Board of Adjustment Revokes Permit, Closes Mine

Site of the “composting” operation

On Friday, Jan. 25th the Fayette County Board of Adjustment revoked a conditional use permit for “composting” on farm off Georgetown Road. Under the guise of this “composting” permit, the property owner removed over ten feet of topsoil and limestone rock and sold it for commercial purposes. Ultimately, the Board shut-down this operation by virtue of revoking the permit.

Fayette Alliance supported this decision, and also urged LFUCG to substantially reclaim the poor environmental conditions of this property.

According to the text book The Geological Story of Kentucky,  soil such as that found on the Georgetown Road property develops at a rate of 1 inch every 500 years…based on these numbers it would take mother nature at least 12,000 years to restore the topsoil that was removed from the farm without proper permits…

Our limestone basin and phosphorous rich soils are a big deal. When this limestone is exposed to weather over time, it generates the thick, fertile soils which constitute the “factory floor” of our acclaimed Bluegrass farmland and signature agriculture industries. Therefore, it must be protected—and if mined, properly regulated for our community’s well being.

While we are not against composting and mining operations per se—they must be operated in accordance with the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance and other applicable laws. On a countywide scale, planning and zoning laws are only as good as their enforcement, and LFUCG should investigate what it must do to prevent similar cases from happening in the future.

Read our full position statement:

Read More,

LFUCG Division of Planning Staff Report

Breaking the rules with few consequences; Unauthorized quarrying in rural zone for years

Op-Ed, 2.03.13, Kentucky.com

unauthorized, extensive quarrying in County rural zone for years

Lexington-Fayette County decided a long time ago to save our extraordinarily valuable countryside for agriculture and focus development in the city. It’s called planning, and it works pretty well when everyone plays by the rules.

But for over a decade, one landowner in the rural area has flouted the rules, turning acres of rich Bluegrass farmland into a strip mine, blasting, crushing and scraping the irreplaceable soil and limestone base to be hauled away and sold.

At this point, the landowner has been assessed one $75 fine for violating a zoning ordinance, which he’s appealing.

How could this go on so long with so few consequences?… Read more at Kentucky.com