Council rezones most of Midway Station, expands barrel chair project, hears park report, considers website

The council rezoned the hashed area, mainly in red. Lakeshore and AHK are only partly in the original Midway Station.

By Hannah Woosley and Sierra McLean
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