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| The council rezoned the hashed area, mainly in red. Lakeshore and AHK are only partly in the original Midway Station. |
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
The Midway City Council voted Tuesday evening to rezone most of the remaining residential land in Midway Station to industrial in hopes of bringing an undisclosed company with 32 jobs.
The rezoning, recommended by the Versailles-Midway-Woodford
County Planning Commission, largely closes a major chapter in the history of
the property north of Interstate 64.
Midway Station started out as an industrial park 30 years
ago, but attracted few jobs. In 2008, the city and the county Economic
Development Authority redesigned it as a commercial and residential
development. That plan was undermined by the Great Recession, and during the
economic recovery the property became attractive to employers like Lakeshore
Learning Materials and American Howa Kentucky, which turned it into a thriving
industrial park.
Developer Dennis Anderson first said he didn’t want to ask
for rezoning until he had a prospective buyer. This summer he joined the EDA in
asking the Planning Commission for the rezoning.
The council vote was 5-0. Council Member Kaye Nita Gallagher
was absent; she said later that she came to City Hall but left because she
didn’t feel well.
Barrel Project: The council voted to accept the Midway
Business Association’s offer to expand the sponsorship for one of several chairs to
be made from bourbon barrels and placed around the county as a tourist attraction.
The council had approved a $1,000 sponsorship to bring a
chair to Midway, commission an artist to decorate the chair and display it for
a six-week period, after which it would be auctioned. It passed up a $2,000
sponsorship that would allow collaboration with the artist on the design and
keep the chair in Midway permanently.
Steve Morgan, representing the MBA, proposed that it donate
an additional $1,000 so the city can help design the chair and keep it. The council voted 4-1, with Johnny Wilson voting no, to
switch to the $2,000 proposal.
Walter Bradley Park: Midway Parks Board Chair Cecelia Gass
updated the council on the progress of the 11 items that were budgeted for the
fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2019.
She said six items have been completed or are on their way to
completion: planting of 60 trees with edible fruits and nuts, mostly near
Midway University; a new entrance to the park behind the library, with a fence
built on top of the quarry for safety; a pergola over a walkway that received
too much rain; picnic pavilion railings; improvement of the fence-line near the
library with planted vines and flower fields; and a retaining wall near the
bridge.
Gass said about half of the budget has been spent, and this
was where the board projected they would be at this time.
Collective website: Elisha Holt, the MBA’s contracted
coordinator, asked the council to support a collective website for all of
Woodford County, with funds for the site’s marketing.
Holt said she needs $10,000 for one year for marketing
projects like billboards, and print and online media. If the council were to
agree to a partnership, Holt said the council has the choice of how much money
to donate.
“The community is looking for a place online where a person,
whether you’re a local, a tourist or somebody that’s considering moving to
Woodford County, one centralized location where you can go to get everything
you need to have,” Holt said.
The website’s title is UniquelyWoodford.com and would
contain an events calendar, aspects from each city such as council meetings,
public education, churches and health care, as well as tourism links, Holt
said.
She said all content would be linked back to the original
source, and that her goal is just to have a collective entity.
Council Member Sara Hicks voiced concerns, saying Holt’s
site would make the Meet Me in Midway website redundant. Holt replied, “Nothing
is duplicated.”
So far, the MBA and The Woodford Sun, which also contracts
with Holt, are partnering with her and will have links to their website on her
proposed site and vice versa, Holt said. She said she will be meeting soon with
the Versailles City Council and the Woodford County Tourism Commission.
Mayor Grayson Vandegrift suggested that the council not vote on the
proposal immediately and might want to “put it on the next budget.” Council
Member Steve Simoff, who is not running for re-election, said he is “all for
supporting Midway and the surrounding cities.”
Midway University softball field: Rusty Kennedy, Midway
University’s vice president of admissions and athletics, asked the council’s
permission to make improvements to the university’s softball field.
He said the university wants to add a sidewalk behind the
third base dugout that will lead to the blacktop, because of the mud
accumulation in the spring, and pour a 3-feet-high concrete wall along the
backstop from dugout to dugout.
Kennedy said the project cost would be supplemented by a
softball player’s father who owns a concrete company. He said they don’t need
any money from the city for the estimated $3,200 project, just the council’s
approval.
The council approved Kennedy’s request 5-0.
Upcoming events: The council also approved event permits for
the downtown Christmas season kickoff beginning the first Saturday in November. The events will include a chili cookoff, Santa Claus and a
mini-train. Here is the schedule:
Nov. 3: Event kickoff
Nov. 17: Chili cookoff
Nov. 24: RJ Corman Railroad Co. is to bring Santa, as usual
Dec. 8 and 15: Mini-train rides
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