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Elizabethtown still seeing spike in development from BlueOval SK announcement

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Elizabethtown Planning and Development Director Joe Reverman recapped development in 2024 during a joint meeting of the Elizabethtown City Council and Elizabethtown Planning Commission Monday.

Reverman said the increase in development that came with the announcement of BlueOval SK can be clearly seen in the data.

“With the spike that you see there from 2022, 23, and 24, that three-year span, if you compare that to 2018, 19, and 20, which is kind of like your pre-BlueOval era, that’s about a 30 percent increase in the number of building permits that were issued after BlueOval,” Reverman said.

Reverman said major projects in the industrial park, the expansion of Baptist Health Hardin, and a spike in apartment complex construction has led to an increase in construction costs.

“You can see again that 2022 spike after the BlueOval announcement, and that represents about, if you look at 22, 23, and 24 again, compared to 2018, 19, and 20, that’s about a 250 percent increase in the cost of construction that we’ve seen over that three-year span,” Reverman said.

During his update, reverman said one of the biggest challenges the city will see is developing multiple types of housing. The development of multi-family housing like apartment complexes that has come since the BlueOval SK announcement is something the area had not seen before.

“There really was a change in the housing market post-recession in 2008 that really never hit our city just due to the size and kind of the steady nature that we were growing at,” Reverman said. “We were recession-proof, which was a good thing, but we never really saw the change in the housing market until we saw this big housing boom come after BlueOval in 2022.”

Reverman said goals in 2025 for Elizabethtown Planning and Development are improving residential development standards, developing a downtown master plan, and rolling out online permitting/licensing software. Learn more by visiting the Planning and Development page on the Elizabethtown city website.

Law enforcement warns of ongoing scams

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Area law enforcement is warning of ongoing scam attempts.

The Elizabethtown Police Department is warning residents of a scam concerning fake alerts from RiverLink. The EPD says the scammers send a fake toll notice via text warning of an unpaid fee and impending late fee. The message links to a fake website to collect payment, where customers will be asked to enter their personal and financial information. The EPD says never click on the link in a suspicious message, verify tolls on the actual RiverLink website, and report phishing texts to your mobile carrier or law enforcement.

Meanwhile, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office says a scammer has been spoofing the sheriff’s office’s number and making phone calls to residents. The scammer tells the caller they missed jury duty and must pay a fee in order to avoid a warrant being put out for their arrest. The sheriff’s office does not solicit money over the phone, so if you receive such a phone call, do not give any of your personal information and hang up. If you have concerns, contact the sheriff’s office’s non-emergency line.

Scams can also be reported to the Scam Tracker on the Better Business Bureau’s website.

Elizabethtown council approves annexations, outdoor music venue contract

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The Elizabethtown City Council met for their first meeting of the month Monday afternoon.

The council approved three ordinances on their second readings that annexed 154 acres at 1750 Gaither Station Road, .482 acre at 2031 Bardstown Road, and 68 acres at 1001 Ring Road/Patriot Parkway from unincorporated Hardin County. The Gaither Station Road property will be zoned Regional Industrial while the other two will be zoned Regional Commercial.

The council also approved a municipal order amending a contract with construction firm Congleton-Hacker for the next phase of the Commerce Drive outdoor music venue project.

“The amendment to the contract will include tree clearing and site work for an amount not to exceed $10 million,” said Elizabethtown City Attorney Ken Howard, reading from the municipal order.

Congleton-Hacker was previously contracted for pre-construction services on the project.

Elizabethtown Director of Public Works Don Hill provided statistics on the city’s snow removal efforts. Hill said city workers put in 1,900 man hours to plow and treat 1,000 miles of city roadways as they tackled nine inches of snow and 3/10 an inch of ice over the week.

“This week’s focus, we’re going to be working on getting the equipment ready, making repairs, getting that ready, restocking our salt storage, working on removing obstructions from drainage facilities because as the snow melts off we have to get it off the streets, and then also we’re doing street inspections and assessments to look for potholes and deficiencies that may have been caused by the operation last week,” Hill said.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet January 21.

Radcliff council talks zoning change, trash pick up during work session

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The Radcliff City Council met for a called meeting in order to go into closed session, and then met for a work session Monday afternoon.

The council reviewed vehicles and equipment that the council will vote to declare surplus at their next meeting. Radcliff Mayor JJ Duvall said most of the items are retired police vehicles.

Radcliff Planning Director Murray Wanner discussed a proposed zoning change for 3491 South Wilson Road.

“The existing land use classification of the property is a farm and the surrounding properties consist of single-family residential and vacant property,” Wanner said. “The Radcliff Planning Commission has recommended approval of the zone map amendment from a R-3 zone to a R-4 zone.”

The meeting was the first for newly-elected Council Member Maria Bell, who thanked the public for their trust in her to help lead the city.

“I know a little of what I am going to face and I don’t know a lot, but I have plenty of people here to help me, and I thank you again and I hope it’s not all Greek to me,” Bell said.

Members of the council discussed the delay in garbage pick-up due to winter weather in the area. Green River Waste has stated they will be picking up additional garbage bags placed next to cans in order to make up for the days lost last week. Duvall said the Green River crews have been dealing with the same problems anybody else has in the weather.

“They don’t want to make multiple trips, so trust me, if they could have picked your garbage up and done it last week, they would have done it last week,” Duvall said. “It’s just the fact that the safety and the weather, it’s just the same reason why kids didn’t go to school.”

Find Green River Waste on Facebook for more updates.

The Radcliff City Council will next meet January 21.