New industrial park is coming to Central Kentucky after contentious vote
A new, two-county industrial park is coming to Central Kentucky.
The Franklin Fiscal Court voted Wednesday to approve a controversial zone change for a 175-acre industrial park off of U.S. 127 near the Anderson and Franklin County line, despite strong opposition from neighbors of the proposed park. The vote was 5-2.
Penny Peavler, interim executive director of the Kentucky Capital Development Corporation, told the Fiscal Court they plan to start closing on the property in mid-September. Kentucky Capital Development Corporation is one of the entities helping to create the new regional park.
The proposed park is funded through a combination of state and local dollars. The Kentucky Product Development Initiative, a state effort, will pay $4 million for the park. The other entities involved in the park — Franklin and Anderson counties, Lawrenceburg and Frankfort — will pay the remaining $4 million.
Fiscal Court magistrates who supported the industrial park said they believed the area needed more industrial park land to attract more jobs.
“It will allow us to plan for substantial job growth,” said Magistrate JW Blackburn. “We have no plan for our future except for the one in front of us.”
Magistrate Kelly Dycus said it was a difficult and emotional decision. The Fiscal Court heard from many people who did not support it, and more than 700 people signed an online petition in opposition. The land for the potential park is agriculture. Many said they did not want that land to be developed and said it was not suited for an industrial park because of its karst geography. It has sinkholes and underground caves.
Yet, too many young families can no longer afford to live in Franklin County, Dycus said, and the county must diversify its workforce. Local governments depend on occupational taxes — a tax on jobs — to fund operations. Frankfort and Franklin County are largely dependent on state employees to boost those occupational taxes.
Dycus said the county’s other industrial parks have not been used wisely. This is a chance to right that wrong and plan for a better industrial park, she said.
Magistrate Sherry Sebastian voted against the park. Sebastian said she had concerns about future costs for the park. The $8 million appears only to go toward purchasing land for the park. That park has no utilities or any other infrastructure.
“There will be other costs that will come up,” Sebastian said.
Magistrate Eric Whisman also voted against the park. Whisman said he, too, had concerns about costs and that not enough information about those potential costs has been made public.
“It’s not the wishes of our community,” Whisman said. The county could have put the industrial park on land that already had infrastructure. Whisman said the county should also look at acquiring underperforming industrial land that already has utilities and other infrastructure.
The Frankfort-Franklin County Planning Commission voted 5-3 in July for the zone change from rural residential to a planned commercial zone after multiple sometimes contentious meetings.
Those who voted Tuesday in favor of the park Tuesday were: Blackburn, Dycus, Mike Harrod, Richard Tanner, Judge Executive Mike Mueller.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 9:15 AM.
