The Henderson City-County Planning Commission unanimously approved the rezoning of two City of Henderson-owned parcels behind the Walmart shopping center to highway commercial at its Tuesday evening meeting.
City officials are planning to develop the parcels, totaling 34 acres, and hope to attract retail, restaurants and hotels there at a location that is highly visible from I-69 which passes to the south of it. They have said they will probably at some point sell the land to a developer who will then find the businesses to locate there.
There are numerous pieces to the overall vision of the development effort in that area, and Mayor Brad Staton spoke about several at the meeting, including a new entrance/exit road that would connect U.S. 41 to the parcels and what officials are terming the “Loop Road,” which is planned to connect the development with U.S. 60 at Wathen Lane in a looped fashion with much of the road paralleling I-69.
Much of the proposed Loop Road would pass through private property, and those landowners have already agreed to that right of way, officials have said. This would also allow for development east of the city-owned land all the way to U.S. 60 by the property owners, say city officials.
The city’s focus is on the just-rezoned land. Staton said city officials are currently working on restrictive covenants that will in part set rules as to what types of businesses can locate there, and those with the city are also creating design standards for the buildings that will be constructed. The mayor said those regulations will allow for the retail properties to be on par with what is already in the area, including the newly built homes in the Bentley Point subdivision. He said new development will not decrease property values and instead should increase them.
The mayor called the development of the land in this area “one of the largest growth initiatives we’ve had in this community for quite some time.”
Bentley Point resident Rick Rives was concerned that the new development would cause flooding at a ditch on his property. He said when there’s a heavy rain the water already rises well over its banks. Officials said that the future developer of the land must plan for the mitigation of runoff before a site plan is approved.
Finally, a triangular parcel of land owned by the city abutting the Bentley Point subdivision was not rezoned and will remain zoned as agricultural. Staton said the city would work with residents to perhaps convert the 5-plus acres to a park.
In other news:
The planning commission will hold a public hearing concerning data centers at its Nov. 3 meeting.
The Henderson County Fiscal Court at a July meeting approved a request for the planning commission to originate a text amendment to the county’s zoning ordinances that would regulate data centers, said Brian Bishop, the planning commission’s executive director.
Since then, the planning commission staff prepared documents in response to the fiscal court’s request. The first is a proposal for a two-year moratorium, which is consistent with what has occurred in the county for solar energy systems, wind energy conversion systems and battery energy storage systems, Bishop said.
The other document prepared by the planning commission staff is a very “protective” ordinance that is based on what the Kentucky Resource Council has created regarding data centers, Bishop said. The Kentucky Resource Council is an environmental law group out of Frankfort, Bishop said.
Information about both approaches can be found on the planning commission’s website.
Chair David Dixon said the planning commission needs to hold a public hearing. He also asked that staff keep abreast of federal and state activity that may influence local policy.
At the end of Tuesday’s meeting, the planning commission approved a motion that the public hearing will entail discussion surrounding the possible two-year moratorium concerning data centers.
Additionally, a revised battery energy storage system ordinance will also be discussed at the Nov. 3 meeting. The proposed amended BESS ordinance is a product of work from Airline Road resident Deirdre McConathy and Bishop, Henderson County Attorney Steve Gold and an attorney that McConathy hired.
