Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to convene the August the 3rd, 2026 meeting of the Paducah Planning Commission. I would invite you to stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Fowler-Summers, would you call the roll, please?

Commissioner Benberry? Here. Commissioner Chapman?

Here.

Commissioner Griffin? Here. Commissioner Heath?

Here.

Commissioner Kaler?

Here.

Commissioner Rhodes?

Chairman Wade? Here. All right, our first order of business will be the July the 6th minutes, and I believe, Commissioner Griffin, you have that.

I move that the reading of the minutes for July 6th, 2026, be waived... and that the minutes of said meeting, as prepared by staff, be approved as written.

Second. Moved and seconded. Are there any additions, corrections, or deletions to the minutes?

No.

Hearing none, Mr. Fowler-Simpson, would you call the roll, please?

Commissioner Griffin. Aye. Commissioner Heath.

Aye.

Commissioner Kaler.

Aye.

Commissioner Benberry. Aye. Commissioner Chapman.

Aye. Chairman Wade. Aye. We have no continuing petitions to address. We have one new petition, and I'll turn it over to Mr. Fowler-Simpsons to give us our staff report on that item.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The addresses that this encompasses is 916 Kentucky Avenue, 915 and 923 Washington Street, and 222 Walter Jeton Street. This is to close an 8,129 square foot alley behind the Purchase District Health Department, which was constructed in 1977. So the Health Department is going to be constructing a new building in the future on the site, and they would like to clean up the property lines. They're already using the alley now for parking and for driving and access to the back of the building. As a note, this area is in Phase 1 of the Southside Redevelopment Area, and the alley is actually parallel to Kentucky and Washington between South 9th and Walter Jeton. Mr. Jetwood is here with BFW and also, I want to butcher your last name, Chris. Carl Lekowski is here with the Purchase District Health Department to answer any questions that you all may have. So Mr. Chairman, I'll turn it back to you for the public hearing. Thank you.

Being an alley closure, this does offer a public hearing, in which we will open that upon the motion that Commissioner Chapman has.

I move that the board open the public hearing for case VAC 2026-0001 pertaining to the closing of an alley partial to Kentucky Avenue and Washington Street between 9th Street and Washington Boulevard.

Second. Moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Like sign? All right. We are in public hearing. Would ask anyone who... Has comments about this to approach the podium, identify yourself, and address the commission.

Jetwood, BFW Engineering, and I have hot off the press a site plan, kind of to give them a layout of it, if you would like to see that. Pass that out to everyone.

We can share.

What else would you have for us to know Just I'm here for any questions

Caitlin's here for the technical questions. So if you have any questions.

Right now, the public hearing is for any of the audience to address us about pro or con about it. Let's get out of that, and then we'll have the commission can ask any questions. All right. Anyone else? Mr. Chapman, would you close us, please?

I move that this board close the public hearing for case VAC 2026, dash 0001 pertaining to the closing of an alley partial to Kentucky Avenue and Washington Street between 9th Street and Walter J. Town Boulevard.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All in favor of closing the public hearing, say so by aye.

Aye.

Any opposed by like sign? All right. We are now closed. Would you introduce the motion about the alley closure itself?

I move that this commission recommend approval for the Board of Commissioners and adopt a resolution recommending approval thereof to vacate and close 8,129 square feet of an alley parallel to Kentucky Avenue and Washington Street between South 9th Street and Washington Boulevard. Second.

Moved and seconded. All right. You all have received the... of the property that indicates the alley behind the existing building, and then he has also given us a plot of what the new building will look like, which I don't think that really affects the alley closure. It just clears the way for it. Any questions of staff or those in attendance about the alley?

No, but is the shadow, this part, is it the building, the new building? That's correct. Okay. So then you'll have a green space in the back?

Actually, it'll be fronting on Kentucky Avenue. Oh, yeah, just in front. Yeah. Okay.

So we're going to put the building on the back side.

We're going to save all the ginkgo trees there and try to still have a nice green space on that.

Mm-hmm. They're beautiful. That was definitely something we were like, we have to keep them. Mm-hmm.

I'm glad that you all have the space where you can construct the new building, stay in the old building, and then demolish the old building. Yeah, we were very happy for that. I'm glad you have the space to accomplish that. Any other questions or comments?

What is the square footage of the new building?

dental services, so we'll have a dental clinic, we'll have a community room so that we can provide community services with a demonstration kitchen for nutritional demonstrations, and then also be able to respond better in a preparedness emergency if we need to provide food to people there. And it expands our clinic a little bit so that we can have more space for a nutritionist, and really just make our services more robust.

Sorry, I should have had you approach the podium for this. Well, we'll just let that go. Does anybody else have any questions or comments? If you do, we'll get her to approach the podium.

I do need to know how to spell your last name for the record, please. K-R-O-L-I-K-O-W-S-K-I. Got it.

It actually is just like it sounds. Spelling bee.

Anyone else? I have one question. Actually, I have two questions. One is minor. Will the address change to Washington or will it stay at Kentucky Avenue?

We are aiming for it to stay at Kentucky Avenue. We want to make sure that it is easy for people to find.

What's the estimated time? To start. Do you have any idea?

To start construction? Probably this late spring, early summer. We're also applying for a community development block grant, and so we're in that process right now. So that pushes us back a little bit.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Anyone else? All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

We'll call for the vote. Josh, if you would, please.

Commissioner Chapman.

Aye.

Commissioner Griffin. Aye. Commissioner Heath.

Aye.

Commissioner Kaler. Aye. Commissioner Benberry. Aye.

Chairman Wade. Aye. All right, I show no other business for us to conduct tonight. Our next meeting will be September the 1st. So with that, we are adjourned.