BURLINGTON — The Boone County Fiscal Court approved a property purchase for a project that includes a key element that county leaders say no longer exists. The 81-acre parcel on Camp Ernst Road, commonly referred to as the Simpson property, has been connected to the Boone County Gunpowder Creek Trail System project and would be paid for primarily with federal grant money. There is no longer adequate support on the fiscal court or in the community, however, to develop the trail system. Two of the Boone County commissioners who voted to approve the purchase, Matt Dedden and Charlie Walton, said they did so only to ensure the federal funds would not go elsewhere. “If we don’t accept this grant, it’s going to go into a pool and another county is going to get it,” Dedden said.

Walton said the county pays out a lot more tax money than it receives, and this is one way to get some of it back.“If you don’t get the money for your district, all they are going to do is keep taking it out of your pocket, and they are going to give it to someone else,” Walton said. “If we turn that grant down … within the next three months somebody else is going to have that money because that grant is just going to roll over.”

Opponents say that is no reason to approve the use of federal funds for the purchase. “The only thing that grant is good for is greenways and trails, and we said no to that,” said Terry Donoghue, a Hebron resident and a member of the Northern Kentucky Tea Party. “What are they going to do with that property if they don’t build trails there?”

Boone County residents voted against a parks tax in 2008 and a year later, the county abandoned a greenways and trails study amid strong community opposition.

Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore said after the study was abandoned that Boone County residents had spoken out loudly and clearly against trails and he respected their decision. The resolution that was approved by the fiscal court refers to the Gunpowder Creek Land Preservation Project, but several supporting documents refer to the Gunpowder Creek Trail System.

Donoghue said that makes a big difference. “If it’s for trails, they should say it’s for trails,” Donoghue said. “If it’s not, this deal doesn’t benefit anybody but the Simpsons.”

Leslie and Janice Simpson own the parcel to be purchased, which includes a house. The grant will be administered through the Kentucky Department of Transportation in conjunction with the Federal Transportation, Community and System Preservation Program.

Eligible activities under the program include projects that:

• Improve the efficiency of the transportation system.
• Reduce the impact of transportation on the environment.
• Reduce the need for costly future public infrastructure.
• Ensure efficient access to jobs, services and centers of trade.
• Encourage private sector development patterns.

Opponents say that as a trail system, it is questionable whether the project meets any of the conditions, but as a land preservation project, there is no basis to approve the funds. County Administrator Jeff Earlywine acknowledged that there is no longer a plan to develop trails in that area. “Not only don’t we have a plan in place, we don’t have any money in the budget,” Earlywine said.

Dedden questioned whether the county would, at some point, be required to pay the money back because a trail system is no longer in the county’s plans. “All over the grant there is trails and bike paths written all over it,” Dedden said. “If we accept this grant and we’re not going to put trails in there, are we liable to pay back the grant? And if we are liable for that, it is going to cost the taxpayers a considerable amount.”
Earlywine said that even if trails are never built, the county would retain the funds. “That’s something that we look at when we get the MOA (memorandum of agreement): Are there any performance standards or anything that will create an obligation or expectation on the part of the county that we have to perform in some way in the future?” Earlywine said. “There is absolutely nothing in the grant. If we simply acquire the property and it lays in its current state in perpetuity, there’ll be no noncompliance issues now or in the future.”

Boone County attorney Robert Neace agreed that there is no obligation to build trails in the agreement, but he could not definitively say the county would never be asked to pay the money back. “I can’t say what the federal government will or won’t do,” Neace said. “It does flow through the Transportation Cabinet, (and) it does flow through the federal government. I can’t give you any guarantees.”

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., seemed pretty sure the money would be used for a trail system when he announced approval of the funds in 2008. At that time, McConnell said the project would include a four-mile trail system adjacent to the creek. Gunpowder Creek winds through a large portion of Boone County. The section originally envisioned for the trail system includes the portion between Ky. 18 in Florence and Hathaway Road that is roughly centered on Camp Ernst Road.

Despite his “yes” vote, Dedden is so strongly opposed to a trail system that he wanted assurances that a future fiscal court could not approve a trails project without public support. “I would also look for this court to, with the passing of this grant to …create a resolution to where in eight to 12 years, whatever fiscal court is up here … would have to maybe put that on a ballot again and make it a voters’ decision at that point,” Dedden said.

That provision was not included, but the measure passed unanimously with Moore and Commissioner Charlie Kenner also voting in favor of the resolution. The Boone Conservancy, a nonprofit organization focused on the creation of parks and protection of land, will contribute the 20 percent match required from the county in the grant.

The “county” (taxpayers) will be responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the property and when the purchase is completed and it will be removed from the property tax rolls. The county will buy the property and be reimbursed for the purchase with the grant funds at a later date.