By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Olive Hill City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting on February 20 to conduct city business, including hearing reports on current projects as well as plans for future projects. Ongoing water projects were discussed, including an inlet pump, a test of filter mechanisms, and testing water chemicals. Water levels are steadily improving and testing should be possible within two weeks, depending upon the schedules of the required inspectors and technicians.
Max Hammond addressed the council about the construction of a new park. Hammond said he believed that the time was right to move forward on the park and felt confident the CDBG Grants could be secured without matching funds contributed by the city.
“We could potentially build a park here that could attract people from all over and bring people downtown,” Hammond said.
He said the benefits would be many for the city, and that there are already conceptual drawings for the proposed park, a result of a grant from Virginia Tech.
“It will be a beautiful park and really bring activity downtown,” Hammond told the council.
The park could serve to support city festivals and events, Hammond said, and offer a lot of recreational opportunities for both adults and youth. Hammond said that he would like to pursue the grant process with the city’s endorsement. A secondary benefit to the park’s construction, Hammond told the council, was that the construction would also serve as flood mitigation. This would add an important level to the grant narrative, he said, and make the project more appealing for potential funding.
“There are different CDBG pots to draw from,” Hammond explained to council. “There is economic development, and traditional projects, among others. And there are things we haven’t really looked at in the past that are out there and available.”
Hammond said that municipalities and local governments could be eligible for up to $800,000 in grants on qualifying projects and/or improvements.
“We could have an industrial park potentially in Olive Hill if we proceeded,” Hammond told the council.
Hammond also gave an update on the bike path grant he helped secure for the city. Working in conjunction, Trail Town, the Galaxy Project, and the Warrior’s Path Project were awarded a grant last year – one of only ten such available nationwide – to build a world class mountain bike facility on land around the city lake, Hammond reminded council. While there hasn’t been any visible progress on the bike path so far, administrative work has been going on behind the scenes.
“The project stalled somewhat because the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund bought the land for us,” Hammond explained. “There were restrictions on that for foot traffic only. But we petitioned them and provided documentations, and Trail Town worked with them. Now, after providing three conceptual drawings for mountain bike parks, we are the first in the state of Kentucky to be able to build these mountain bike parks.”
Hammond said they were approved on the condition that they worked with the National Mountain Bike Foundation. The park would be the first of its kind in Eastern Kentucky.
In other grant news, Jasper Ball from FIVCO Area Development District discussed a watershed plan study grant for Tygarts Creek with the council. Ball said that it mostly dealt with the fiscal court’s jurisdiction, but the impact could cover the city of Olive Hill. Ball said he began writing the grant as a means to help fund area wastewater work, and focusing on stormwater helps to do that.
“This is because watershed work often has to do with pollution, and wastewater work often has to do with reducing pollution,” Ball said. “You can tie the two together with other benefits like the CDBG grants you were discussing.”
The watershed planning would run mostly through the county, Ball said, and would involve either Carter County hiring a Watershed Planning person or hiring a consultant to come in and do the planning.
“That would develop probably twenty years of projects,” Ball told the council.
Such projects could include creating a “green sink,” which would reduce the peak flow of water during extreme rainfall events by increasing retention upstream. Increasing retention decreases waterflow at bottleneck points, Ball said, and is much more cost effective than building structures such as floodwalls. Such projects could be tied into other projects like the proposed park for maximum efficiency.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
