Central KY county gets $4M to clean up dump amid efforts to revitalize Black neighborhood

Thanks to a federal grant, a Paris neighborhood is a step closer to ridding itself of an eyesore that has plagued the area for decades.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Bourbon County Fiscal Court a $4 million grant to test and remove contaminated soils around the town’s former incinerator and garbage transfer station.

“We are obviously thrilled,” said Bourbon County Judge Executive Mike Williams. “It’s important to our community. This helps us resolve not only an environmental justice issue but a social justice issue.”

The town incinerator was built in Paris’ predominately Black Westside Neighborhood in 1965. At the time, Black communities had little say or political sway. Many environmental hazards and public works projects were placed in Black neighborhoods across the country, Williams noted.

The EPA grant for remediation is just the latest step in a multi-year process to remove the transfer station from the Westside Neighborhood.

It started in 2019 when Westside Neighborhood residents began a planning process to rethink the neighborhood. Top on the to-do list was removing the city’s transfer station, which is tucked into the back of the neighborhood. Trash trucks on narrow, neighborhood streets was once a common sight and traffic hazard.

The odors, particularly when the incinerator was operating, were noxious, longtime Westside residents have said.

Thanks to community pressure and federal and state money, a new transfer station was built on land donated by the Bourbon County Fiscal Court. That new transfer station opened in May 2025, Williams said.

Because the city of Paris was responsible for the contamination on the site, under federal law it could not apply for EPA grants. That’s why the Bourbon County Fiscal Court has temporary ownership of the more than 20-acre site while remediation efforts are underway, Williams said.

The EPA had previously awarded the Bourbon County Fiscal Court an approximately $850,000 grant to remove the building that once housed the incinerator and a large pit underneath that building, Williams said.

The EPA notified Bourbon County in late June it had been awarded the $4 million grant, but the money likely won’t hit the fiscal court’s bank account until October, Williams said.

The remediation of the site will take a long time, he said.

Tetra Tech, a private firm contracted to write the grant, will oversee the soil testing and remediation efforts.

“They will be paid through the grant,” Williams said. Bourbon County taxpayers will not have to foot the bill for the project, he said.

From eyesore to community park

Williams said they believe the $4 million will cover the entire cost of remediation.

“This will be done over several years,” Williams said. When the remediation is done, the land will be returned to the city of Paris. “Someday something really nice will go there.”

Vanessa Logan, the Westside Neighborhood president who has been instrumental in drumming up support to have the transfer station removed, said the efforts to rid the neighborhood of the trash site have helped kickstart a rejuvenation of the Westside Neighborhood.

“It has taken ... an eyesore out of the neighborhood,” Logan said. “We want to revitalize it to something this community can be proud of.”

The vision for the site is a community-based park with walking paths, shelters, possibly a splash pad and a community center. The property also has access to a creek where people can launch kayaks and canoes or fish, she said.

More importantly, the plans include a new road that will connect the property to U.S. 460. The property only has one way in and one way out, Logan said.

The group is currently pursuing grants to make the new park a reality. The city of Paris will also help with some of the costs, Logan said.

“We will also be looking to community partners,” Logan said. They have already received a financial commitment from one partner, she said.

Logan credited EHI Consultants, a Lexington firm, for help with planning the new park. Tetra Tech staff developed the multistep process to get the transfer station removed, she said.

The project has also garnered something rare — bipartisan support.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican federal and state elected officials have all backed the multistep, multi-year project, Williams said.

Williams hopes other communities see what Bourbon County and Paris has accomplished and take similar steps to remove environmental hazards and correct long-standing social injustices.

“It’s important to our community,” Williams said. “Hopefully other communities can see this process and understand there is funding available.”

Beth Musgrave

Lexington Herald-Leader

Beth Musgrave has covered government and politics for the Herald-Leader for more than a decade. A graduate of Northwestern University, she has worked as a reporter in Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois and Washington D.C. Support my work with a digital subscription