BURLINGTON - A proposed creationist museum near Union is supported by the county's comprehensive plan, the former executive director of the Boone County Planning Commission told Boone Fiscal Court members Monday night.
Jerry Newton, who was with the planning commission staff from 1984 to 1990, was one of the principal authors of the Boone County Comprehensive Plan that opponents and proponents of the museum use in their arguments for and against a zoning change request.
At a public hearing before Fiscal Court on the zone change, attended by about 150 people, Mr. Newton said there were 25 separate points in the comprehensive plan to support the zone change.
Answers In Genesis, a Christian ministry with headquarters in Florence, wants to build a museum on a portion of a 97-acre tract off U.S. 42 south of Union emphasizing the biblical view of creation.
The group also plans to build an office, a mail-order facility, an outdoor amphitheater and walking trails on about 40 acres of the property.
The zoning request calls for the property, now zoned agricultural/estate, to be designated recreation/planned development.
''There are elements throughout the comprehensive plan to support this development,'' said Mr. Newport, who now lives in Concord, N.C., and came to the meeting to support Answers In Genesis and the project. ''The overall purpose of the comprehensive plan is being met."
He emphasized the change in zoning would be better than the current zoning, which allows for the construction of up to 50 houses or trailer homes on the 97 acres.
However, Versailles attorney and zoning expert Hank Graddy, representing a group known as Concerned Citizens of Boone County, said the zone change and museum complex is at odds with the Boone County Comprehensive Plan.
''The comprehensive plan is clear that this land is not proposed for rezoning for recreation or commercial,'' Mr. Graddy said. ''The intention of the comprehensive plan is to keep the current zoning."
He said the Answers in Genesis proposal would create problems with sewage disposal, and was better suited to an urban services area.
''This is a commercial application concealed under a recreational application,'' Mr. Graddy said, referring to the proposal as a wolf in sheep's clothing. ''This proposal belongs in a... commercial zone."
Several landowners living near the site spoke against the project, including equine veterinarian Barbara Schmidt, and tree farm operators Barry Hartman and Stewart Ferguson. Their objections concerned loss of value for their property and traffic congestion.
Answers in Genesis supporters also addressed the county commissioners, speaking primarily of the benefits they said the museum would bring to the community and reiterating earlier testimony about the project's fit with the comprehensive plan.
The Boone County Planning Commission approved the zone change Oct. 2 by a vote of 9-4. However, the final approval or denial must come from Fiscal Court, which plans to vote on the issue Dec. 10.
Published Nov. 26, 1996.
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