Neighbor concerns over Madison County distillery along Kentucky River leads to delay
The Madison County Board of Adjustment tabled a permit for a new Madison County distillery on the Kentucky River after neighbors voiced concerns about possible environmental impacts.
More than four dozen people attended a standing-room only, two-hour hearing Thursday night for the distillery at 195 Lexington Road.
The board, which voted unanimously to table the conditional use permit, could take up the issue at its next meeting on March 21, Madison County planning staff said. A firm date for debate on the distillery has not been set.
Karl Cook, an internationally ranked equestrian show jumper who is the ex-husband of “Big Bang Theory” actress Kaley Cuoco and also the son of the founder of Intuit, wants to build a small-scale distillery on land he purchased last fall on the Kentucky River.
The land is zoned agricultural. Last fall, Madison County changed its zoning ordinance to allow distilleries in agricultural zones with a conditional use permit, said Madison County Planning Director Bert Thomas. Cook’s application was the first application for a conditional use permit for a distillery in an agricultural zone since the change.
Cook, who first came to Central Kentucky in 2016 to compete in equestrian events, said the new distillery will be called Palisades Whiskey Co. Distillery. It will be a small-batch distillery. Cook said he also is building a home and a barn for his horses on the 218-acre property, purchased for $3.1 million last October.
Access to the property would be via Old Richmond Road. There would be an emergency access along River Circle Road.
Cook said he anticipates producing only about 2,000 barrels of distillate a year. Three, three-story rickhouses are planned for the site, which also would have a visitors center.
The property is near Kelley’s Landing in Fayette County, where Lexington is building a nature park with river access.
Concerns about ‘whiskey fungus’ and flooding
Liz Natter, a lawyer with the Kentucky Resources Council, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of environmental interests, asked the board to delay the vote so neighbors could learn more about the project. A conditional use can be granted if there is proof it will not be detrimental to surrounding land owners. Cook’s application had not met that burden, she said.
“How much ethanol will be produced?” Natter said. “What impacts might there be from whiskey fungus?”
Whiskey fungus is the term for a byproduct from rickhouses that store bourbon and other spirits. The black material, which bourbon distilleries claim is not harmful, can coat surrounding properties.
River Circle Road, particularly the area where the distillery’s emergency entrance is located, frequently floods, some neighbors said.
Others were concerned about catastrophic failures or the rickhouse and fires. If the rickhouse fails, the property is on the Kentucky River in an area with multiple protected natural wildlife areas and a Kentucky American Water intake pipe.
“What about the environmental impacts?” said James Carpenter, who recently purchased property in the area. “I’m also concerned about mechanical noise.”
Not everyone who spoke Thursday night was against the project. Others said they wanted to learn more before deciding if they supported the distillery. At one time, the property was slated for housing, some said. A distillery may be a better, less intense use of that property, some neighbors said.
Stuart Olds, a lawyer for Cook, said the distillery would have to comply with state rules for distilleries and rickhouses. Some of the problems with rickhouses occurred with older houses that were not up to state codes because they had been grandfathered in, he said.
Olds said many Madison County officials have supported the project as it could be a boon for tourism. Cook has estimated he will employ 15 people on the property if it is approved.
