Spending a couple
of nights in Owen County showed Jared Cunningham a side of life
a little bit different from the one in which he grew up.
Originally from Madisonville, which he called “more suburban,”
Cunningham arrived in the county on Thursday and stayed through
Saturday, along with 16 other fifth-year students in his University
of Kentucky landscape architecture class.
Cunningham and his classmates will design a comprehensive plan
for the area, using plenty of input from residents, that they
hope the community will strongly rely on when making decisions
for future land use. They stayed Thursday through Saturday in
Owen County last week, gathering info, listening to residents
and proposing ideas. They plan to finalize their suggestions
for the community this spring.
Cunningham visited Sparta and New Liberty Friday afternoon,
and he went to the Robinson Family Jamboree Friday night.
“It was a new experience,” he said.Though the students
will take much of the spotlight when presenting their suggestions
in late April, Cunningham said most of the credit will go to
the residents themselves.
“They’re the brains behind it,” he said. “And
we’re the hands making it happen.”
“But in the same respect you guys are the hands,”
he later added, noting that the students will make suggestions
but, ultimately it will be up to the county to see them through.
His classmate Joey Hood spent his Friday touring Monterey and
Gratz.
While having lunch at the Monterey Cafe, he explained the project’s
goal of taking different segments of the community and looking
at them in a larger perspective.
“So in 20 years or so, everything’s flowing, and
it’s a well-oiled machine,” he said.
Cunningham said the people in the county he spoke with held
a wide range of opinions on the project — some were cynical,
he said, while others were more open; some wanted clusters of
housing while others wanted no development. Many different ideas
were brought to the discussion table.
“It’s a good, mixed view, and that’s going
to be hard to overcome,” he said. “How do we meet
in the middle?”
While addressing a community forum Thursday night, Hood spoke
optimistically of such a challenge.
“We’re pumped about this project,” he said.
“And we’re really looking forward to working with
the community.”
An introduction to Owen County
In the forum hosted at Owen County High School’s auditorium
Thursday night, the landscape architecture students sought to
introduce themselves, explain their mission and inform residents
about information they had already gathered about the area.
Though a smaller audience showed up than organizers had hoped
for — OCHS also hosted a basketball game that night —
about 60 people, including students and organizers, participated.
Students presented data on, among many other things, the area’s
population, history and geography.
UK student Katie Hardcastle discussed the county’s physical
landscape in a presentation, pointing out a key conflict as
the community considers future development.
The northern part of the county, with its rich soils, happens
to have some of the best land for agricultural use, she said.
However, since it’s one of the flattest sections of the
county and is near Interstate 71, it is also one of the best
areas for future construction.
UK student Stephen Eich said projections show a large increase
of residents between the ages of 61 and 80 in the county by
the year 2020. Also in his presentation, which focused on socio-economic
data, he stressed that the community is competing in a global
job market. He noted the overall national decline in manufacturing
and farming jobs and the continued rise in service-based jobs.
Eich discussed the aging farming population — the average
age of a farmer in Owen County is 56 and is on the rise —
and the need for alternative crops other than tobacco.
Numbers presented by Eich showed 58 percent of Owen County’s
workforce travels outside the county with an average commute
time of just over 30 minutes.
However, Eich said having a surplus of jobs in the county is
not the main source of residential growth, noting that studies
show people often relocate to areas based on recreation, education
and healthcare, then those people look for a job once finding
a destination.
He noted that home values are lower in Owen County than in surrounding
counties and suggested for the community to find ways to improve
the quality of life in the county.
Some of the ideas discussed for doing so included utilizing
empty lots in Owenton, perhaps for outdoor dining at restaurants,
and looking into additional grant-funding options for downtown
development.
Another option discussed by UK student Trey Randolph, whose
presentation focused on the county’s infrastructure, is
promoting Kentucky Highway 355. The highway runs through the
western side of the county and is a part of the Kentucky River
Trail System, meaning it’s approved for hiking and biking,
Randolph said.
After their initial presentations, students sought opinions
on a variety of topics from those in attendance. Using electronic
devises, audience members were polled on their opinions of agriculture,
wildlife, forests, and lakes and streams, among other categories.
Judge-Executive Billy O’Banion attended much of Thursday
night’s presentation and seemed impressed with the students’
initial report.
“Everything I’ve seen so far I think is going to
be extremely helpful down the road,” he said.
Magistrate Teresa Kemper Davis also attended Thursday night.
“I loved it,” she said. “I can’t wait
to follow them around tomorrow.”
Canvassing Owen County
Hood and classmate Matt Mitchell toured much of southwestern
Owen County on Friday, as eight groups made up of students and
community members fanned out across the area.
Hood and Mitchell began their morning at the Seigels’
house before visiting Ayres Orchard, Monterey Baptist Church
and the Outpost.
Their group had lunch at the Monterey Café before heading
off to the site of a proposed Kentucky American water intake
facility.
As Hood sat at the Monterey Café after having lunch,
he said the hot topics during morning conversations with residents
focused on improving the arts scene in the county and finding
better ways for residents to keep each other up to date on events
and activities in the county.
“That’s the big gap in a lot of communities is groups
just not communicating with each other,” the Rev. Tony
Watkins, of Monterey Baptist Church, told the students during
after-lunch conversations. He was one of several people from
the Monterey community who met with the student group at the
café.
“We didn’t really know what to expect,” Mitchell
said of Friday’s tour. “We had done a lot of inventory,
but we didn’t really have that cultural experience, didn’t
know what you all want.”
Monterey resident Ellen Engelman also attended the lunch discussion
on Friday. She said she wants children in the community have
more access to the arts.
“We live in a rural area that’s an hour away”
from any major art center, she said. “Here it takes a
whole instructional day to go anywhere.”
Engelman said she would like to see an artist trail developed
in the community that could bring in more tourists.
“I guess if I were going to dream big … I’d
start thinking about cities like Berea,” she said when
asked about what she would like to see in the community 20 years
down the road.
Monterey City Council woman Jinny Watts also had lunch with
the students on Friday.
She said many artists leave the community because of the lack
of financial support.
“Until the winery, we really didn’t have a place
to display our art,” she said.
Watts added that she would like to see more events organized
in the area, such as an American Indian “Pow-Wow”
festival to reflect the area’s long-ago use by various
tribes as a meeting and hunting ground.
She also proposed using the Kentucky River to bring in showboats
to showcase artwork and entertainment, as was done many years
ago.
Such a project would involve improving the locks on the river.
“But, of course, we’re talking millions of dollars
to get something like that started,” she said.
Hood talked about diversifying farming while continuing to stress
the importance of agriculture in the county, in addition to
creating a higher profile for the arts scene.
“There’s such a great base of artists in the community,
and my mind just races at some of the possibilities,”
he said, noting that he was excited to return to the students’
UK studio and begin putting the pieces together to help map
out Owen County’s future.
“Once they start to link together, it’s just going
to be unbelievable,” he said.
Mapping the county’s future
The 17 UK students gathered at a second public forum Saturday
morning at the county extension office.
Aerial maps of the county lay on tables, along with sheets of
wax paper, as students used them to indicate where current facilities
are located and to highlight potential spots for future projects.
Brian Lee, the UK professor teaching the landscape architecture
class, called Saturday’s function between residents and
students a “graphics-brainstorming session.”
“It’s another format,” he said, “another
way to listen to the community.”
Six tables allowed for topical discussions on the county’s
economy, arts scene, downtown, recreation, healthcare and development.
People drifted from table to table and discussion often meshed
from one topic to another, as people at the economy table shifted
from talking about the monetary impact of hunting to the recreational
opportunities it provided.
While people at the economy table discussed whether broadband
Internet should be a taxpayer-funded venture or supported by
private business, those at the arts table discussed how to better
utilize the U.S. Highway 127 yard sale in the county.
At the same time, people at the downtown table talked about
how to keep Owenton’s historic identity and where new
development could be placed, and those at the recreation table
proposed building a waterfront park in Gratz or Monterey.
Those gathered at the healthcare table discussed ways to get
patients better access to providers, and vice versa, while people
at the development table talked about creating more scenic “gateways”
on routes leading into the county.
After all was said and done, the students gave short presentations
on some of the ideas proposed.
Talk at the economy table, in addition to broadband discussion,
centered on the economic impact of farming and deer hunting.
Alternatives to tobacco were again discussed, as were ways to
capitalize off of hunters who come into the county. Ideas included
establishing rental cabins and horse ranches for tourists to
visit.
Those at the arts table talked about celebrating the county’s
agricultural heritage by painting murals of Owen Countians on
barns and making tapes to guide tourists around the county,
in addition to establishing a centralized kitchen and market
for farmers to cook and sell products like jams and for artists
to display and sell their works.
Ideas also included working with Kentucky American Water, as
it builds a new water intake site, to lobby the state for money
to repair the lock on pool three of the Kentucky River, where
the plant is proposed to be built.
Hood said such a project would help the water company by helping
maintain water levels and help the public by allowing larger
boat traffic to return to the river.
At the downtown table, people discussed how some in the community
were upset when a historic home was torn down to put up a Family
Dollar store.
UK student Ben Rankin said it was important to maintain older
buildings to prevent them from being lost.
“Once it’s run down, it’s gone and replaced
by a Family Dollar,” he said.
Owenton resident Darryl Traylor said he would like to see more
order between commercial and residential areas in town; he later
added that he would like to see unkempt buildings in Owenton
renovated — or to have the buildings demolished and the
lots redeveloped.
“There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to
it to me,” he said of the mix of commercial and residential
establishments in town.
Rankin suggested having businesses build structures to match
historic and architectural themes already in the city.
“You could give it (a commercial business) a little more
curb appeal, a little more unity,” he said, “and
make it more interesting. If these places want to come here,
they’ll conform.”
Meanwhile, those at the recreational table proposed bringing
a steamboat with a dinner show to the river and possibly creating
a lake closer to Owenton. They also discussed how to better
utilize existing recreational activities in the county, such
as the hunt club and golf course.
The students’ three-day visit to the county wrapped up
with a lunch trip to the Elk Creek Winery after the meeting,
and they left with plenty of creative ideas.
They now head back to Lexington to further form those ideas
into a plan, but not before making a couple of trips back to
Owen County.
“We’re connecting a lot of smaller elements into
a bigger element,” Hood said as Saturday’s workshop
concluded.
They will continue discussing that larger element and seeking
feedback from the community in additional meetings.
Representatives from the class will attend the Owen 20/20 taskforce
presentation on March 1. The group will return a week later,
on March 8 at the county extension building, to present a rough
draft of ideas and seek feedback before tweaking their final
report.
It will be presented April 23.
