Bitter bourbon battle pits Buffalo Trace against Franklin County residents over new warehouse

A subcommittee of the Frankfort/Franklin County Planning Committee hit pause on a controversial zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow Buffalo Trace to put bourbon warehouses in agricultural and rural neighborhood zones due to legal questions.

The subcommittee voted Thursday night after a more than three-hour meeting to ask its lawyer if Buffalo Trace is allowed to sponsor a text amendment which would change the county’s zoning code.

It’s not clear when the subcommittee will meet next. The subcommittee agreed to reconvene after it hears back from its lawyer.

The proposal by Buffalo Trace would require the bourbon maker, and other distillers, to get a conditional use permit for a warehouse in an agricultural or rural neighborhood zone. Conditional use permits are typically heard by the Board of Adjustment but are not approved by the Frankfort City Commission or the Frankfort Fiscal Court.

Randy Strobo, a lawyer who represents neighbors in the Peaks Mill area, told the subcommittee that Kentucky law and an attorney general’s opinion clearly states text amendments can only be initiated by the planning commission, the Frankfort City Commission or the Franklin Fiscal Court. Buffalo Trace has discussed putting warehouses in the Peaks Mill area.

“There is nothing that gives the authority to a property owner. It’s simply not allowed,” Strobo said. “It’s not legal.”

In Fayette County, all text amendments are started by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council or the Urban County Planning Commission.

Moreover, Strobo argued only the city commission and the fiscal court can approve a change in land use— which is typically a zone change. Allowing warehouses— which are currently allowed in the industrial zone — on agricultural or rural neighborhood zones is a substantial change in the use of the land. That means to put warehouses in those districts Buffalo Trace needs to go through the zone change process, Strobo argued.

Strobo said if the subcommittee moved forward, Peaks Mill residents will sue. “That lawsuit will have lots of teeth,” Strobo said.

Buffalo Trace’s argument

Charlie Jones, a lawyer for Buffalo Trace, said he interprets the statues to say the city commission or the fiscal court “may” initiate the zone change, which leaves the door open for a private entity to sponsor a text amendment.

Jones said Buffalo Trace has struggled to find hundreds of acres of industrial land, where bourbon warehouses are allowed, in Franklin County. The county is in the midst of revamping its comprehensive plan, which says where growth can go. However, people are very reluctant to add industrial zoned land, Jones said.

Jones said other counties with bourbon distilleries allow warehouses in agricultural land with certain conditions.

Nelson County allows bourbon warehouses in agricultural zones but restricts those warehouses to certain areas of the county, planning staff said.

“It is recognized as an appropriate use of land in those counties and I think it’s an appropriate use of land here,” Jones said.

Jones said Buffalo Trace’s proposed text amendment would also limit the number of warehouses in agricultural and rural neighborhoods to one warehouse per 8 acres.

Opposition

Nearly 100 people who opposed the zone text amendment attended the packed meeting in Frankfort to voice opposition to the bourbon maker’s proposed changes to the text amendment.

Martha Gray, a lawyer and a Peaks Mill resident, agreed with Strobo and said she plans to file a lawsuit challenging the zone text amendment.

“They are trying to change the rules of the game so they don’t have to prove the statutory requirements for a zone change,” Gray said.

Other residents said they were concerned that if Buffalo Trace is allowed to put warehouses in the Peaks Mill area, it will be detrimental to the environment. Others said they were concerned about whiskey fungus, a black residue produced by aging bourbon that often spreads to other areas. Traffic is also a concern, others argued. Buffalo Trace has said the whiskey fungus is not a health hazard.

Joyce Bender said she chose to live in the country for a reason.

“I don’t want to have industry where I’m living,” Bender said. If this text amendment is approved, it will open the door for industry to go in the agricultural lands.

Some said if the text amendment passed, Buffalo Trace could put warehouses in just shy of 50% of the county.

Not everyone who spoke Thursday night was opposed. Others said Buffalo Trace needed to expand and the county needed to figure out a way to accommodate that expansion.

Other legal battles

This isn’t Buffalo Trace’s only legal fight as it tries to expand its warehouse space in the midst of a bourbon boom. In April, the Frankfort bourbon maker announced plans to establish a new campus off of KY 151, just outside of Franklin County. Plans call for building up to 24 barrel warehouses on 450 acres on Graefenburg Road in Anderson County.

But some neighbors of the 450 acre proposed campus are fighting the zone change. Some said they are worried about traffic, whiskey fungus and fire hazards. The Anderson County Fiscal Court is expected to vote on a zone change for the property in June. An Anderson County planning body voted to approve the zone change 4-3 in May.

Buffalo Trace had considered asking for a zone change for a parcel of property off of Peaks Mill but ultimately backed off those plans after meeting widespread resistance from many neighbors in the area and environmentalists who said the area is too ecologically sensitive for bourbon warehouses.

If the zoning commission subcommittee moves forward with the text amendment, it will go to the full planning commission for approval and then to the fiscal court.

Buffalo Trace, which is owned by Sazerac, makes some of the most popular bourbon brands including Buffalo Trace, Weller, Blanton’s, Elmer T. Lee, Eagle Rare, E.H. Taylor Jr. and the rare Pappy Van Winkle line.