#quicksie983
The Elizabethtown City Council met for their first meeting of the month Monday.
The council approved on second reading an ordinance that closes a portion of Sutton Lane. The rest of the street will become part of Commerce Drive as part of development around the outdoor music venue project.
The council approved a municipal order which denied a zoning change for 707 Saint John Road from Suburban Residential (R-1) to High-Density Residential (R-6) and Regional Commercial (C-3). The Elizabethtown Planning Commission recommended the zoning change be denied after determining at a public hearing on February 24 that the change did not fit with the city’s Comprehensive Plan. City Council Member Julia Springsteen cast the lone nay vote as she said she felt the denial “is a bit unfair” after the property owners made changes from when the proposal was originally presented last March.
“They listened to the feedback and to the changes that were asked of them, and they made significant changes to their development plan, including a potential investment in trees that boggles the mind,” Springsteen said.
The council approved several municipal orders concerning bids, applications, and contracts. Among the approved orders is the authorization of a land purchase for the property adjacent to the Trooper Lake Preserve. The city will purchase the 38.36 acre property for $20,000 an acre, with the funds coming from the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund.
“It’s on the opposite side of the interstate from where we’re doing the outdoor concert venue, and what we’re doing is we’re taking 75 acres at that location that the city already owns and has owned for some time and we’re buying another 38 acres to add to it, and we’re going to put our mountain bike park out there once we get everything put together, so it’s going to be a really nice park that we’re really excited about,” said Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory.
Other municipal orders approved Monday included:
-A $97,279 bid from Phillips Brothers Construction for bern repair at the Valley Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant
-A $156,833.30 bid from Gary W. Clifford Enterprises for the Pine Valley Drive water main extension
-A $110,126 bid from Tennis Technology Inc. for resurfacing of the Freeman Lake Park tennis courts
-A $698,200 bid from Kauffeld Brothers Construction for the Freeman Lake Park north end parking lot
-A $188,100 bid from Dirt Works Unlimited for Highland Park sanitary sewer upgrades
-The extension of the Kentucky Business Incentives in place for Lotte Aluminum
-An application for a forgivable loan of up to $30 million through the KDEFA for expansion of the Valley Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant
-An application to the KDPI for up to $2 million in economic development funding for improvements at the Gil Niceley Industrial Park
The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet March 16.
The City of Vine Grove has closed the Otter Creek Road Bridge after an inspection of the bridge found significant deterioration.
Vine Grove Mayor Pam Ogden said the inspection was part of the city’s process for applying for state and federal grant funding to repair the Otter Creek Road, Saint Andrews Drive, and Creekvale Drive bridges.
“We found out that the Otter Creek Bridge that we just closed wasn’t on the state registry,” Ogden said. “I do not know why, and then it had to be put on the state registry in order for us to ask for federal grants, so the actual bridge was inspected by the state and when the state inspected it, I received a letter last Thursday, very late in the evening, telling us that we had five days to close the bridge.”
Ogden said a structural engineer confirmed the state inspector’s assessment on Sunday, so she had the bridge closed Monday. She said the city is working hard on finding the funding to replace the bridge as soon as possible.
“It’s a $1.5 million investment to replace that bridge,” Ogden said. “It is not something that we have right now at the city to fund ourselves. It’s in such bad shape that the entire bridge has to be replaced.”
Ogden said the safety of residents is the city’s top priority, and the city will work as quickly as they can to get the work on the bridge done, but no timeline is in place at this time. Follow the Vine Grove City Hall Facebook page for updates.
Construction is getting under way this week on a roundabout at the entrance of the new Kroger development located off of Ring Road in Elizabethtown.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District Four says grading and pipe installation was scheduled to begin Monday. KYTC District Four Public Information Officer Chris Jessie says the roundabout is the responsibility of the project’s developers.
“Construction of the roundabout is going to feature three different traffic pattern changes there throughout, and this one should last through the end of March, basically, with the next one running to mid-April and then the next one from mid-April to about mid-May when everything should be completed there at the new Kroger location,” Jessie said.
Updates and traffic shift notices for the project will be posted.
“Signage will be in place to instruct motorists what to do, so just slow down when you move into the work zone,” Jessie said. “Just to remind folks: this is all being done by a permit with the developer of the Kroger property there. This is not a KYTC project. It is being administered and paid for by the property developer. KYTC will simply be inspecting and approving the work that is going on.”
The City of Elizabethtown said in a July 2025 Facebook post that the new Kroger development, located at the corner of Ring Road and Patriot Parkway, will feature a 123,000 square foot Kroger Marketplace along with a fuel center and other retail operations.
(Photo Credit: KYTC District Four)
The U.S. Department of War has confirmed the identity of a soldier killed in Saudi Arabia as that of a Hardin County man.
According to a release from the DOW, 26-year-old Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington of Glendale “died of his wounds on March 8, 2026, from injuries sustained during an enemy attack on March, 1, 2026, at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia.” The DOW says Pennington was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, out of Fort Carson, Colorado.
Pennington graduated from Central Hardin High School in 2017. Hardin County Schools Early College and Career Center Automotive Technology Teacher Tom Pitt, who taught Pennington at EC3, said he learned of Pennington’s death from another former student Sunday.
“A lot of times as a teacher, you have students who are smart, you have students who are charismatic, who are likeable, dare I say enchanting,” Pitt said. “Rarely do you have students who are all of those, and Ben Pennington was all of those.”
Pitt called Pennington “the quintessential All-American.”
“He did Boy Scouts, he represented our school at SkillsUSA, he achieved an ASE certification through us,” Pitt said. “He was basically the Swiss Army Knife of students.”
In a post on Facebook, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said: “Kentucky, I am sad to share we just received news that Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington from Glendale has died due to injuries from an Iranian attack. Sgt. Pennington is a hero who sacrificed everything serving our country. Please join Britainy and me as we pray for his family and our fellow Kentuckians during this difficult time.”
Hardin County Judge/Executive Keith Taul ordered flags at all county buildings, grounds, and facilities be flown at half-staff in honor of Pennington until sundown on Wednesday, March 11. Hardin County Government said in a release Hardin County citizens and organizations “are encouraged to join in this mark of respect by lowering their flags to half-staff during this period.”
The DOW says the attack on Prince Sultan Air Base is under investigation.
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army)