on the business park in the next few months.
