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To Be or Not to Be?
Bowling Green Transpark hits speed bumps

The logo of Warren County’s Inter-Modal Transportation Authority (ITA) is a train track that morphs into an airplane and then a highway in one easy, crescent-shaped curve. In real life, the critical path between planning and implementation for the 4,000-acre commercial development site northeast of Bowling Green is an obstacle course studded with potholes and speed bumps.

Warren County Citizens for Managed Growth (WCCMG), activists with Karst Environmental Education and Protection (KEEP) and a coalition of scientists, environmentalists and landowners, have objected to the transpark from the start. Back-and-forth volleys have taken the form of letters to the editor, media releases, newspaper articles, radio and tv interviews, heated public testimony, lawsuits and appeals.

The dialog has been the “he said/they said” variety, with both sides claiming the long-term needs of the region guide their actions. Nevertheless, they have clashed on every aspect of the project – site selection, funding, validation of the need for more development and a new airport, possible groundwater contamination, the challenges and costs associated with major construction on karst, and the level of public support for the multi-modal development.

Honda letter heightens conflict
Finger-pointing reached new heights in early July, when a group of detractors wrote to Honda executives based on the erroneous assumption that the car maker was planning to construct a facility in the transpark.

The letter declared, “We object to the specific area proposed for the transpark and to any business that may want to locate there,” and outlined five key areas of contention:

1. Potential harmful environmental impacts on Mammoth Cave National Park.
2. Unsuitability of the land for heavy industry, based on karst composition with possible collapse and subterranean pollution.
3. Threats to historic properties and farmland.
4. Air quality standards that may be affected by the transpark.
5. Organized local, state and national opposition to the project.

Reactions from transpark proponents were swift and irate. An article in the Bowling Green Daily News by Warren County Judge Executive Mike Buchanon blasted the letter writers, claiming they intend to stop “development and industry, even if it harms every hard-working person in this region.”

Buchanon pointed out that of nine, only one signer of the letter appears to actually live in the city limits of Bowling Green. The others were public officials from Oakland, Ky., a hamlet of about 200 north of the Transpark site; an attorney from Louisville; a Sierra Club officer from Lexington; and a noted cave explorer and writer from Dayton, Ohio.

In his response to the Honda letter, Buchanon tagged them “economic terrorists.”

According to Joey Roberts, founder of Warren County Citizens for Managed Growth (WCCMG), his organization “had nothing to do with that letter,” though one of the signers was WCCMG president J.R. Stucki. Roberts also remarked that it was unfortunate the action was based on a faulty conclusion about Honda’s plans, but found nothing else inaccurate in the content.

Impact on recruitment unknown
Regardless of its faulty assumption, the letter achieved one important mission, said Oakland city commissioner John Blubaugh. “We have been trying to get attention for our plight,” he said. “If the letter had been about a local issue, it would have gone nowhere.”

Both sides claim the resulting controversy has attracted support for their cause. Mayor Sandy Jones believes that people are tired of hearing complaints about the project. “There is a huge amount of everyday people, who know that growth and economic development are important,” she added.

ITA president Dan Cherry, admitted outrage to the letter, “But in a strange way,” he remarked, “it helps us. People who have not been engaged in the process before, are now.”

This is the second time in recent months that local opposition has tried to block an economic development effort by going straight to a potential recruit. Recently, Governor Patton blamed the selection of an Alabama site for a proposed Hyundai plant on a Glendale landowner whose family wrote a letter to corporate executives opposing the plant. Economic development officials are now looking for a new industrial client for that site, near Elizabethtown.

Project moves ahead, faces roadblocks
In spite of the opposition, the Warren County transpark is moving ahead. As of July 8, Dan Cherry reported that approximately 550 acres have been acquired, about half of the 1,200 they expect to option in Phase 1 of the project. Purchase prices ranged from between $6,000 and $10,000 an acre. A rounded-off total of $5,172,000 has been expended.

Approximately 163 acres have been re-zoned from agriculture to heavy and light industrial use. The decision was appealed unsuccessfully once, and another appeal to the Franklin County Circuit Court judge is pending.

A $ 25 million bond issue was approved by the Warren County Fiscal Court, and survived one appeal to the local debt officer. That decision is subject to a plea to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

Legal services have created costs for the transpark – about $255,000 this fiscal year – but Dan Cherry declares, “We are not out of money. We don’t begrudge paying a fair price for the land,” he went on, “but we resent the frivolous appeals and lawsuits.”

A risk analysis for the airport component of the project was completed by Landrum & Brown, a Cincinnati-based airport consulting firm, in July. Funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, the study concluded that the proposed relocation of the existing Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport was reasonable in terms of aviation demand and economic considerations.

Airport faces impact study
According to the report, relocation of the existing airport would cost $43 million, including debt service, land acquisition and construction costs. Of that, $23 million would be paid for with proceeds from the sale of land at the existing airport.

FAA’s Memphis Regional Office also worked on the risk analysis, and a panel of seven experts in various fields reviewed it.

Despite the conclusions of the risk analysis, opponents insist that the current airport is being used at 26% of capacity, and that airport construction on karst will incur costs far greater than those outlined in the analysis.

The next step will be an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), conducted with guidance of the FAA, which will pick up 90 percent of the cost. The state of Kentucky will fund another five percent, with the ITA funding the rest.

Approval of the request for an EIS is pending. ITA projects the study’s completion in 2005, with design and construction targeted for 2006-2007, and the new facility opening in 2008.

FAA spokesman Christopher White explained ballpark figures for an EIS are two to three years, with every study unique in its timetable. The public and other government entities have opportunities to provide input and identify potential issues throughout the process, and their comments are taken into account before the EIS is finalized.

“The final Record of Decision is a comprehensive document,” White explained. “It looks at a range of factors such as impact on air quality, noise, wetlands and prime farmland.”

Bowling Green’s location, with convenient access to Route 65, CSX railroad lanes and possibly Route 66, makes it a sensible component for a system of just-in-time delivery. The proposed airport, as described on ITA’s Web site, is the centerpiece of the complex. It has been a key factor in the strategy to distinguish the transpark from other commercial development projects in the region.

The future of the airport hinges on the EIS. “We’re doing this right,” Cherry says, “taking it one step at a time. We address issues as they come up and have go/no go decision points built into the planning process.”

Master plan will add tangible details
A detailed master plan – including interior roads, utilities, landscaping and artist renderings – is on track for completion in November. “It will serve as a marketing tool,” Dan Cherry said. “People will be able to envision the park.”

Right now, the transpark is depicted in stock images on the brochure and pastel sketches on the Web site. There are winding trails through tree-lined expanses, tranquil ponds, and amenities like carved stone benches and sturdy bike racks. “At the moment,” Sandy Jones explains, “there is nothing physical that marks the transpark. What you see now is scattered small homes and farmland.”

Pros/cons see different benefits/costs
Proponents envision high-paying, high tech jobs in support of responsible economic development. A pay rate in excess of $12 per hour is a target, according to Mayor Jones. The ITA quotes an annual salary of $31,000. By 2010, an estimated 2,500 new jobs will be created at the transpark.

Detractors tag the project ‘Transpork,’ asserting that $6 million in planning funds provided by the state has already been squandered, and proposed bond issues could leave taxpayers holding the bag if the project does not take off as hoped. WCCMG’s Joey Roberts warns that the Warren County project could suffer the fate of Global TransPark, a failed effort in Kinston, North Carolina, that received public funds and never achieved its projected outcomes.

From the beginning, those against the transpark have contended that the scope of negative issues goes beyond local concerns. At the state level, they point out, there are currently no laws that require a public referendum before projects like the transpark move from planning to implementation.

Within the system of approvals and appeals, public hearings are the primary vehicle for citizen input. For four years, the opposition had attended these hearings, voiced their opinions, presented facts to document their concerns. Dan Cherry believes their motives have been “to destroy the project no matter what.”

Inevitably, the other side has a rejoinder. “They’ve used the local power structure against the people,” John Blubaugh asserts.

The city commissioner of the Oakland community and one of the signers of the Honda letter goes on to say: “Everything points to this being an under-estimated and over-promoted project. We have experts, evidence, proof that what they propose is contrary to what they profess. It’s just not right.”

Constance Alexander is an award-winning columnist and independent public radio producer in Murray, Kentucky.
editorial@lanereport.com

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