Could Berea and Richmond merge?
This and other municipal land use considerations now that regionalism is here
About a decade from now, Menelaus Road is projected to be the site of a fully built-out regional industrial park, the first in a series of industrial parks to be built in the four member jurisdictions participating in an interlocal agreement inked late last year.
Should the trend of Berea’s growth continue, as the interlocal agreement portends, the City will be faced with reconsidering its interpretation of land use, and even mulling over a possible merger with Richmond in an urban government arrangement, among other considerations.
In a year when the City’s comprehensive plan is up for review, the effects of regionalism are worth keeping in mind, as are questions about what might be needed to support Berea’s quality of life.
Guv’s regional vision
Regionalism is in the ascendant in Kentucky, pushed heavily by a governor who is rightly so, hellbent on job creation and economic development. Berea and Madison County are no exception to the governor’s rule.
To wit, earlier this decade, Governor Andy Beshear recommended the Appalachian Regional Commission invest over one million dollars in the Central Kentucky Regional Airport specifically so that it “will be better positioned to play its part in growing this region.”
ARC granted the money, and along with an assistance agreement of $1,173,800 from the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority, infrastructure upgrades at the airport are set to begin imminently.
The airport has the potential to factor in Beshear’s play for international investment in our state. Last month, the governor was invited to the annual World Economic Forum talks in Davos, Switzerland, where in a media advisory, Beshear said he attended in order “to reintroduce our New Kentucky Home to employers and CEOs from across the globe.” It’s worth noting that the airport is just minutes from the Menelaus site, with the potential to connect Berea to anywhere in the world.
(Talk of Beshear’s much hyped potential entry into the 2028 presidential race was probably not harmed by his attendance there either.)
With that in mind, Berea, currently the host to Japanese manufacturing such as Hitachi Astemo, could soon become host to multiple international manufacturers. The trajectory of such a scenario will depend upon the health of the global market, which in recent weeks with talks of tariffs and an unsettled Middle East could take an abrupt turn.
Necessary inventories
To support any influx of workers, regardless of who is hiring them, will require sufficient housing. Sufficient housing requires enough land to build on.
Much of the land suitable for building in town is owned by Berea College, and is unlikely to be sold for development by the City. The remaining land is either too rugged or patchwork to build substantial housing developments.
Meanwhile, Martin Richards, vice chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission, told The Edge in a phone interview that we are 1,100 units short of enough livable housing to accommodate people who need a place to live here. That does not take into account the people who move here any time soon, including workers for jobs at the park once it’s built.
Most of the development occurring in Madison County is within Richmond’s jurisdiction where farms are rapidly selling to developers, and the land is flatter and thus easier and cheaper to build on.
Developers in Berea do come before the City seeking permission to build — last week, 42 multi-use housing units were approved for development off Peggy Flats Road — but there is not a land rush. The land was only recently made available for development due to a zoning change to allow multi-family dwellings.
The implications of bringing jobs to Berea when there is as yet not enough places to house the workers to fill them could mean they settle in the County at large while still having an interest in Berea where they are employed.
The dawn of urbanization
Why that matters is because of the potential that has been discussed across the ranks of area real estate developers and agents who have spoken to The Edge on background and even County officials who’ve gone on record about the potential of merging Richmond’s and Berea’s governments into one.
The more the two municipalities overlap services and share interests, the greater the pressure to merge them into one urban government for the sake of efficiencies, according to Madison County Fiscal Court Judge Executive Reagan Taylor.
“It makes sense to save taxpayers money by combining our operational costs,” Taylor told The Edge during a sideline interview at the inaugural board meeting of the interlocal agreement in Lexington. Berea already shares emergency services with the County, for example.
Those services, plus having an interlocal industrial agreement that ties us that much closer to the County, makes the argument for merging easier to sell, even if our current leadership does not support the idea.
“I agree with Reagan on many things, but that is not one of them,” Mayor Bruce Fraley told The Edge during a sit-down interview to discuss the regional business park. “I don’t think that a unified government in Madison County would be good for us. Berea is unique and needs to be preserved.”
Berea to the rescue
Revenues from the Central Kentucky Business Park, as reported here last week, will be shared between Berea, Madison County, Scott County, and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. Two other local governments were set to join at the start of the regional discussions — Georgetown and the City of Richmond — but voters demanded their leaders opt out.
This was especially fortuitous for Berea, as it saved the City a bucket of cash. That’s because the original plan was for each local government to pitch in about half a million dollars up front in order to buy a farm for sale in Georgetown.
But when townsfolk there learned it also meant the destruction of some old growth oaks, among other points of beauty, for the sake of heavy industry, the deal was most decidedly off and no one needed Berea’s money.
Instead, the group pivoted to Berea and now rather than invest elsewhere for future profit, Berea will be where the partners’ money is invested first.
“This is going on land that Berea wouldn’t be able to build out like this on our own,” Fraley said. “And, now BIDA [the Berea Industrial Development Authority] will get a return on land it bought about 18 years ago.”
And while the expectation is that additional industrial parks will be built in each jurisdiction over the coming years — the agreement lives in perpetuity — Berea will be the first partner to realize gains at the start.
There is already infrastructure at the Menelaus Road site, including roads that have been upgraded in the past decade. There are over 300 acres to choose from, depending upon what engineers determine is suitable to support heavy industry foundations, since some of the land is uneven, according to Fraley. Once the land is surveyed, BIDA will begin selling parcels.
Shared revenues
Fraley told The Edge that after monies are deducted from the sale of the land to the other partners, BIDA could profit anywhere between $1.7 million and $2 million. That’s in addition to the potential to bring significant revenues to the City via the occupational license fees levied on employers in the park.
And while Berea and Madison County are to split 50/50 of a third of all the park’s proceeds, consider that in fiscal year 2024, occupational license fees brought in a not insignificant $13.5 million to Berea, an increase of $1.2 million over the year before.
Any costs for upkeep of the park, ranging from police patrol to road repair will be paid out of a “hosting fee” — 10% of all revenues off the top, Fraley said.
And then there is the fact that it will be Bereans who need jobs who will have first crack at the ones projected to come via the Park — at least 700 of them, probably more, according to Fraley.
Land use in focus
Later this year, the City will conduct its five year review of the Comprehensive Plan, as per Kentucky law. In 2020, the City stated land use as its number one priority. Specifically, to “achieve land use patterns that contribute to reduced energy use, local food production, healthy citizens and community sustainability.”
The interlocal agreement is a sensible way to leverage land already designated for industry. Being part of the agreement also positions us to benefit over and above what would have been possible had BIDA sought to build out the land on its own.
Given the pressure and also the support coming from the governor’s office to create regional economic development projects, to not participate in the interlocal agreement would have made Berea less competitive, and so less economically viable.
But by engaging in regionalism, we open ourselves up to other forces that may be out of our control, such as industries that need extreme levels of power to operate, including data centers or crypto mining. The Menelaus site is near land already sold by BIDA to the Eastern Kentucky Power Cooperative, which plans to build a substation there.
Will additional land need to be developed for transmission lines to the substation? Whose land might be impacted if so? Already, EKPC is expected to clear cut nine miles of forest through the communities of Red Lick and Big Hill to build a transmission line that opponents say is for the sake of industry miles away from their bucolic properties. To date, EKPC denies this, but one thing is for certain: demand for power is increasing in the region.
Power, housing, jobs, all things in demand while the land to support them is finite. How do we square this equation in the quest for “efficiencies” during times of accelerated growth?
Preserving Berea
And then there is the unique character of Berea. It is also a concern specified in the current Comprehensive Plan — protect the city’s character, it says.
What kind of vision and leadership will be necessary to preserve our boundaries while also participating in other local arrangements?
These are the concerns that should be vetted and decided by Bereans. Participation is easy. Attend meetings, stay informed, and consider what you’d like your local zip code to represent. Then speak up.
Update: 3:58 PM, February 7, 2025: that Berea will share half of a third of all the industrial park’s profits with Madison County was clarified.
I appreciate how the Edge has pulled together so many pieces of this pie we are about to eat. One thing that needs more attention is the need for data mines to support the business development. I've been talking with people in VA, which is apparently the data mine capital of the world, and have learned that data mines have considerable environmental concerns attached. They use a huge amount of water, and nobody is looking at where our huge amount of data mining water will come from, or what kind of toxic treatment it will have as it is used, or who be hurt by that toxic waste. We now have a SB to undo the protections of our waterways, so there goes the option that the state will be any help, should that pass. KY is already at the bottom of the list in terms of health care--not doubt aggravated by coal mine run-off and lack of concern for the air we breathe over the years. Berea has been somewhat protected because our industries are less polluting. But here comes the Mayor with a money-driven intention to build industry, and not enough question-generating power to fully understand the implications of his actions (on our need to have more jobs).