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Appeals court vacates and remands ruling on Glendale solar project

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The Kentucky Court of Appeals has issued a ruling in a case involving a company looking to develop a solar farm and agrivoltaics operation in Glendale.

According to a decision rendered on October 24, the court vacated and remanded Hardin Circuit Judge Larry Ashlock’s October 2024 order denying CPV Stonecrop Solar LLC’s petition for declaration of rights.

According to the decision, Stonecrop obtained option agreements to lease property from several property owners in Hardin County, under the terms of which the company could lease 640 acres of property to build an 82-megawatt agrivoltaics operation on land zoned for agricultural and rural use. Stonecrop argued in their petition to Hardin County Planning and Development Commission Director Adam King in January of 2024 that the county’s Planning Commission had no jurisdiction on the matter because “the agricultural supremacy act and the Right to Farm Act were applicable” as an agricultural land use was involved.

The company filed a petition for declaratory judgement in Hardin Circuit Court, and in October 2024 Judge Ashlock determined that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction and ruled that the Stonecrop project must first go through the Planning Commission’s administrative process and legislative review by the Hardin County Fiscal Court. 

The appeals court said in their opinion that it was within the circuit court’s jurisdiction to determine if the agrivoltaics operation constitutes an agricultural use, and therefore the court may hold evidentiary hearings “to discern the relative facts.” The appeals court stressed in their opinion that they are making no determination on agricultural uses, only on the dismissal of the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

According to a release from the circuit court, the Hardin County Planning and Zoning Commission has 30 days to seek further review by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

KSP investigating officer-involved shooting in Nelson County

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The Kentucky State Police Critical Incident Response Team is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred Monday afternoon in Nelson County.

The KSP says the preliminary investigation indicates that on November 10 a man called 911 advising that his son was firing a weapon in his residence in a threatening manner. The suspect, 37-year-old Terry Carney Jr. of Bardstown, then left the home in his truck.

Deputies with the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office located Carney and attempted a traffic stop. The KSP says Carney “rammed a deputy’s cruiser with his truck, and an officer fired at the vehicle.” Carney fled the scene and a vehicle pursuit ensued that ended when Carney drove his truck off the roadway, coming to rest in the 400 block of Woodlawn Road. The KSP says Carney exited the vehicle holding his weapon and fired it. Officers fired their weapons and Carney sustained fatal injuries.

The KSP has statewide jurisdiction and investigates officer-involved shootings throughout Kentucky as requested by law enforcement. An autopsy will be conducted by the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Louisville. The KSP’s investigation is ongoing.

One dead after weather-related crash in West Point

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One person is dead following a collision in northern Hardin County.

Hardin County Sheriff John Ward says deputies responded to the 20,000 block of U.S. 31W/Dixie Highway in West Point shortly before 6 a.m. Monday.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that Unit 1, a 2004 Ford Ranger operated by Joseph White, age 24 of Muldraugh, was traveling northbound on Dixie Highway,” Ward said. “Unit 2, a 2024 Toyota Camry, operated by Robert Vinegar, Jr., age 24 of Louisville, Kentucky, was traveling southbound.”

Ward says due to weather-related road conditions, White lost control of the vehicle, which crossed into the opposite lane and collided with Vinegar’s vehicle. A secondary collision then occurred when another vehicle struck Vinegar’s vehicle.

“Both operators were transported to the University of Louisville Hospital with life-threatening injuries,” Ward said. “Mr. White was later pronounced dead at the hospital.”

The collision was one of several weather-related incidents that occurred around the area Monday.

“As a reminder, weather and road conditions can change very quickly,” Ward said. “Please use caution when traveling, especially during early morning hours.”

The investigation by the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office’s Reconstruction Unit is ongoing.

Elizabethtown City Council hears updates

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The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday afternoon.

City Finance Director Jeff Hawkins said city cash funds are up across the board from where they were last year, with the General Fund on September 30 sitting at about $36.2 million, up from $32.9 million at that point last year. Hawkins said the city’s occupational tax collection has grown from $13.6 million in 2015 to $33.2 million last year.

“For net profits, we’ve gone from $2.3 million to $6.9 million, an increase of $4.5 million,” Hawkins said. “Some of that’s related to the increase in tax rate. A lot of this is due to growth. As you can see by the business licenses, we’ve gone from just under 4,000 to almost 6,000 business licenses. That’s a lot.”

City Planning and Development Director Joe Reverman discussed the master plan for 938 and 948 Nicholas Street. Reverman said a dedicated master plan limited to just the involved property is part of the requirements for Planned Development District zoning.

“The plan that they’re proposing calls for 594 total housing units across three sections,” Reverman said. “That includes single family houses, duplexes, townhomes, and multi-family units. It also includes a small commercial section along Nicholas Street and approximately 22 acres of open space along Valley Creek.”

Elizabethtown residents Phil Dieckoff and Karen Macy raised concerns with possible commercial development on the three-acre property that borders five homes on Pawnee Drive. Dieckoff said the residents previously expressed privacy and security concerns related to nearby development, but the current property owners recently removed trees that created a screen and buffer for the houses. Macy said she is concerned noise issues she and her neighbors have dealt with will get worse.

“A change in neighborhood character, a new business can alter the quiet residential feel of a neighborhood, making it feel more commercialized,” Macy said. “We need to make sure that we get it rezoned from C-3 to C-1.”

Reverman said the city’s Planning Commission can set buffer and screening requirements for a development, but no official plans have been submitted to the city, so the city has no real control over a property owner removing trees.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet November 17.

Hardin County Fiscal Court and Radcliff City Council host meetings

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The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their first meeting of the month Monday.

Hardin County Planning and Development Director Adam King reported on his office’s activities through the end of October. King said 82 plats have been recorded to that point this year, down from 105 to that point last year, but the number of lots is at 170, up from 126 last year. 

King said the county will be hosting an open house on Monday, November 24 at the Glendale Christian Church to present the draft of the Glendale Small Area Plan.

“It is an open house-style meeting,” King said. “It’ll go from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. There’ll be about 15 different stations presenting information, getting feedback from the public, but again, this is kind of looking at Glendale all the way from Historic Downtown Glendale out to the interchange.”

Hardin County Public Works Director Stephanie Givens said the county saw a strong turnout at its free Landfill Service Day on September 9, but not quite as strong as what has previously been seen.

“We had 509 total vehicles come through, 279.95 tons of trash that came through,” Givens said “It was 70 degrees for that day, so it seems like we usually get a few more cars when the weather is rainy or colder, so it looks like we were down a little bit from 2024 to 2025.”

Givens said 31 recycling trailer runs were made in September and 33 in October, and the last free document shredding event will be held December 1.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet November 25.

Also meeting Monday was the Radcliff City Council for a called meeting and work session. After no official action was taken during a closed session in the called meeting, the council discussed a proposed zoning change for 238 Cedar Oak Drive in Vine Grove from Commercial to Residential-Four. City Attorney Mike Pike said this is the last tract Silver Gate Properties is asking to be rezoned for their planned development, but unlike the previous tract the property does not immediately touch Fort Knox, so he recommended the council follow the Radcliff Planning Commission’s recommendation.

“All of your arguments and everything that would be said, I submit to you is going to be in this transcript, so take a look at it if you’re so inclined, and the Planning Commission was unanimously in favor of recommending, and they heard and they asked questions, so it wasn’t a rubber stamp,” Pike said. “They asked good questions.”

The zoning amendment will have its first reading at the council’s next meeting on November 18.