City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone to Elizabethtown City Council work session for June 22nd, 2026. I will officially call the meeting to order and ask council member Julia Springsteen who shall lead us in the invocation please.

Happy to. Pray with me please. Gracious and almighty God, we come before you with grateful hearts as we gather to serve the people of this community. We thank you for the gift of this place, for the rolling hills and green meadows, for the quiet creeks and the open skies that remind us of your faithfulness and provision. We give thanks for the natural world you have entrusted to our care, for the native grasses that hold the earth, feed the birds, and mark the turning of the seasons. As we take our seats at this table tonight, grant us wisdom beyond our own understanding. Give us ears to truly hear what we represent, or those we represent, courage to make decisions that serve the common good, and humility to remember that we are servants first. May our deliberations be marked by respect, our disagreements tempered by grace, and our decisions guided by justice and compassion for every resident of the city. We ask your blessing over this council, your community, and this work. Amen.

If you would please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madam Clerk, when you're ready, if you would, please call roll.

Yes, sir. Council member Bishop.

Present.

Fulkerson.

Present.

Isaacs.

Here.

Jones. Here. Springsteen. Present. Tyler. Here. You have a quorum, Mayor.

Thank you, ma'am, and welcome everyone here today. We appreciate you joining us. We will start with my good friend, Yvette Sweeney. from the Central Kentucky Community Foundation, who is going to speak to us today about the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Thank you, City Council. A little over a year ago, you all approved a gift of $20,000 to the foundation to help fund the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. And I just wanted to give you an update on what has been able to happen since that time. If I may, just a quick overview of the Imagination Library program. It was started by a beloved singer, Dolly Parton, who probably requires no introduction, to help put books into the homes of families with children birth to five. She believed that those early years were important and literacy was the power behind the education that would fuel their future. And so a book is mailed to the home of each child birth to five every month for free for families. So this helps give universal access to books, it helps create family bonding opportunities, and it ultimately helps kids connect with their community and be engaged. We see that relationship connected between reading and community engagement and bonding through all of the research studies that have been done. When we started working with the Imagination Library, I learned a lot about about science because it wasn't my best subject in school, if I'm being completely honest. But the science tells us that 90% of the brain's capacity is developed by the time children are four. And so when we wait until they're in kindergarten to start introducing books and reading to them, we've missed a big opportunity for them. So the Dolly Parton Imagination Library is founded in that research and it's built, the brain activity is built by reading at home. and that reading being consistent and daily. When we started working with the Imagination Library two years ago to help grow enrollment in Hardin County, we were at 17% of children in our community were registered to get this free resource delivered to them. And we looked at that and said, you know, that's not good enough. We want to do better for our children. And so roughly there's about 7,100 eligible children in Hardin County. And so we had 17% of those registered. Today, I'm glad to tell you that we have 44%, and I would like to really celebrate that, that it's a big increase, but we know there's still more work to do. So we're excited to see that enrollment now up to 3,100 children from throughout our community that are getting that book in the mail every month. And that's a big part of what you all helped us do. So when we started looking at this, we said it's going to take time to grow community support for it, but we can grow enrollment probably faster than we can grow dollars, right? You know, I can get people to sign their kid up. It takes about 20 seconds online. It is your mailing address and your name. to get a free book. But we knew it would take us time to grow the dollars to support that. And by getting your support early on to help us be able to know we could enroll as many kids as we could get and not worry about having to have all of the dollars to support them for five years was huge. Our goal is still to grow it. We want to get to 65%. enrollment I would love to get to 90 but we know that that's not super realistic with the transient nature of people in life but if we could get to 65% that would be an amazing accomplishment in our community and that would cost us 50 to 55 thousand dollars a year to maintain so we are glad to have gotten to where we are at 44% but we're committed to continuing to grow that and and really knowing that we could go out and hit the community hard with enrollment and not worry about about how we were going to pay for it from the very first enrollment push was huge and we really appreciate your all support to help us make that happen so I know you have folks watching and listening right now so I thought I'd just throw up the QR code where people can enroll and we would love to see a big surge in enrollment so you can click that QR code and Again, it's free for families. Just put in an email address and a mailing address and a child's name and age, and they'll start getting a book in the mail every month. And it's fun to see the excitement that kids have when they get their own mail because it doesn't happen very often anymore, right? I will wrap up with a quote from Dolly Parton. She started the Imagination Library in honor of her father, who could not read. She said he was the smartest man she knew, but he was illiterate. And in light of Father's Day being yesterday, I thought that was a nice tribute that she said about him, that my daddy was the inspiration for the Imagination Library. And he told many times that out of all the dreams she had, the Imagination Library program was the one that made him the most proud. So we're really excited to be growing that here in Elizabethtown and in Hardin County, and we appreciate your support for it early on. Any questions?

you know, the city of Elizabethtown or this council invest about $500,000 to $550,000 annually in our budget to nonprofits, 501c3s, different programs. And so when you come and you tell us where that money went and how beneficial it was to the community, it makes all of us smile and it's much appreciated. So I just want you to know I appreciate the update and it's great news. Great to hear. Great work and keep it up. Thank you very much.

It's important to report out on what your dollars have done.

Next up, Mr. Jim Becker proposed native landscaping. Good to see you, Mr. Becker.

Good afternoon. Thank you very much for the opportunity to offer this proposed ordinance for your consideration and hopefully enactment. My name is Jim Becker. I'm a resident of Elizabethtown and what got me here in front of you today is a few years ago my wife and I became active on the creation care team at our church, coincidentally First Presbyterian of Elizabethtown, And the creation care team is a ministry dedicated to stewardship of the natural environment. So in the course of that involvement and speaking with other members of the group, we started learning about native plants and their many benefits and discussing with other members of that group planting native species as a residential landscaping measure, it occurred to me as a lawyer that a lot of cities have weed ordinances, and Elizabethtown is no exception. So I looked at our current weed ordinance and was aware that recently, as of then, Louisville had adopted a native landscaping ordinance, and so I started looking at that and researching native landscaping ordinances as they have been enacted in cities across the country. So I started working on something for Elizabethtown because I realized that our current weed ordinance is pretty broad in its scope and its exceptions are pretty narrow. So depending on what one wanted to plant, where or how one wanted to plant native species, one could easily run afoul of the current weed ordinance, all with the best intentions. That's what brings me here today. I want to first thank City Stormwater Director Rita Davis for her input and advice on drafting this. It was extremely valuable. I know she's obviously familiar to all of you. So, with your indulgence, I will begin.

Find the remote here.

So just to give you an overview. Well, first, let me tell you what's in the handouts I passed out. So what is in there is the current the language of the current ordinance and my proposed ordinance, a copy of my presentation slides, a list of sources for the factual and other other data. in my slide presentation, some FAQs and answers to those, an EPA MS4 information sheet, and if you don't know what that is, I'll explain that in a minute, a copy of KRS 176.051, which is a relevant statute, which I will also discuss in a few minutes, some regional native landscaping initiatives in major cities nearby, and then just a sample sign of what the city might develop and distribute if this ordinance is enacted. So, an overview, and my presentation, I promise, is not as long as this overview makes it look. First of all, just the case for going native here in Elizabethtown. Some of the environmental benefits, particularly with respect to stormwater abatement, native species habitat, air quality, et cetera. municipal advantages, some of which I'm sure you're already aware of, projects that the city is doing on its own properties and with its own projects, an overview of the ordinance itself, what it does and does not do, some key definitions that are new, in the ordinance, how it could work in practice, addressing concerns that you may have, and finally just the action that I am requesting here. So let me also thank some friends who came to show their support for this today as well. Okay, so why native landscaping? So conventional turf lawns cover over 40 million acres in the United States, and they consume vast amounts of water, chemicals, and other maintenance resources, and unfortunately provide minimal ecological value. In contrast, Native species use 30 to 60 percent less water than turf grass. They require zero fertilizer or pesticides once they're established. They attract three times the pollinators that conventional turf lawns attract or support. And stormwater damage is estimated in the United States annually is estimated over a billion dollars. Okay, so some of the environmental benefits. So first, as I mentioned, stormwater management. Native root systems can extend 15 or more feet underground and absorb far more rainwater than turf grass, which typically only goes about two or three inches. Rain gardens and natural landscapes dramatically reduce runoff into storm sewers, reducing flooding risk and sewer system stress. Water quality. Deep roots filter pollutants before they reach streams or groundwater. And riparian buffers, and I will explain what those are in a few minutes, along waterways provide a natural barrier against agricultural and urban runoff, protecting Elizabethtown's waterways. As we all know, Elizabethtown is a city of creeks, so... We are good on waterways. Biodiversity and pollinators. Native plants support local insect populations, birds, and other pollinators that evolved right alongside those native plant species. Whereas monoculture turf lawns are essentially ecological deserts, as I said. Native plantings restore those vital habitat corridors. Urban heat island reduction. We're all familiar with the urban heat island effect. Diverse plantings, native plantings, especially trees and shrubs, provide cooling shade, they reduce heat absorbed by pavement and other impervious flat surfaces, and they lower surrounding air temperatures. Carbon sequestration. Native plants and other deep-rooted species store significantly more carbon in the soil compared to turfgrasses. Expanding natural landscapes is a local, tangible climate action. And finally, the benefits here. Reduced chemical pollution. Native plants, as I said, require no fertilizers or pesticides once established, and thus eliminating a major source of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other chemical runoff into local waterways and groundwater. Okay, so the municipal imperative for stormwater. Stormwater management is among the costliest infrastructure challenge facing Kentucky municipalities. The EPA's Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, or MS4, permits require municipalities to reduce pollutant loads in stormwater runoff. Flooding events, which we're all familiar with, damage roads, properties, and infrastructure, and cost taxpayers millions. Combined sewer overflows create public health hazards and regulatory liability. Native landscaping, in contrast, is a proven cost-effective green infrastructure solution recognized by the EPA and the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection. So this chart shows just a comparison of runoff absorption in stormwater scenarios on different surfaces. So you can see impervious surfaces, obviously streets, driveways, parking lots, 95% of the stormwater runs off. A natural forest captures 90%, and right in the middle, managed natural landscapes capture 75%, so you only get 25% runoff. Whereas with a conventional turf lawn, the majority of the stormwater runs right off because of the shallow root systems. Okay, so municipal and community advantages. Reduced maintenance costs, and some of these are consistent with efforts that the city stormwater department, I know, has already undertaken. City-owned medians, rights of way, park areas planted with native species require far less mowing, irrigation, and fertilization, translating to direct savings in labor, equipment, and supplies. Green infrastructure savings. Native landscapes and rain gardens can reduce the need for costly gray infrastructure, that is storm sewers, detention basins, and so on. Green stormwater infrastructure typically costs 25 to 50 percent less than pipe-based solutions. Regulatory compliance, as I mentioned, Kentucky's MS4 stormwater permit and Clean Water Act requirements incentivize green infrastructure. Native landscaping helps the city demonstrate compliance and avoid costly fines. Property values and aesthetics, this is where we get to private residential land. Well-maintained native landscapes increase neighborhood character and property values. Studies have shown that where there are naturalized public spaces, they command premium prices. Community resilience, native plantings reduce urban flooding, cool neighborhoods, and build ecological resilience against drought and extreme weather, all increasingly important under a changing climate. Finally, tourism and quality of life. Pollinators, birds, and natural beauty attract ecotourism and support residents' mental health. Communities with green corridors are more desirable places to live and work. And we all want that. So the draft ordinance, what it does. It amends section 158, let me just find my, that's really hard to read from here. So what it does, it amends section 153.146, which is the current weed ordinance, with a modern vegetation framework. It defines managed natural landscape, rain garden, riparian buffer, native plants, and other key terms. It allows plants and grasses over 10 inches if part of an intentional maintained native planting. It creates a path for residents to legally establish rain gardens, native meadows, and other native landscaping features. It requires signage during a five-year establishment period to inform neighbors and code enforcement personnel. It preserves existing exceptions for large parcels, agricultural land, and woodlands. And it adds a new exception for flood hazard areas and city stormwater department approved parcels. What the ordinance does not do, it does not allow neglected or abandoned lawns to qualify as natural landscapes. It does not permit noxious weeds as they are defined under KRS 176.051. It does not allow plantings that block public rights of way or sight lines. It does not eliminate the basic 10-inch height rule for conventional turf grass lawns. It does not require any property owner to adopt native landscaping. And it does not diminish the city's ability to enforce against genuinely unkempt properties. So some key definitions here. So a managed natural landscape is a planned, intentional, and maintained planting of native or non-native grasses, wildflowers, forbs, ferns, shrubs, or trees, including rain gardens, meadow vegetation, and ornamental plantings. A rain garden is a native plant garden designed to reduce the amount of stormwater and accompanying pollutants entering the sewer system, streams, lakes, rivers, or other bodies of water. Native plants are plants that existed in the area prior to European settlement, adapted to local soils, rainfall patterns and wildlife, and requiring minimal inputs once established. A riparian buffer is real property, that is land, adjoining or including a riparian area, such as a wetland, river, stream, naturalized detention basin or lake edge, maintained in a natural state to protect water quality. A noxious weed is an annual, biennial, or perennial plant designated under KRS 176.0511 as injurious to public health, the environment, public roads, crops, livestock, or other property. These are always prohibited. And finally, turfgrass lawn is a lawn comprised mostly of grasses commonly used in regularly cut lawns or play areas, such as bluegrass, fescue, ryegrass blends. Maintained at no more than 10 inches, standard rules continue to apply. So how it would work in practice. First, a property owner decides to plant. The owner chooses to install a rain garden, a native meadow, riparian buffer instead of or in addition to a conventional turf lawn. Second, they plan and install the planting. The planting must be intentional, maintained within a defined area, free of noxious weeds. It cannot block public rights of way or sight lines. Posts required signage. During the establishment period, the five-year period, as I mentioned, I wrote into the ordinance, the owner posts a city-approved sign explaining that native plants are being established. Signage requirement expires five years after the ordinance is adopted, unless it's renewed by this body. And then finally, maintaining the landscape. So the owner keeps planting within the defined area, free of noxious weeds, no annual mowing of the entire area is required, although the various species do require that, it depends on what the landowner plants. Spot treatment of invasives may be required. I included the little footnote there says the city will develop and distribute approved signage templates. The signage requirement may be renewed by the council after five years. There is an example in here. Obviously, the city is perfectly capable of creating its own signs and so on. So exceptions. So the retained exceptions from the current weed ordinance, large parcels, as I mentioned, two plus acres without a dwelling. Vegetation may grow up to 36 inches, same as the current ordinance. Small flood hazard parcels, less than two acres. This is a new exception. Properties in FEMA flood zones or deemed beneficial by the city stormwater department may also maintain up to a 36 inch growth. That was one of Rita's contributions. Thank you. Agricultural use. As per the current ordinance, properties used for farming are exempt from height restrictions consistent with the agricultural practice or use to which those parcels are put. And finally, woodland parcels. Predominantly wooded lots not used for crops or agriculture remain fully exempt. And riparian buffers, this is just a good spot to explain what those are. The draft ordinance creates a formal pathway for riparian buffers, vegetated strips along waterways that protect water quality and reduce flooding. So eligible areas along real property would include wetlands, rivers or streams, naturalized detention basin bottoms, lake edges and shorelines. So these are among the most powerful tools available to a municipality for protecting water quality. reducing erosion, and managing stormwater at minimal cost. Okay, so let me address some common concerns, and let me also mention that these are in your materials as well, and the FAQs that I'm not gonna go through but are in your materials also address a lot of these common concerns. So first, won't this just let people have overgrown messy yards? No. The ordinance requires managed natural landscapes to be intentional, maintained, and free of noxious weeds. Neglected lawns or abandoned vegetation do not qualify. The signage requirement and maintenance obligations ensure these are real active plantings. Second, how will code enforcement tell the difference? Well, required signage helps distinguish intentional native plantings from neglect. The city can also develop a simple registration or notice of intent process to proactively document qualifying sites. I intentionally left out all kinds of administrative requirements that some municipalities have adopted, but all of those things obviously create administrative burdens for the city's personnel. So I'm trying to keep this lean and simple to apply. Will neighbors complain about the appearance? Signage educates neighbors during the establishment period. Many cities have adopted similar ordinances successfully with community education, and that's key, reducing complaints significantly over time. Louisville Metro has a robust model we can reference here. Is this legally sound? Well, I will defer to the city attorney on that, ultimately. But the short answer is yes. The ordinance updates definitions to align with current environmental best practices. It retains the city's full enforcement authority over noxious weeds and genuinely unkempt properties consistent with Kentucky revised statutes. So some regional precedents for some peer cities. Elizabethtown would join a growing movement of Kentucky and regional municipalities embracing, through one means or another, managed natural landscaping. So Louisville Metro, as we all know, has an established native plant garden ordinance with approved signage program. This is the direct model for Elizabethtown's draft. Louisville Metro has seen increased resident adoption and measurable stormwater benefits in its four or five years since enactment. Lexington-Fayette County does not have an ordinance, but it supports rain garden programs through its division of water quality and has promoted native landscaping through community grants. It has also reported reduced MS4 permit violations. Cincinnati adopted a managed natural landscape ordinance that resulted in reduced mowing costs for city-owned land and improved stream buffer quality in its Mill Creek watershed. Nashville, Tennessee, not Indiana. Metro Water Services has heavily promoted rain gardens and riparian buffers with thousands of installations, reducing combined sewer overflow events and improving Cumberland River water quality. Indianapolis adopted an ordinance allowing native plantings with notice requirements, similar to what I have written here. City reports measurably improved stormwater outcomes in neighborhoods with high rates of native garden adoption. And then last, Kansas City, one of the most aggressive green infrastructure programs in the Midwest. Native landscaping requirements are integrated into stormwater fee credits, directly rewarding property owners. So the next steps. Obviously, review and discuss the draft, provide feedback on the draft language, particularly the riparian buffer provision and signage requirements. I am happy to answer any follow-up questions the Council may have at this moment or in the future. After that, I'm not exactly sure what the City Council's procedures are for first reading, second reading, and so on. But I assume authorizing a first reading, directing staff to schedule the ordinance for that, and then other public notice requirements, and then if enacted or LIKELY TO BE ENACTED DIRECTING SIGNAGE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SIGNAGE IF THE CITY, IF THE COUNCIL DECIDES TO KEEP THE SIGNAGE REQUIREMENT FIRST OF ALL WHICH IT OBVIOUSLY HAS THE DISCRETION TO ELIMINATE THAT ALL TOGETHER. AND HOPEFULLY ADOPT THE ORDINANCE FOLLOWING PUBLIC COMMENT AND MAKE ELIZABETHTOWN A LEADER IN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE. I know that Mr. Howard would first want to review the ordinance for legality, obviously, and then also for form to make sure it's numbering and so on are consistent with where it would go in the current code of ordinances. I tried to be mindful of that when I drafted this in the numbering. So that is my presentation. So I'm happy to entertain any questions that anybody has.

Mr. Becker, is this on the cover of your presentation, is this an example of what you're envisioning as far as native plantings or close?

It could be, yes. Those are native species. And that is, yes, it's It could look like that, yes. It could be that controlled. It doesn't have to be a wild prairie. It can be very well-defined and well-ordered and very intentional looking. In fact, if you go looking for native plantings, just Googling images of native plantings in residential settings, most of what you'll find will be pictures that look like this.

Thank you.

To Erin, how many people have been prohibited from doing this currently? because of the way the ordinance is, that they have been fined or... Not to put you on the spot, Aaron.

I mean, Aaron Hawkins with Planning and Development, I don't have a number of people that have been fined for tall grass that claim it's native species. We can go back and do some research and try to get some specific numbers for you if there have been people that have contested a citation or noticed a violation for tall grass that they say, no, we were trying to grow native species for a pollinator zone or whatnot. So, I know, I mean, in the last several years, I've had... conversations with people asking if that's possible to do, and we've told them we don't have a mechanism at this point to allow that in terms of inside the scope of the ordinance, but if you want hard numbers, we can get that for you.

The only complaints I've ever got is high grass. I've never had a situation where somebody said, hey, I have planted native grass, and the city has come out here and cited me, and you know, leave me alone. It's always been... There are some neighbors claiming native because they won't do any landscaping or anything, but never the other.

Well, as the ordinance, as my proposed ordinance is written, they would have to use native species in an intentional way. They couldn't just stop cutting the grass and claim those are natives. And, in fact, I would... I would just suppose that you probably have a low number of people who are, you know, claiming they're planting natives because right now it's not legal.

I don't think it's illegal.

Well, as you read the current ordinance, and it's written pretty broadly, basically, if it's not a tree or a shrub or a tradition or a... what's the word I'm looking for, decorative grass, or a conventional flower garden, it's by definition therefore a nuisance. So if it's not, those are the exceptions in the current ordinance. So the current ordinance is pretty broad. So if somebody did want to plant native prairie grasses, they would very likely run afoul of the current ordinance.

I think a few years ago with the arboretum, my problem was I didn't know what a weed and a flower was, so... You know, when I would pull one thing that looked terrible to me, they would say, the little old ladies would tell me, oh, no, Tony, don't pull that. That's, you know, so.

I had the same problem, and there's an app for that.

So I think we need to look at, do we have a sample, or would we be required to maybe say, here are some native things? species that we could use for our area?

Oh, absolutely. And there are people in the room with lots of knowledge of that, including Amy Aldender for the county extension agent. So she is a fantastic resource for exactly that type of question.

Mr. Becker, I thought your presentation was great. I appreciate you taking the time to present that to council. One of the things that I would ask, and please don't think we're beating up on you with these questions, but I will give you an example. Rita has done a great job with our basin system. And we looked at three or four or five years ago, planting native grasses in our basins. Some have been productive, some have not. And I think what we run into specifically with the strawberry basin, we planted native grasses, wild flowers in that basin. And a lot of the neighbors around there weren't patient enough maybe to let them have two, three, four years to develop and make a lush, native wildlife or native grass area for that basin. And they thought that it was a bunch of weeds and they kept asking us to, to, to mow it. So I think there'd have to be a lot of education on our part for people to understand that I understand. your point in putting signs there and letting people know what we're trying to do. But the other question I would have for you is how do we know when somebody declares that they're going to plant native grasses or wildflowers in their yard or whatever property that they own that they actually did it and they're not trying to just get out and mow in their grass because it takes three to four years sometimes to see results. How do we know that they did it?

Well, one giveaway would be since native turf grasses don't take that long to reach 10 inches. If somebody comes to the city to obtain a sign, if city council enacts this, keeps the signage requirement, and makes it a condition before one can even... create their residential planting, they must obtain a sign from the city, then that puts the city on notice right there that so-and-so who lives at this address has the intention of planting native species. Neighbors may complain if they see tall things growing, and if they're growing that height within a few weeks of that person obtaining the sign, chances are they just stopped cutting the grass.

Maybe Johnson grass.

Maybe. Probably. Yeah. Johnson grass or crab grass or whatever. But or plantains. Those are quite a nuisance. But again, education is education. Publicity are the key to all of this. Nearly 500 cities and counties in the United States have adopted this policy. They've all had that growing pain period to go through, switching from the conventional turf lawn where everybody has a golf course fairway in their front yard to more diverse planting options. It's a transition, but with education and information, it's not a difficult one to navigate, as nearly 500 other cities and counties could tell you.

And my other question is, Jamie Henderson's in the back there, and he does our code enforcement, and he does a fabulous job of doing that. But he's busy, extremely busy, and he handles a lot of different things. And you may or may not know the answer to this, but what do other municipalities that you listed, if you know, how do they handle that? Absorbing, who's checking that, who's following up to make sure that things are the way they're supposed to be and that it's native grass as opposed to somebody just ignoring their lawn?

That is a question I will be very happy to find you an answer to.

That's fair.

Okay. And your questions were totally fair. Thank you again for the opportunity. As a lawyer, I am perfectly at home in more hostile situations than this one. So this has been great. Thank you again for your time and consideration. I do have one more.

Sorry. And kind of if you're going to look into like how the code enforcement is handled as far as like participation, like whoever you reach out to, I'm just kind of curious on participation numbers from those communities. Okay.

I can find that.

Thank you.

Please don't think we're putting the research burden on you. We'll look at some stuff, too. Oh, no, no, no. I'm happy to. We can come back together. Yeah, we're glad to do our own research as well.

Well, we can verify each other's then and see how consistent our results are. But I'm happy to do that. I started this conversation. I'm happy to follow up on it.

All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Thank you.

and last but not least our city administrator ed pope is going to discuss south end development afternoon uh... in light of recent announcements about uh... hotel on the south end uh... another council is aware that those efforts have been ongoing for an extended period of time. The staff has also had discussions about offering other incentive programs to support the South End or to help spur additional development in that area. We have a couple programs that the city already operates. One that the council is aware of is a number of years ago we started a assistance program for restaurants and businesses that needed grease trap installation. Uh, that was originally targeted specifically for our downtown area that was, uh, expanded a couple of years ago to the, um, East Dixie quarter. Um, so properties, um, the C five district goes about to the city cemetery. So from there, south to the Lincoln parkway, uh, we expanded the grease trap program. for properties that only fronted along 31W. So this hotel that was announced most likely will have some kind of food service with it, so they will qualify for that program. We've had two or three other businesses that have opened in the last couple years that have taken advantage of that. The city also has a facade grant program that is currently only targeted toward the downtown, so properties within the C5 district. So one of the items for discussion this afternoon is do we want to look at potentially expanding that program, the same corridor, or offer some other programs? And one of the things that I think we need to begin the dialogue on is the type of businesses that may be eligible in that area. I know the public asks quite frequently about a grocery on the south end. And again, as the mayor and the council knows, the city has made a lot of effort in reaching out to real estate developers, and actually grocers to see if they would be interested in locating in that area. Unfortunately, we have not been successful to date, and most of the time they tell us the traffic counts aren't high enough in that part of our community, and they have criteria where they look at the number of households or the number of rooftops within a certain radius of areas. It's typically a one mile, three mile, five mile radius. And again, most of those comments are that just not enough residential units in that sector of our community. We've done some things to change our residential regulations. Through the Planning Commission, the City Council has also zoned some additional properties on the south end of town to allow for additional residential development. Some of the recent development activity we've had in that area has raised some of those traffic counts. So we're now making some lists that at one time we weren't. But the discussion, again, administratively that we've had is, should we look at more incentives to try to spur some of that development? So should we tie that to job creation, the number of jobs created and give certain incentives at certain levels? There's also been some discussion of that, no, we should just offer incentives based on the investment have an application process that would review those based on the investment that a business is making in the corridor, and have a sliding scale, if you will, of how much incentive the city will offer based on the dollar investment that that group makes. One of the first things, though, that I think we need to look at is the south end, what we term that. The council knows that recently we went through a downtown master plan and the first thing that that group that we established struggled with was defining what downtown is an e-town and what are the boundaries and okay we're going to offer a plan for that area and we're going to look at zoning and those kind of things in the downtown but we have to define it first so i think one of the things that we need to look at is what what are those boundaries do we look at picking up from the c5 district so basically the intersection of Haycraft or Nicholas Street with 31W and go south from there. The grease trap program that we have does that. It picks up that whole corridor. Initially, when we looked at this topic about 10 years ago, Uh, the discussion was, well, let's look at, uh, exit 91 and just try to give incentives more directly around the intersection of 31 W and Lincoln Parkway. So like I said, I think one of the things that we need to, to work through, and we will continue to do this for you all is what are the, um, the boundaries of that area? Um, how far, and we'll work with the planning office and looking at, um, what the comprehensive plan says for future development in that area and expand. I know there's been some recent discussion about do we offer incentives in this corridor and look at Bishop Lane? Do we look at Hawkins Drive? because they're not directly fronting along 31W, so should we try to expand that district or do we grow it? That is, let's get 31W developed first and then we look at expansion and benefits as we move out. We presented some draft language to you all about giving incentives based on number of jobs. created uh like said i i think we can continue to work on that uh for you all uh we'd like some input on whether you do want to just emphasize certain uses that is the groceries restaurants and hotels. That's typically what the city has always talked about in the past for this corridor. Or do we want to expand that? In my discussions with Terry Shipp, who's our business development officer, I think he'd like the city to consider expanding that beyond those type uses. The other issue that our existing programs that we offer from any incentive are really driven towards existing buildings and existing uses. We don't have incentive programs currently that benefit somebody who has a vacant lot to build something new. So, again, that's part of the discussion, is do we look at vacant properties, too, especially along the East Dixie Corridor, because we do have quite a bit of vacancy. I think it's important to note, and the mayor noted this in some of the questions he's been asked about the hotel development. I mean, we do have a major... grant that the city has written and has received funding for for the redevelopment of that corridor so the city's going to be making an investment between our local match state funding and federal funding of over 10 million dollars on that corridor to redo some of the roadway, improve sidewalks and install a multi-use path, increase street lighting and landscaping, and also that takes that burden away from those businesses to make That investment, because we've identified those uses in the quarter, which typically, um, our requirement under the city's design standards under our, our zoning ordinance. So there are some incentives in place already. I said, based on the discussion in the last week. We just wanted to present the ideas, the draft that we did to you all, and we'll continue to be working on that over the next couple of months. So you're all's comments back to us. Of course, Terry always reaches out to local businesses and talks to the chamber and businesses along that corridor and other property owners. So we'll get their input, too. But like I said, we just wanted to follow up on that. recent announcement and let you all know that there's still activity and more improvements that we think can be made to incentivize the development in that area and we'll continue to work that way. Would like, like I said, any comments or direction that you all would like to give us to please do that. And hopefully we'll have a package to present later this fall to you all overall.

For me, I do not see why we would not expand, extend the, uh, the grant program down there, uh, to help with, I mean, we have seen some development down there that has helped. Uh, and obviously when the people from the hotel come down and they see other people investing, that helps us in selling that project there.

And to follow up on that, Marty, I mean, I think the, um, In our conversations with the development group that's bringing the hotel to town, I think the fact that they had seen some private investment already taking place in the corridor and being aware of the city's improvements to the streetscape on there, you're right. I mean, it wasn't a direct incentive, but it sent a message to them that, this was an appropriate place to make investments and we really Some of the businesses that have made those investments have not been incentivized as some of the others in our downtown area. And that's the area the city chose to do first was the downtown. I mean, this has been discussed quite a bit. There's also been discussion of, you know, do we look at... our older shopping areas in town and do something that way. I think it's appropriate to look at this corridor first and expand on some of those programs before we look at those other areas. But that's actually an easy program to expand, Marty. I mean, to just let people know, here, there's a very brief application form. You know, you show us what you've done. You've gone through design standards and the city will give you reimbursement for your investment, so.

I think we should go ahead and expand that now as we work on this other, in my opinion. I think there's three or four of them down there that have done a great job, and I would even say that they're eligible. Even if we go back and say those that have done it within a certain period of time, I think they should be eligible to apply again.

And that program that we did for the downtown area, the facade grant program, was simply done by a... policy motion and vote by the council. So I think we can bring that back to you on a meeting in July and say, here, expand the boundaries this way. And you're right. I mean, if we want to go back, we can work with the planning office and look at the number of investments that haven't been made maybe in the last six months, last year, last two years, and bring those to you and say, hey, we think we ought to go back this many months because there's three businesses that we'd like to assist and help out that way or something.

think we still need and I mean this probably couldn't be attached that easy but the vacant land portion I think is pretty important especially on that south end down there because I mean someone shouldn't necessarily be penalized because there's not a building for them to go in and update

Well, not just the vacant land, but also if they tear a building down and want to build back new, that should apply as well, because there are some places down there that would be beneficial if we got rid of some of the buildings that exist and somebody built something new in its place.

Well, in, in that original program that we did, there weren't, there's only one vacant lot downtown, uh, the corner Ed's corner. Uh, but, um, really, so that's why we didn't include vacant lots part of that, but yeah, there's some vacant lots, uh, in that area, that'd be great.

Yep, yep, we'll look at that. Okay, I'll probably have that to you guys in July on just the facade program.

Thank you, Mr. Polk. That will end our scheduled presentations. Any public comments? No public comments. All right, so we'll go to city council information items. The next city council meeting will be July 6, 2026, and the city will observe the 4th of July holiday on Friday, July 3, 2026, and closure of the intersection of Veterans Way and Town Drive starts Monday, June 29, 2026, and this closure will be in effect for three to four weeks. So they have done a good job out there, and they're moving along pretty quick, but They're going to need that closure for a few weeks to be safe and to get that knocked out so we can get it back open, hopefully before school starts. So that's all I have. Anybody have anything they want to add?

I just want to share one thing. Mayor, you always brag on our teammates, and they're wonderful. I got a text from Mayor Brandenburg, David Pace, who said that your city clerk, unfortunately he mentioned the police chief too, and the ABC officer were extremely helpful today, and he was so appreciative for your all's help.

You can say thank you.

Thank you.

I do say it all the time. We have the best in just about every position that you can imagine, and Jessica does not get the credit that she deserves, but without her, I don't know where we'd be, and I don't really have that much to say about Jeremy.

Well, I just hope Madison doesn't share that with him, that I sort of bragged on him.

He doesn't need the confidence, Madison.

Mayor, also, this probably should have been during public comments, but our friends at Warm Blessing are having a golf scramble on August 14th. If anybody would like to participate or sponsor, they can go to the Warm Blessing's Facebook page and find information. And I think everybody got information in their emails today as well.

Very good. Anybody else? We will not go closed session today, so I will take a motion and a second to adjourn if you all agree.

Second.

All in favor? Opposed? Seeing none, motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you all.