# Rural Land Management Board - February 25, 2026 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Board · February 25, 2026 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6701 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6701?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2026-02-25 - **Body**: Board - **Last revised**: February 26, 2026 - **Length**: 9,321 words - **Speakers**: Chair > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1, with speaker labels folded in from Granicus closed-captioning. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Speaker labels and verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Rural Land Management Board convened at 3:00 PM via Zoom, with Gloria presiding over the session. The meeting covered 5 agenda items, including the approval of minutes from the January 28, 2026 meeting and two Housing and Infrastructure Requests — one for Farm 42-20-02 and one for Farm 12-2009 — both of which were approved. The board also held a Closed Session before returning to Open Session. In total, 12 votes were taken during the meeting, and no public comments were heard. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the February 25, 2026 Board meeting: - Gloria, Beth, Margaret, Brian Jones, Jonathan Disney, Eric, Joanna Green, Phil Hager, Pete Christensen, Phil Meyer, Patrick Higginbottom, Olivia Grigsby, Lashley Grigsby, Robert James, Matt Hutchison, Lena, Stephen Howard, Jim Coleman, and Tiffany. **Absent:** Mary Quinn, Christine Stanley, and Council Member Morton were not in attendance. **Late:** David Hill arrived late to the meeting. ## Votes and Decisions All motions at the February 25, 2026 Board meeting passed unanimously. The following actions were taken: - **Approval of January 28, 2026 Minutes** [timestamp: 0:04]: Moved by Margaret, seconded by Stephen Howard. Passed unanimously with one abstention. - **Housing and Infrastructure Request – Farm 42-20-02** [timestamp: 0:17]: Moved by Phil Meyer, seconded by Hannah. Passed unanimously. Approval is contingent on all necessary permitting being issued by the Division of Building Inspection. - **Housing and Infrastructure Request – Farm 12-2009** [timestamp: 0:24]: Moved by Margaret, seconded by Robert. Passed unanimously. Approval is contingent on all necessary permitting being issued by the Division of Building Inspection. - **Enter Closed Session** [timestamp: 0:27]: Moved by Joanna, seconded by Jim Coleman. Passed unanimously. - **Return to Open Session** [timestamp: 0:47]: Moved by Margaret, seconded by Jim Coleman. Passed unanimously. - **Authorize Offer – Small Farm 72025** [timestamp: 0:48]: Moved by Margaret, seconded by Phil Meyer. Passed unanimously. - **Authorize Offer – Small Farm 152025** [timestamp: 0:48]: Moved by Jim Coleman, seconded by Stephen Howard. Passed unanimously. - **Authorize Offer – Small Farm 162025** [timestamp: 0:49]: Moved by Phil Meyer, seconded by Margaret. Passed unanimously. - **Authorize Offer – Small Farm 3725** [timestamp: 0:49]: Moved by Margaret, seconded by Stephen Howard. Passed unanimously. - **Authorize Appraisal – Small Farm 12025** [timestamp: 0:50]: Moved by Phil Meyer, seconded by Jim Coleman. Passed unanimously. - **Authorize Appraisal – PDR Farm 12025** [timestamp: 0:50]: Moved by Jim Coleman, seconded by Hannah. Passed unanimously. - **Adjourn the Meeting** [timestamp: 1:19]: Moved by Joanna, seconded by Jim Coleman. Passed unanimously. ## Budget and Financial Actions The Board addressed one financial contract item during the February 25, 2026 meeting. - **Appraisal Services Contract:** The Board considered a contract with **Kenimer Appraisals** in the amount of **$10,000** to conduct four appraisals for farms. No resolution number or additional identifier was associated with this item in the meeting record. No other budget or financial actions were recorded for this meeting. ## Contested Items - **Large Scale Solar**: The board discussed the potential impact of large-scale solar installations on agricultural land. Community opposition centered on concerns about whether solar farms are compatible with existing agricultural uses and whether prime farmland would be adequately preserved. The structured data does not identify specific individuals involved in the debate or record a final outcome from this discussion. ## Approval of January 28, 2026 minutes [timestamp: 04:31] The board took up the approval of minutes from its January 28, 2026 meeting. No substantive debate or concerns were recorded during this agenda item. Margaret made a motion to approve the minutes, and Stephen Howard seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously with one abstention. ## Housing and Infrastructure Request for Farm 42-20-02 [timestamp: 17:58] The Board reviewed a request related to Farm 42-20-02 involving a proposed combination garage and farm office to serve as an accessory structure to an existing tenant house on the property. The item was brought forward as a discussion item, with Beth and Pete Christensen identified as key speakers during the review. The request centered on adding the combined garage and farm office structure in connection with the tenant housing already present on Farm 42-20-02. No significant concerns or opposing viewpoints are reflected in the available record of the discussion. The Board approved the request unanimously. ## Housing and Infrastructure Request for Farm 12-2009 [timestamp: 24:31] The board reviewed a request related to housing on Farm 12-2009, specifically concerning the removal and replacement of an existing tenant house on the property. The item was presented as a discussion, with Beth and Patrick Higginbottom identified as the key speakers during this portion of the meeting. The board considered the request and moved to approve it. No concerns or dissenting views are reflected in the available record of this agenda item. The vote to approve the housing and infrastructure request was unanimous. ## Closed Session [timestamp: 27:12] The board entered a closed session to discuss the potential acquisition of real property interests. This portion of the meeting was conducted outside of public view, as permitted for matters involving real property negotiations. Key speakers involved in this item included Joanna and Jim Coleman. No additional details regarding the specific properties under consideration, the nature of the acquisition, or any positions taken by individual board members are available from the public record of this session, as the substance of closed session discussions is not disclosed. The item was informational in nature, and no public action or vote was reported as a result of the closed session. ## Return to Open Session [timestamp: 47:36] The board returned to open session following a closed session during which potential acquisitions were discussed. Key speakers during this portion of the meeting included Margaret and Jim Coleman. The outcome of this agenda item was informational, meaning no formal action or vote was taken upon returning to open session. No additional details regarding the substance of the closed session discussions were presented in open session beyond the notation that potential acquisitions had been the subject of deliberation. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the January 28, 2026 minutes - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of housing and infrastructure request for Farm 42-20-02 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of housing and infrastructure request for Farm 12-2009 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Enter closed session - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Return to open session - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Authorize an offer to small farm 72025 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Authorize an offer to small farm 152025 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Authorize an offer to small farm 162025 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Authorize an offer to small farm 3725 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Authorize an appraisal for small farm 12025 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Authorize an appraisal for PDR farm 12025 - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Adjourn the meeting --- ## Full transcript On the nose, so I will tell Lex TV to start recording and it is 3 o'clock. And we do have a quorum. All right. Go right ahead, man. Thank you, Beth. If you will turn your camera on just a little, so it'll be helping. Help you in the future for the minutes just for the screen for the record. I'll go across and try to. Read everybody that we can now see on the screen, so you will have for the minutes later. Of course, you're here and I'm here and Margaret is here. Brian Jones, Jonathan, Disney, Eric, all this. Joanna Green, Phil Hager, Pete Christensen, Phil Meyer, Patrick Higginbottom, well, mayor Olivia. Grigsby, Lashley, Grigsby, Grigsby, who's the legislative aid for Hill Boone council member Hill Boone and he's there as well. Robert James on the road, Matt Hutchison. Welcome Matt. Yes, welcome. Wonderful. Um, and. Lena Lena, thank you. She's been helping with our minutes and things. Uh, Stephen Howard welcome and Jim Coleman. Now, did I miss anybody that's on the screen? That didn't get mentioned. Okay. I could just jump in really quick. This is Tiffany and the department. Okay, so all members will need to have their cameras on throughout the whole meeting. Okay, even when they're not voting, they need to have their camera on. Okay. Well, we had a little is this because of the new workplace. Zoom no, it's because of a recent decision just for open meetings, the open meetings act. We need to make sure that everybody's on camera. Okay, thank you. We had trouble last week, having everybody on screen. So, and this time, Beth had a little trouble getting everyone to show and I also see that's come in as David Hill. So we'll get to everyone. Let me make sure everybody. Did you get your minutes? And all of the attachments this time, just kind of give me a nod. You don't have to raise head. Okay. We do have some. Absences that have been excused for the record. Beth, Mary Quinn will not be here today. Christine Stanley will not be Robert's on the road. He hopes to keep communication on the interstate. And I think that's all who's responded to you or me. Do you have anyone else? Beth? No, I think we have a full house. Yeah. Okay. So I will ask for the, since you all nodded that you did get your minutes, I will ask and I do want to sort of move this along because a couple of our people need to. Leave by a certain time later the day, so I want to make sure we get to our requests and we get to our closed session because it's very important. We have to deal with the approval of the January. 28 minutes 2026, I'll need a motion to approve those unless there are any changes or additions. So, move 2nd. Okay, I have Margaret made the move to motion and I heard Hannah and someone else. Oh, Stephen Howard 2nd, so we have an all in favor signify by showing hands. Law has told us that we'll definitely need to keep our screens on and everybody will have to be seen. So I have to abstain from this since I wasn't at the meeting last month. Okay. All right. All in favor. Everybody but Phil. That I saw. Okay. Old business, I'm happy to say that Matt Hutchison is here today. It works with us on our in our CS. The temporary construction easement request. The letter best, do you want to go over any of that or what you want to save your voice and want me to answer that? Well, I'll just tell you also the letter that was sent to Brian Jones, who is the Kentucky director of easement for in our CS who's here today. And we're going to introduce him in just a minute. That was sent to him just this month by Andrew from the environmental services department. And in our CS has already been out and done a site visits and is working on that. And probably at a future meeting, they're actually going to start attending our meetings, which is exciting and will tell us more about what they found and what they recommend and anything feedback that they need. So, but, yes, that's in your a copy of that is in your packet and no action is needed from you all today. Since at the December meeting, you voted to allow Andrew to send this on behalf of and say that the board was okay with this temporary construction. And if you'll recall in your packets, Andrew and Beth did include that drawing the engineer drawing in your packets. So that was there. Let me just ask Eric on us. He was on here. I saw him later there. If you just raise your hand and wave so that everybody on the screen, which 1 you are and your assistant and our assistant director for easements is Brian Jones and Brian was here. Also, Brian, if you just raise your hand and give a wave, so everybody will know that's to meet everybody and Matt Hutchinson, which was on the screen that I mentioned later. There you go. Thank you all so much for coming and it will actually be a really big help in the future. If if some of you all can be here, we do have a lot of things to discuss that do overlap and need your help with anything else. I need to say there. Beth before I move on. I think Eric was just going to make some introductory. Did you want to make a few comments? Yeah, thanks so much Beth and also Gloria and great to meet everybody again. My name is Eric and I serve as the state conservationist for USDA, natural resources, conservation service and I'm based out of our state office in Lexington coming to you today actually from our field office in Elizabethtown so hopefully Internet still holds up for the rest of the meeting and yeah, I just want to compliment the board on the tremendous successes with this project. And also to had a great meeting with Beth yesterday, Beth, Brian and Matt Hutchinson myself just got a chance to catch up. And again, the incredible amount of conservation successes, land protection within the Bay County area is incredible being new to the position. I've been state conservationist now for 2 years and apologize. This is my 1st time to be able to catch up with the board, but everything has been working very well between Beth and Matt and Brian and going forward. Yes, we would like to definitely have a representative as a non voting member and going forward. We'd hope that you would accept Brian Jones to be a reoccurring participant in the meeting. So again, Gloria, Beth, thanks again for the opportunity to be with you all today. And also to the board and continue to having great partnership in the future. Thanks again. Well, thank you. And we are delighted to have you. Beth can include you on our list every month for these meetings. We'd love it. If you can come, we'll say for you that this is since you've not met the board individually, I will speak on behalf of them. It's a great board. They have managed to always attend, even through the pandemic and all of the ice and the snow and the Internet problems. We have managed to do this for several years, nonstop with only 1 time that we could not meet a quorum. It's a working board. We have several committees. I'm sure Beth has passed that by you. And we have, we look at the legal issues and anything else that is set our way. So it is an active working board and it's a great board. And it's a great group. So I have to pat all of them on the back. So, thank you for coming. I'll also say, is there anything Brian, you would like to say. I would just like to say, it's nice to meet everybody and my title on the assistant state conservationist for easements. So, essentially, I'm the, of course, Eric is my supervisor. He's the state conservationist, but I managed the easement programs within the state and just excited to be part of this. I mean, this is a feature signature project in the nation that you all have here in Fayette County and just excited to be part of it and look forward to attending the board meetings. And however, I can assist, I'll certainly be available. And also, I'm excited that we have Matt Hutchinson back on our team. Matt had joined the national office, but now we have him back on our team and he can, is in a position where he can focus on the ALE project. So I'm really excited about that as well. And just looking forward to get to know you all. Thank you, Brian. Matt, how about you? Thanks, Gloria. It's awful good to see you again. I've had the privilege of working for, with, and now work under Brian. We used to work under Dina Wiebe and it's been a privilege to work with Fayette County in rural land management board for many years, over a decade now, about 12 years. So I'm happy to be back and be able to engage with y'all again. So thanks again. Welcome, sign on anytime. Beth can include you all in our emails and when you all can come, please do when you can sign on, we would enjoy it and would appreciate it. Are there any other comments other than waving to them all and saying thanks? Great. We do have a couple of requests for our housing and infrastructure and I do want to remind Beth, when you speak to these people, and two of them are here, that on these, anytime you have infrastructure or housing requests, please remember that there are setbacks along the rural roads, so make sure you always include that. And please, I know you have already gone for building permits, but remember, if there's something that needs to be demolished on your farm, you also have to get a demolition permit before you tear something else down, so. Just remember those two things. Beth has, Beth's had a cold and she is having a little bit of a hard time talking, so she's going to try to take over and I may have to finish reading part of this, but our first is farm 42-20-02, so this is a farm that's been in the program since 02, and Pete Christensen is here, it's his farm and he's attending. And Beth's going to run through the, run through the request here. Your speaker's turned off, Beth. All right, is this showing on your screen? Oh, wait, let me get down to it. Yeah, you'll have to go on, yeah, because it just showed the minutes and the, you'll have to scroll on down. All right, here we go. Okay, so this is PDR farm 44-2002, located at 2481 Hume Bedford Pike, it is 59 acres, it is a, going to be a horse farm, the new owners are Pete Christensen and Sierra Guardia, the date of the easement was July 25, 2003, the owner who put it into PDR was John T.L. Jones, Jr. It is not a federal easement, so there is no impervious surface limit, there are no protected structures, and they are not requesting demolition. But what they are requesting is there is an existing tenant house on the farm, that farm has been subdivided from the original size that was in PDR, and the portion that they have has a tenant house, and they want to add a combination garage farm office as an accessory to that tenant house. So, it will be 1652 square feet, and they are not requesting any paving. Mr. Christensen is here today, and he's provided plans by architect Reese Reinhold, and a map showing the proposed location of the garage office, and I will show you that in just a minute. Okay, so this is a permitted use in the easement, section 5b in reserved rights, reserves the right to have housing with reasonable appurtenances, including garages, and section n reserves the right to operate a farm office. Scroll it just a little more, Beth, scroll a little more on the screen so they can see just a little more. Okay, Mr. Christensen and Ms. Guardia purchased the farm last February and plan to operate it as a horse farm. They hope to add a barn, a riding arena, and a primary residence in the coming years, and will return to the board when they're ready to proceed with those items. And the farm was originally 181 acres, and the grantor reserved the right to subdivide into 40-acre tracts and has done so twice. The portion of the applicants purchased, oh, the portion that the applicants purchased of the farm includes the original farm. So, the staff recommendation is approval of the request contingent on all necessary permitting being issued by the Division of Building Inspection, and the approval is based on the following criteria, that the easement reserves the right for the property owner to have accessory structures to housing and to operate a farm office, and there is no impervious surface limit. The conservationist recommendation is not required since this is not a federal easement. So, then we scroll down, we have the entire language of the easement paragraphs I referenced. This is a little hard to see, but I know you all looked online, so we will go through this. And these plans, let me switch to a different kind of view. Okay, there we go. And so, right up above here. And let me remind everybody, this was in your packet of information which you received several days ago. Yes, so here is the existing house. There's the Bedford and the driveway in, and this is where they're proposing to put the garage and farm office. And then they've included their plans for us. And thank you for doing that. It makes it so much easier for the board when the plans are included, so thank you very much for doing that. Okay, yes, and Pete Christensen is here today, and Pete, if you want to just say hello. Raise your hand so everybody can see. Just give everybody a wave and they'll know. Yeah, no problem. A quick thank you to Beth and the PDR staff for their help with this process, and we definitely appreciate the board taking the time to review their question. Happy to answer any questions if you have any. Thank you. I don't know if you heard, thank you for including those plans. It does make it much easier and faster for you and for us. No problem. And thank you for what you're doing to improve the farm. Are there any questions of Mr. Christensen from the board members? Are there any comments? If not, I will ask for a motion to approve as sent to you and as just discussed. So moved. Phil Myers made the motion. Is there a second? Hannah and Jim Coleman. And Jim has signed on. I think he signed on after I'd read through the name, so make sure he's on there too. So, Hannah and Phil both raised their hands. So, all in favor, please signify by raising your hand so we can see on screen. Yeah, okay. I think that was unanimous, Beth. Okay, thank you for coming. And if Mr. Christensen, if you'd like to do something else on your Wednesday afternoon, you're welcome to leave. Or if you want to know more about this, you're also welcome to stay. All right, thank you. Yeah, I'll stay around a little bit. It's always good to see what you guys are doing, and I appreciate your work in keeping the conservation and keeping it looking like farmland. So, thanks. Well, thank you. And we have another request, so you might be interested in seeing the second request we've had. And that person I noticed was here also somewhere on the screen. I'm here. Okay, there he is. This is Farm 12-2009. Beth, can you tell us about the housing and infrastructure request that they're asking for? Yes. Okay, so our second one today is Farm 12-2009. It's located at 4552 Military Pike. It's 104 acres. It is a general ag farm owned by Patrick and Amy Higginbotham. The date of the easement was May 3, 2011, and Patrick and Amy are the people who put it into PDR. Oops, screen's jumping around on me. Sorry about that. Okay, this is a federal easement. The impervious surface limit is 2%. There are no protected structures. They are requesting to remove and replace the existing tenant house of approximately 1,684 square feet, and it is not historic, so there is no issue with that. The new structures in the same place, they will construct a new 45 by 34 tenant house of approximately 1,564 square feet, including porches, so it's a little smaller. Actually, as you all saw on the building plans, the house itself has interior of around 1,000 square feet, and then the addition of those will be the porches and things, so it's going to have a little bit smaller footprint. They are not requesting any new paving. They have provided those plans for us and an aerial photo of where the existing tenant house is located as well as pictures of that tenant house they want to demolish. This is a permitted use and Section 5 reserved rights, B and C, reserves the right to existing tenant house and to remove and replace housing that's needed with the Board's approval, and the full text is below. Other relevant information, Mrs. Higginbotham have owned this farm and farmed this land since 2010 and live on site in the primary residence. The staff recommendation is approval of the request to remove and replace the tenant house contingent on all necessary permitting being issued by the Division of Building Inspection. Approval is based on the following criteria. The easement reserves the right for the property owner to remove and replace the existing tenant house. The property owners are not increasing the impervious surface limit since they are removing and replacing a like-sized house, and since this is NRCS funded, we consulted Charlie Farmer, and he had no issues with this since it is not adding surfaces and is in the same place that a house existed. So, we will go down here a minute, and so here's the house that they plan to remove, one of our snowy winter Lexington days here, and there's another image of it. And then, let's see, it's over here on the blue dot, and so that's where it is. It's in these trees, so it's really not even an area where active farming is taking place. And then, if we come down, we see the building plans, what they plan to do, and the square footage is included in these porches and all. So, that is it. So, I will stop sharing, and Patrick is here today, and Patrick, did you want to say anything to the board or add anything I might have forgotten? Mainly, just grateful for what you all are doing and the work that you're doing. One thing I would like to add, my wife's name is... You're cutting in and out. Get a little closer to your speaker there. ...and not Amy. Oh, no, I'm sorry. That's okay. That's okay. I just read it and kind of chuckled, and then my wife asked me who Amy was, so I felt like I needed to correct that. I'm surprised your neighbor Robert James or Phil Meyer didn't catch that and tell me. That's all right. Okay, thank you. It's a thank you. I said earlier, and you probably heard me, I will say to you again, thank you so much for sending detailed plans and information. It makes it go faster for you and for us when the staff and our board members see those things, and it's in their packet ahead. It gives them time to digest it, so it's a good thing to have, and it's a big help. So, thank you very much. I will remind you again that when you demolish something, it has nothing to do with the Rural Land Management Board rules. That's a planning and zoning issue, a Fayette County government issue, that before you demolish anything, please remember to get that demolition permit first. So, it's not us, but we have to oversee that. So, do make sure you do that. Are there any other comments or questions other than telling them it looks great? Thank you very much. Anybody? Then I will call for a motion to approve the plans per sent to you earlier, and you've just seen in the discussion. So moved. Margaret made a motion. And I'll second. Let's see, who is seconding? Robert King. Robert. Robert, okay. Oh, I have a harder time to see him. He's smaller on the screen. So, the motion's been made and seconded. Show of hands, please. We have to actually have a show of hands to make sure that we have enough. Okay, Beth. I think that's unanimous. And thank you, Mr. Higginbotham as well. So, both of you all, thanks for coming. And again, you're welcome to stay if you'd like. We're getting ready to go into a closed session though, and we won't be able to talk for a while, but we'll be coming back out. And if you want to stay, you can hook on later. Sure. Thank you all. Thank you. Well, yes. The one thing I will say, so for people like Olivia and Council Member Boone and the NRCS staff, since we're getting ready to go into this closed session, if they want to be able to come back for treasurer support and board comments and all that, I can move them into the waiting room rather than them leaving the meeting, and that way they can rejoin. Okay. Is that okay, Olivia? Is that okay with you? And I also was going to say, too, that Council Member Morton, who's our council member assigned to our board, had also, I forgot to add that in at the beginning, had told us that he would not be able to be here today. And he and I have already texted and best communicated. So, I do please add him to his list of excuses. He had to work his real job today. Being a council member is a real job, too. Oh, he has two jobs, numerous jobs. But I will have to move part of you all, if you're not on the board, into the holding room while we discuss this. So, the time that I have, Beth, is 325, and we'll need to call for a motion to enter closed session pursuant to KRS 61-810-1B in order to discuss the potential acquisition of a real property interest, the public discussion of which is likely to affect the value. Do I have a- This is Joanna. I'll make a motion we go into closed session. All right. Joanna's made the motion. Is there a second? I'll second, Chair. Jim Coleman and Hannah. So, we have lots of seconds. All in favor, show of hands. All right. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye. Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye. Bye. Bye bye. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Back on the air. I have it. The time is 346. Okay. And we will go back on. Working in progress. It is all right. Go right ahead, ma'am. Thank you. It's a 347 now. And the time I'm calling for a motion to return to open session, please. Someone don't move. Okay. I have Margaret and Phil and Jim. So we have lots of folks. Is there a second? I'll take a second, Hannah and Jim. And all in favor, please show of hands. Okay. Unanimous. Now, per our discussion in closed session, I need a motion to authorize an offer to small farm 72025 as discussed in closed session. Do I have a motion? So move. Margaret made the motion. Is there a second? Second. Phil, all in favor, signify with a show of hands. Okay. Beth, I think that's unanimous as well. I also need a motion to authorize an offer for small farm 152025 as discussed in closed session. Is there a motion? So moved, Chair. All right. Jim Coleman made the motion. And is there a second? Second. Steve Howard, Steven Howard made the second. All in favor, signify, please, with a show of hands. I think that's everybody. Beth? Aye. I'll need another motion to authorize an offer to small farm 162025 per discussion in closed session. Is there a motion? So moved. Bill Meyer, is there a second? Second. Margaret's a second. All in favor, please signify with a show of hands. Joana, I didn't see your hand. Okay. There she is. Okay. That's everybody. And I'll need a motion, another motion, to authorize an offer to small farm 3725 per discussion in closed session. Is there a motion? So moved. Margaret made that motion. Is there a second? Second. Steven Howard, all in favor, signify with a show of hands, please. I think that's everybody. And I'll need a motion to authorize an appraisal for small farm 12025 as discussed in closed session. Do I have a motion? So moved. Bill Meyer, is there a second? I'll second, Chair. Okay. Jim Coleman. All in favor, please signify with a show of hands. I think that's everybody. Beth? And one more, one more motion to authorize an appraisal for PDR farm 12025 per discussion in closed session. Is there a motion? So moved, Chair. All right. Jim Coleman. Is there a second? Hannah? All in favor, please signify with a show of hands. All right. Great. That's it. Good job. And I think it's exciting to see that how that we are progressing and that we are spending some of the funds that have been allocated to us and that the appraisers have managed to get these to us in a timely manner. So good. Thank you all very much. The next thing on our agenda, Phil, Treasurer's report. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have, let me see, we had four invoices that for this month for the four appraisals for the four farms that we've just authorized offers to be made to, for four invoices from Kenimer appraisals at 2500 each, and they've all been paid by Beth. So that's the update on bills paid. And so that's all I have. Great. Any comments about that? Remember that they have given us a reduced rate for appraisals on the smaller farms. And that's been a big help in our budget. And we appreciate their doing that. So make sure Beth, you let them know, I've told them too, that if you all run into our appraisers at all, please thank them for doing that. Because the more we save on that, the more we will have funds to be able to do more. I'll quickly run through the chair report. And I want to thank Council Member Boone and Olivia for including the Farm Bureau auction and sale coming up in the newsletter. And thank you for all the things you include. It's a great newsletter. If you a board members have not signed on to the council members newsletters, you really need to. You learn a lot. And Olivia and Council Member Boone have put together a great one. And I try always to thank you for that, because you really do have some great, helpful information. So thank you all. I've answered some questions about PDR, one of which Beth and I've been dealing with. One of our PDR farms is for sale, and the realtor is not local, I guess, and has had a lot of questions. We have always, when realtors ask us questions about these, Hannah, we try to refer them to the courthouse, let them know that these are recorded in full. And what they may and may not do, they can look up and have the entire thing in their possession. They sometimes, I've had to walk a few people through how you go about getting online for free to pull those up, and I have done that. And hopefully, there could be a little something that tells some of the realtors about how to go about getting those for free if they don't know, Hannah, because it does take some time to work with them. I will say too. They should know. They should know, but thank you, Gloria, so much for that. I appreciate it. It does help because we don't want somebody to do something or sell a piece of property without knowing what it is they're buying or have any questions. So I try to answer them to the greatest extent we can, so there's not any confusion. Some of the small farms that have already been appraised, and the appraiser goes out and contacts them, have actually called me to say some of the things they're doing to improve, and I guess we could put together some sort of a letter to send those when they join about things they could do that would let them have even more farm activities. A couple are replanting some of the grapevines that were there, and I put them in touch with one of the wineries, somebody they knew at one of the wineries, about possibly selling their grapes to another source, and some people wanted to plant some more fruit trees, and we have one that's putting the bees back. So it's good that what we do is encouraging those people to farm and do even more farm activities. I did attend one meeting, the Bluegrass Trust. They are working on saving, conserving the historic structures on farms out in the rural area in Fayette County, as well as in town. So I did, I am part of the policy and research committee they've established, and I did spend a day working on stuff about that for them, and they do know now that the Rural Land Management Board does oversee any historic structures that have easements, and they are really happy to know that, and will add that to some of the lingo they have in their stuff. So there's been a lot to do, regardless of the cold and the snow, and I hope everybody has made it through. So Beth, can you talk? You've done a lot. Is there anything you can add? Yes, nothing big to report, except that, let's see, I've stayed busy with the small farms. A lot of those, like I said, are accepting our offers, which is exciting, and getting those through the process, and I think they will move quickly, because they are, we're just doing local funding and things, and they're very excited about NRCS joining with us. One update, and Matt Hutchinson may be able to tell us, or Brian, just a quick update, but it's probably been a year or more ago that Kentucky American Water had reached out and wanted to possibly put a water line right along the edge of Foxtrot. This is our big 1,000-acre easement, and it wasn't going to go make a huge impact, but still was going to cut into the land, and who knows what kind of maintenance it could have needed in the future. So that, of course, is a federal easement. So Matt and Brian went out and made a site visit, and researched it, and then reported back to Kentucky American Water what would be required of them if they wanted to try to do this, and they decided to go elsewhere with their project, I think, after that. And I don't know, either Brian or Matt, if there's anything else to say about that, but they just, Kentucky American Water just sent an email about it in the last month, saying they decided to reroute their project, I think. So yes, so it'll be, they're going to be able to avoid, they're going to modify their design in their project, so they'll be able to actually avoid the easement, so we won't have any impact on the easement. So they'll still be able to go through with their project, and our easement, your easement, will not be impacted. So it's good news on that project. Yes. And I'll say one that's really exciting about what Matt and Brian are doing is we've got two road projects, one we've told you all about before, and another newer one that's popped up. They are doing these site visits when anything like this happens, we're alerting them, they are going out, they're doing the research, they're then working with the entities that sometimes, whether they want to, you know, do road expansions or do that, and really digging in with everything that is required on the NRCS side. And so I want to say thank you to them, because they're doing a lot of work on that, and it's helpful because, you know, when they explain to them all the layers that would be required to proceed with some of these issues. So thank you all. What else, Beth? That's it. Thank you. I will like to ask Jonathan, if you and I can get together and have a little talk about helping out with the banks, the several of these have not been able, several of our applicants have not been able to get their banks, all of which are out of town, to work on the subordination signatures, and maybe you can explain, I had a long signature, a long discussion about getting the signature from one of the holders in Indiana, where there are already a lot of federal easements, and they just didn't quite understand it, so perhaps if I can get with you and we can pass on to the applicants, and maybe you can get with their banks to explain it better why it's, what it is better. They don't want to seem to take it from the property owner or me or Beth, and maybe another banker can help. I'll be happy to talk more about that with you, yeah. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Let me just go around to let you board members give some reports. I know you've all been doing things. I know Hannah asked to leave a little early, so let me recognize her first for report. No report. Thank you. Okay. Margaret, how are your closings going? They're going. They're going. All's well with the Conservancy, but nothing to report, really. Okay. Joanna. No report. Bill Hager. Nothing to report. Thank you. Phil Meyer. Oh, you're on mute. There. Okay. I went to a meeting last night at the extension office to get an update on the cost share programs that are available to farmers in the county from NRCS and the feds and fed county conservation and tobacco settlement monies, and it was well attended and the dinner was good. And I used to attend these things on a regular basis, so I thought I'd need to go and see what's going on. So, I'm glad to see our conservation folks here on the board meeting today. That's great because we need all the encouragement we can get. Chair, I'm going to backtrack. I attended that meeting last night also. I didn't see you there. I was there. But I can tell you about water quality ag program and again, as he said, great food, big crowd. Yeah. Good. Thank you all. Will Mayer. No report. Thank you. Robert, how's the Farm Bureau going? Going well. Thank you for mentioning our auction and I'm glad it was in the council district newsletter. Of course, it's March 14th. I believe I mentioned that last meeting, but we're about to, you know, just over a week away from when we'll go to the site, two weeks from the auction, so I will be spending a lot of time getting our computer network ready for travel to the site, to the horse park. And if anyone's interested in lawn equipment, farm equipment, tractors, you know, please come on out because we'll have a lot out there. We can take all the volunteers that want to come help us check in equipment or check out equipment or clerk during the sale itself. Everybody that's come out there that never knew anything about it has loved it. So next up, Stephen Howard. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead, Robert. I was just going to second what Phil said. There's a lot to do out there and we're all volunteers just doing it for our scholarship fund. So if anyone's interested, contact Phil or myself, we'll take volunteers. And it's been a great program. That'll be all. I know at least one of those folks who has benefited from the scholarship is now a full fledged veterinarian. So it's a good program. You all have done a lot of good. Stephen Howard. No report today. All is great. My grandbaby is fantastic. She's actually been at the house the last two days because my daughter's taking the bar exam. So we've been playing house. Well, good luck to you babysitting and good luck to her on the bar. Thank you. Fingers crossed. Let's see. And then I have Jim Coleman. Well, Chair, first of all, congratulations to Beth on an outstanding start of this year. The pipeline, Beth, is incredible. So great job on that. I'm going to be the guest speaker at the Henderson County Public Library on this Friday, talking about my favorite topic, Coleman Crest Farm, the legacy of Coleman Crest Farm. March 6th through the 7th is the Kentucky Black Farmers Association meeting that I'll also be attending. And then on March the 14th, the Summer Youth Jobs Program will be having its annual job there. So any employer out there looking to hire our youth where the city pays $15 an hour to the youth and they work for us to get learning skills, it's a great opportunity. So I'll be there. And you're going to the Henderson County Public Library as a featured guest speaker on this coming Friday evening. Well, you can kiss the ground to my home county while you're there. Well, I'll let everybody know that. Yes. And I still have the family farm and I'm still very close to a lot of them. I know you know Bob McAdoo and everybody out there. It's a great area. Yes, it is. And great farmers. Yes, they are. It's very different from here. Yes. My grandmother always said you could drill for a 50-foot, for a water well, go 50 feet and never hit a rock. And I have to say that it's not true on my farm here. Yes, absolutely. And by the way, I have 44 days before I start planting again, Chair. So 44 more days of rest before I start back to work in planting organic, fresh crops out here. And if we can get rid of the snow. Right. And the ice. And I see that Councilmember Boone is with us today and Olivia, thank you again for what you do. I have been sending him lots of little texts because I wanted to make sure that the solar folks on the committee, I don't know who all the committee members are, but I did send a text, Councilmember Boone, to Councilmember Sheehan to tell her that we'd be happy any one of us or I would come to discuss with them anything they would like to know about our stance. In the past, a year ago, we had some fairly extensive discussions about solar when this issue first came up. And our feds do not allow them except for personal use on their own property. So we don't have, quote, solar farms that take up all the land. So I have sent him, Councilmember Boone, who is on the committee, some information about that and to let Councilmember Sheehan know that we'd be happy to discuss anything she would like. Is there anything that you would like to say, or Olivia? Yeah, so I appreciate you'll have me on here. So we recently, we had a meeting on Monday morning, we've gone through the ZOTA line by line, each Councilmember has basically had the opportunity to bring things forward that they want to change, put into it. There's a couple of smaller changes, but obviously the big one is the large scale solar. So where it's at right now, it's in the law department, getting revised and cleaned up. I suppose Councilmember Sheehan did put in their large scale solar with a dual use. I voted against it. The other three Councilmembers voted for it. So that is currently in there. I think there's still some details to work out of what that language actually looks like and means. But that is kind of where it's at at the moment. The plan is to get, Councilmember Sheehan's plan is to bring it back to GGP on March 10th to have discussion about it there to, I believe her goal is to get it out of committee and put it right into work session that same day. I don't think it's, I think there's some details that still have to be worked out. So I'm not saying that this is 100% happening, but we're going to definitely find a place for RLMB to review it before it comes back to Council. So if it goes to work session, it will then go to Planning Commission and or RLMB. So the timeline is still kind of to be determined as far as when we get the language back from law, we'll know a little bit more about what this thing actually looks like. But that is kind of where we're at at the moment. Did I miss anything? And I think most of you all know this, it was brought up at the last meeting, but luckily Councilmember Boone is on GGP committee now. So he'll be one of those voting committee members, which is really important for this. And I think that's it, we'll be in touch as soon as we have more information on how your all's input can be received, because that's obviously something that is very important and that we really want. Well, while our state and federal folks are here, we have just for them to let you know that we do, the Rural Land Management Board does support solar energy. We do protect and our easements as well as the prime soils and our farmland throughout all of Fayette County, did discuss this issue at least a year ago, probably when this first came up. As I said earlier, our easements, our federal easements, as those of you at the state and federal level know, they support solar energy, but on these PDR farms and on our conservation easements, they only allow solar if it's for your own personal use on that farm. They encourage it on buildings rather than on the soil. And we had had some discussion about that in our board meetings, because some of the people like Robert, who have crops and use large equipment, solar ground mounted does not work with, you can't get a tractor under it, you can't get the big combines and the equipment under it. We also discussed the fact that it was difficult with large animals like cows and horses, because they can't get under it, that even goats want to climb on it, and that's destructive, that cows like to rub on them, and that can be a problem. And that the only farming that they had discussed with us was about sheep. And in this area, we do not have a big meat or wool market, and they would mainly be there just to graze the grass. So there has been discussion and some in-depth. We even talked about gardens being planted under them, that that does happen in New Jersey and other places that grow small crops underneath, but the fact that you need the sunlight and the rain, it has to have a special design to make sure that can still happen. We did, as I recall, Phil Mayer in particular talked about putting them on large parking lots that might be in the rural area, like at Blue Sky, and I know he mentioned other places we could use it, and the one place in the rural area we had talked about were the brown spaces like the Haley Pike Landfill. So we did talk about some places you could do it and how it would not work and it was not financially feasible for farming community or Fayette County's agricultural economy. Did I miss anything, Phil, Robert, those of you that, looking back on my minutes, just had some discussion at that time? I guess we got so much space inside the urban service boundary that it's parking lots that we ought to try putting it there first, you know, it's like, just to use up good farmland is just crazy and, you know, let a farmer put a little piece, a little piece on his own farm for his own use, that's great, but the big commercial stuff, I don't want them here, you know. I couldn't agree more, and I know we're probably most of us on the same page there. One of the things I did put into the ZOTA was a brownfield exception, I guess, to try to encourage and make it easier for solar, like the Haley Pike Landfill. I know there's not a ton of it in Fayette County, but whether it's inside or outside the boundary, I think the brownfields is definitely where we look at first. And so that is, that's in the ZOTA as it stands right now, and we'll tweak it, the draft ZOTA. So yeah, we're going to keep after it and try to make all the farmers and ag land protected. Thank you. Back when we discussed that, Council Member, when we discussed that a long time ago, I did pass that on to the mayor, that we were supportive of brownfields, that Haley Pike was a possibility, that the previous mayor, Scotty Basler, had purchased that specifically for a landfill, and that what it had really been used for over the years was for demolition debris, which, of course, now that the concrete and all those things have been dumped into that area, it would be very difficult to use it for agricultural uses like we've been talking about in the future, and that it is hundreds of acres, isn't it, like 350-something acres? It's a pretty good-sized tract, and since then, it's been used for composting and demolition debris, and I'm not sure anything else. So we, you can pass on that we did suggest that before. So we did support that before. Sounds great. We'll do it. Anything else, guys? Any comments about solar? Eric, do you have any comments? You or Brian, anybody? Or Matt? Want to add a comment to that, since you were not here a year ago? All the comments you made, Gloria, are certainly very appropriate and will go a long way for not only providing options in those limited uses for personal use, but also the preservation of the ag lands. Great to hear the good discussion by the Board and the opinion of the Board and how you view its availability on easements albeit in a limited capacity. Well, our zoning ordinance has been really good for many years, and the basic use in the rural area, except for an exception for some conditional uses, has always been for single-family residential and ag uses. And it's a finite resource, and we all recognize that a big part of Fayette County and Kentucky — you know from being in Elizabethtown, and Jim will know when he goes to Henderson — that a big part of the identity of some of these counties is purely their ag-related industries and tourism. And Fayette County has certainly benefited from agriculture. It's a big part of our economy and our tourism, and we are charged, this Board is charged, to oversee that rural service area for how to keep those industries secure and viable. And this Board has tried for 20-plus years to do that. Margaret Graves, who's the chair of the Bluegrass Land Conservancy, at the same exact time, Margaret and I have been working on this together for more than 20 years, and at the state level as well. They were doing the PACE program at the same time. So, we've tried to educate other people about the importance, economically speaking, of these four jobs, a big circle of jobs, as it relates to that. So, we do have 33,000 acres in Fayette County-plus, and we're working toward a goal of 50. And we appreciate your help and your input, and as Phil Mayer already said, we're really delighted, and Beth, we're delighted to have you all attend these meetings, and any input you can give us, any way you can educate us, Father, we certainly appreciate and welcome the help. I've always thought that the more people who had input, the better the outcome would be. So, we want all the diversity we can get from, and it's a great diversified Board. They are, as you already know, appointed from specific groups, and they've had great representation, and they've all been present and active. So, we thank you for coming and showing such interest. Thank you. Beth, anything that you need to add, now that I've expounded on my soapbox, I need to get a little taller on my soapbox. I hope everybody had a good Valentine's, hope you got lots of sweets, whatever. We will meet again on March the 25th, that Wednesday, at 3 p.m. via Zoom, like we did today, and it is, I have 4.20 for the time to announce the time for a motion to adjourn. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Coming up, to you all, I hope you have corned beef and cabbage, and whatever. Do I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? We can stay. This is Joanna. I'll move to adjourn. I'll second. Joanna made the motion, and who made the second? I'll second. Jim. I'll second, Chair. Okay. Again, thank you all so much for coming. It is, as you can see, it is so important that we have a quorum. Always please let Beth or me know if you are or are not coming, so that we can make sure that we have everybody here, and I can call people and cheerlead if we don't. Make sure that we do. So thank you all again for coming and making it in a timely manner and on time. So thanks. All in favor of that motion, signify with a show of hands. All right. Again, thank you all for coming, and happy St. Patrick's Day. I remember how much you loved to dance. Do all the things I should have done when I was your man. Do all the things I should have done when I was your man. I was sitting in a crummy movie with my hands on my chin. Oh, the violence that occurred seemed like we'd never win. Love and mercy, that's what you need tonight. Oh, love and mercy to you and your friends tonight. I was lying in my room as the news came on TV. A lot of people out there hurting, and it really scares me. Love and mercy, that's what you need tonight. Oh, love and mercy to you and your friends tonight. I was standing in a bar and watching all the people there. Oh, the loneliness in this world, well, it's just not fair. Oh, I was standing in a bar and watching all the people there. Oh, the loneliness in this world, well, it's just not fair. Oh, I was standing in a bar and watching all the people there. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Hey, love and mercy, that's what you need tonight. So, love and mercy to you and your friends tonight. Love and mercy, that's what you need tonight. Love and mercy tonight. Love and mercy. piano plays softly Last night I waved goodbye, now it seems years. I'm back in the city where nothing is clear. But thoughts of me holding you, bringing us near. And tell me, when will our eyes meet? When can I touch you? When will this strong yearning end? And when will I hold you again? Time in New England took me away to long rocky beaches and you by the bay. We started a story whose end must now wait. And tell me, when will our eyes meet? When can I touch you? When will this strong yearning end? And when will I hold you again? I feel the change coming. I feel the wind blow. I feel brave and daring. I feel my blood flow with you. I could bring out all the love that I have with you. There's a heaven, so earth ain't so bad. And tell me, when will our eyes meet? When can I touch you? When will this strong yearning end? And when will I hold you? guitar, bass, & drums play rock Hey, it's Byjana Coe with Your Lex PD, and we are here for another episode. And, you know, this brings back memories. Yes. In the very first season of Your Lex PD, we were in this room, the Real-Time Intelligence Center, talking about...