The Henderson County Board of Zoning Adjustments tabled a vote on granting a conditional use permit to Terror on the Trail and asked that organizers of the popular haunted trail meet with the county codes administrator to come to agreeable regulations for the event.
Terror on the Trail, a nonprofit that raises money from admission that goes to local families caring for children with chronic illnesses needing special care, didn’t operate during Halloween this year while it dealt with cited codes violations.
In 2024, TOTT raised $40,000 which was divided among four local families, according to founder and former director Matt Gibson.
BOZA’s request that Codes Administrator Randy Tasa and TOTT work together to find agreeable conditions for the venue to operate gives organizers a breath of life that the haunted trail will be back in operation for two weekends next October.
“They didn’t shut us down,” Gibson said.
But the two sides will need to come to agreement first. Among the most mentioned violations Monday night at BOZA’s meeting were decorations that remained in trees long after the end of the haunted trail, barrels that remained on the property collecting rain water that could lead to breeding mosquitoes and facades built to look like the fronts of buildings that populate scenes along the trail.
Additionally, BOZA members and Tasa, during the meeting, said that there had been some repeated issues in the past that weren’t corrected.
And though TOTT representatives assured BOZA members that the property was in good standing now—they played short videos that showed panoramas of the land recorded recently—the board wanted to know if TOTT would follow guidelines in the future.
TOTT’s new director, Jada Hamby, said that new leadership is in place for the organization and organizers are working to put together a committee that could keep it in compliance with codes. She told the board they were looking forward to “the opportunity to impress you.”
No conditions were put in place on the venue Monday night. But Tasa read a list of sample conditions that he had prepared to be included in a motion if the board had chosen that direction.
Those included:
- Operating only on two consecutive weekends each year
- Beginning decorating no more than 60 days before the weekends of operation and cleaned up no more than 30 days after it has ended
- Six-foot of seven-foot fence screening on both sides of the property
- Acquiring a special event permit annually
- Appointing workers to direct traffic at all times during the event
- Assuring that neighbors aren’t blocked in by parked vehicles and can come and go at all times
- No permanent structures on the property
- Required county codes inspections of the property 61 days before the start of the event and 31 days after
Although Gibson is no longer the director, the venue is located on 25 acres he owns and lives on off of Ky. 416 in the Hebbardsville area. Because it’s his land, board chair Dickie Johnson asked if he’d be agreeable to these conditions.
Gibson replied that one condition that would be difficult to comply with is putting up fencing along both sides of the property to screen from neighbors. He estimated it would be $40,000 worth of fencing.
“That would be tough for this organization that has really limited funds,” he said.
In the end, the board voted 4-0 to table the matter. In board member Bruce Pritchett’s motion, Tasa and TOTT organizers should meet to determine mutually acceptable conditions. Once that has been completed, the two sides will appear before the county BOZA again at which time the board will vote, according to Pritchett’s motion.
A timeframe for the vote was not given.
