By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Boone County resident Gayle Pille has spent her life as a conservationist, raising awareness for nature and the environemnt.
Her 40-acre property off Idlewild Road in Boone County is such a nature preserve that she plans on giving that property to the Cardinal Land Conservancy to preserve the work she has done for 30 years.
She made her case to this week’s Boone County Fiscal Court — and asked for help — about an issue she has had for some time with SD-1. A number of residents were there to back her up.
“When SD-1 looks at my property, they see a place to put a sewer line,” she said. “When I look at it, I see a promise. The people who owned this property before me cared deeply about what happens to their multi-generational farm. They sold it to me specifically because they knew that I wanted to preserve it. They cared about what would happen to it after it left their hands. And I made them a promise that I would preserve it. That is exactly what I have tried to do. I have protected the woods, I have protected Woolper Creek, I have planted more than 1000 native trees. I watch these trees grow and I watch the wildlife make their homes among them.”
Pille named all the animals she has seen, including the endangered Indiana bats. She said she cannot explain to the wildlife why she believes their habitat matters, but she asked the court if it mattered to them.
“I have a vision for this property that extends far beyond my lifetime,” she stated. “My vision for this land after I’m gone is the same as it is now — alive, wild and protected.”
She said this is why what is happening is so difficult for her to understand. She explained that she did all the right things, she protected things that needed protection, she made the land attractive to wildlife so they could feel safe in their environment.
And then she found out she might lose it all because of eminent domain, where SD-1 can carelessly take property she has owned and protected for decades and destroy what she has created for a sewer pipe that needs to be installed in the county.
Judge Executive Gary Moore prefaced other speakers by saying that first of all, this is an SD-1 project and they make the decisions, not the fiscal court, and secondly there is pending litigation, which limits what they can say and can’t say.
Speaker after speaker took their turn to support Pille, but as Jennifer Watts said, this has become more than just a woman protecting her property. This is now a movement to protect natural areas, to defend property rights, and to give the community a voice in the decision to protect their future. She said they have over 2000 signatures on a petition asking SD-1 to reconsider using this route to place their sewer line. One of the signatures was from a woman who said that enough of Boone County’s farm land and natural areas have been gobbled up by the ever-increasing housing developments. Boone County does not need to have another area taken and destroyed in the name of progress. Another person wrote that no one should have the property they own taken by eminent domain, especially when there are other routes for this sewer line that SD-1 could have taken.
Watts said her son went through a program designed for young people to learn about county government, and she said he learned a lot and was impressed with the county. When he learned about this effort to take a resident’s property by eminent domain, and it isn’t a governmental project, he told his mom that Gary Moore said that couldn’t be done. Yet it is being done and county officials are standing by and watching it happen without any opposition on their part at all.
Watts wondered why county elected officials would not use their voice to help protect their residents. She asked that the county enter all the information they provided into the public record, and asked the judge and commissioners to use their voices to have SD-1 pause the project and go with a less destructive route for the pipe.
Sandra King said that it is true that it is mostly SD-1, but they met with Boone County planners to plan waterways for the county. An engineer from the Court of Appeals, Lydia Watkins, testified in court that she saw input from Boone County Fiscal Court as to its priorities for sewer treatment, and they told SD-1 approximately where they didn’t want the sewer line to go, that they wanted the line to go more west away from the wastewater treatment plant. King said that when Pille went to talk to SD-1 Executive Director Adam Chaney, he told her that she was talking to the wrong person, that she should be talking to Gary Moore and the Fiscal Court.
Having no control does not mean having no voice, she said. In another instance concerning a gas line being placed in Boone County, the court did get involved with a letter to authorities that made a difference.
Joanie Kinkel laid out the three route choices that SD-1 had, according to their engineering report, A3, B2 and B3. In their report, they listed that B2 involved 18 properties, 22 easements and would include high environmental access, as well as high maintenance, and that route had the most probability for cost overrun. B3 involved 3 properties and 7 easements, and lower environmental risk. It had less crossing of the creek and less tree loss. The engineers themselves concluded B3 would be the best route with less problems and more chance of success at a comparable cost. SD-1, however, chose B2, and she wondered why, and who benefitted, since they are going to put the sewer line through an environmentally
sensitive area instead of a route recommended by their engineers.
Rebecca Lewis said that the route goes through five miles of Pillle’s property, and the cost to replace her trees that would be decimated would be $1.59 million. They will cross the creek 31 times in the route. In the B3 route, they would only cross the creek 13 times.
Pat Gallagher said the commissioners and Judge Moore have gone on record about private property rights in the past. He wanted them to stand up and get involved and use their influence and beliefs. Eminent Domain is an extraordinary power, he said, and the court needs to protect their residents.
Another resident said the project has already begun, but the cost of amending contracts and compensating people is nothing compared to the cost of replacing a forest of mature trees. The cost of replacing the environment cannot be estimated since it cannot be replaced. Shesaid Boone County will grow, but how it will grow is on the shoulders of the Fiscal Court.
Tim Johnson said that after looking at the records he firmly believes that the Fiscal Court is responsible for SD-1 going through Pille’s property instead of the route that was cheaper and more feasible. He offered to be a witness if the court grants Pille’s appeal to go to the state Supreme Court.
State Representative TJ Roberts got up to say that he didn’t know why SD-1 proceeded to throw Boone County under the bus on this matter, and he said that has to be looked into. He said he didn’t know why SD-1 chose the route they did when they had better alternatives, but he knows the feelings he has on eminent domain, and said they passed legislation in Frankfort tightening the screws on rules about eminent domain. He said representation of Boone County on the SD-1 board is sadly lacking, since at one time there were not as many people in Boone County, but now that the population has more or less equalized, he will file legislation to change the representation on the board to make sure the representation is fair.
Judge Moore opened the floor to the commissioners, and Chet Hand said he has received phone calls and emails on the subject. He said people know his beliefs on eminent domain. If people want to contact him, he is available. He does support Representative Roberts efforts to change the board representation.
Judge Moore said he has received notifications that ask why are they taking Pille’s home, and he said they are not taking her home, this is an underground easement, and they are supposed to put the land they disturb back the same as it was.
Residents objected to that, yelling out that SD-1 has already said they will not restore her land, but Moore closed things down.
“Imagine hearing that there is nothing you can do,” Pille said earlier in her plea.”I don’t accept this.”
She looked at the court directly.
“Judge Moore and Commissioners, I am asking for your help,” she asked. “I cannot do this by myself. You have positions of influence in the county You have voices that the SD-1 will hear differently than my own. Please use them. Please ask SD-1 to reconsider this route.
“Please help me keep the promise I made when this land was entrusted to me, so I can preserve
it always.”