Pump Station Options Fuel Lexington Development Debate

Mill Ridge Farm supports a plan that would place a new sewer pump station on its property because it believes it's the best option to address current environmental problems and provide for the community, but some Lexington area Thoroughbred farm owners oppose the plan they believe would weaken current standards protecting Fayette County farms from development. Mill Ridge Farm believes the plan it supports is the best of three options being considered by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council. Mill Ridge co-owner Price Bell said the location is the best long-term option to address current problems with the system, which include overflows on the farm's land while providing new wetlands and meeting requirements of already planned growth in Lexington and Fayette County. Opponents of the Mill Ridge Farm option believe it would weaken urban service boundary standards that have helped protect Fayette County Thoroughbred farms for decades. Those two sides clashed at an April 14 LFUCC meeting, where acting commissioner of environmental quality and public works Charles Martin presented the pros and cons of three possible options for the sewage pump station that included overhauling the current pump station on Mint Lane, putting in a new pump station at Mill Ridge, or putting a new station on property of the Blue Grass Airport. A recommendation, or possibly a decision, on one of those three locations could come as soon as April 28, when the LFUCC meets for a scheduled 3 p.m. ET work session. At the April 14 meeting, Martin noted that the cheapest option is overhauling the current pump station at an estimated $19.6 million. A comparable new pump station on the Mill Ridge Farm property, called the Bowman Mill Road location, would cost an estimated $24.9 million but could provide operational savings going forward. The high cost of the airport location, estimated at $48.4 million, all but eliminates that option. Martin has noted that a decision is needed soon to ensure Environmental Protection Agency deadlines are met. Citing city records, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the Mint Lane pump station has had more than 13.1 million gallons in sanitary sewer overflows since Jan. 1, 2015. Mill Ridge Farm has been most impacted by that pollution. Bell said at the April 14 meeting that relocating the pump station to the Bowman Road location could turn that negative into an environmental positive. He said that's the biggest reason Mill Ridge supports the idea. "Relocating the pump station to Bowman Mill allows a state-funded wetland restoration project along Cave Creek to move forward," Bell said. "Kentucky Fish and Wildlife would place a permanent conservation easement along 25 acres. It repairs years of environmental damage caused by 13 million gallons of overflows, and it creates the opportunity for public green space, a future trail connection, and ultimately, meaningful community access along one of the most beautiful corridors in Fayette County. "A required infrastructure investment could become a lasting community asset." Consultant Andrea Drayer of Healing Habitats applauded Mill Ridge Farm on that commitment, noting that development has claimed 81% of Kentucky wetlands. She said it's rare to find a private landowner willing to create new wetlands. Opponents of the Bowman Mill Road location said moving forward with such a plan would be going down a slippery slope when it comes to protecting the Fayette County farms that make the Lexington area such an attractive place to live. Darby Dan Farm owner John Phillips, speaking on behalf of the Lexington-Frankfort Scenic Corridor board of directors at the April 14 meeting, opposed the Mill Ridge location. Phillips believes it's a step toward developing the Mill Ridge Farm property and is concerned making this exception would make it easier for other farm owners to find ways around the urban service boundary rules. "Placing a new sewer pump station and adjoining tank outside the urban service boundary for the benefit of private individuals in anticipation of expansion sometime in the future is a horrible precedent," Phillips said. "Such a decision flies in the face of a long-standing practice of keeping such public infrastructure investment inside the urban service boundary. Moving the Mint Lane Station outside the USB would signal an implicit future expansion. "Such a decision would encourage landowners adjoining the urban service boundary to offer creative enticements to the city for similar goals. One can easily imagine landowners, including some along Old Frankfort Pike, attempting to use this potential, ill-conceived move as a precedent to disregard the USB for their private benefit at the expense of their neighbors, and the community." Airdrie Stud president Bret Jones noted that he's been friends with Price Bell for years—and doesn't anticipate a change in that regard—but on this issue is opposed to the Mill Ridge Farm location. "These are people that I respect, but they're people that unfortunately I feel obligated to oppose today," Jones said at the recent meeting. "I believe this land around Lexington is what makes Lexington this incredible place that we all know. To go around the process that has been in place, to set that precedent, to really give a playbook to people who are not as well-intentioned as the Bell family, would be absolutely catastrophic for this city. I think it is bad policy." At the April 14 meeting, Bell said the Mill Ridge Farm location would not weaken the urban service boundary because the current location is already outside that boundary. Bell pointed to a 2025 survey that says the existing pump station is outside the boundary. Later at the meeting, Martin agreed that, at the very least, parts of the substation are outside the boundary. "There has been a coordinated effort to frame this infrastructure decision as an expansion of the urban service boundary. That framing is not supported by the facts, nor the policy of this government," Bell said. "The idea that placing infrastructure outside the boundary would represent a 'dangerous new precedent,' is simply not accurate." Bell noted that Mill Ridge Farm is all too well acquainted with the problems of the current location, which the LFUCC would aim to address under any of the three plans. "Since 2015, the Mint Lane pump station, which is located on our property without our permission, has overflowed 28 times, discharging nearly 13 million gallons of untreated sewage onto our farm and into Cave Creek. That's the equivalent of 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools of raw, untreated sewage," Bell said. Bell said the Bowman Mill option would provide some advantages to refurbishing the current location, including addressing planned added development in the area. "The Bowman Mill site sits at a lower elevation downstream along Cave Creek. That means gravity, not machinery does the work," Bell said, adding that long term this would result in lower energy use and less mechanical strain. "As director Martin often says, 'Gravity works for free and it doesn't take a day off.'" Bell said that while the overhaul of the Mint Lane Station would bring it up to standards, it would not allow expansion for any future development needs. He said the Bowman Mill site would allow both, and said Martin has reported that he anticipates a need for greater capacity to address already planned developments. Bell said April 21 that those planned developments do not include Mill Ridge Farm, but if any part of Mill Ridge Farm is developed down the line, those plans would face their own review. "If we choose the option that only meets today's requirements, we limit tomorrow's opportunity," Bell said of meeting the requirements of already planned development.