BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BURLINGTON - A group that wants to build a controversial creationist museum is seeking damages against Boone County officials, and the tally is expected to run beyond $20,000.
Answers in Genesis (AIG) filed a legal complaint and appeal late Friday in Boone Circuit Court against Boone County Fiscal Court members and Boone County Plan Commissioners.
The legal action comes less than two weeks after Boone Fiscal Court members turned down the Florence-based ministry's rezoning request and, in essence, created a major barrier for its plan to build a $5 million to $8 million national headquarters in western Boone County.
The vote was based on the recommendation of county plan commissioners who, in 1996, recommended approval of the project, which then was targeted for a site near Union.
This flip-flop is the crux of why AIG has taken legal action, said Ken Ham, AIG's founder and executive director.
"Right there is the major problem," Mr. Ham said. "The whole thing is arbitrary."
He believes AIG was denied constitutional rights - including First Amendment rights of free speech and religion - when fiscal court members turned down its most recent rezoning request.
"The decision of the plan commission and the fiscal court . . . (was) based substantially or significantly on hostility to the religious message which AIG espouses in an attempt to suppress, hinder or interfere with the free expression of that message," court documents stated.
The legal papers also refer to the county's comprehensive plan, which guides the planning commission's land use decisions, as "unconstitutionally vague."
It could take months before the case comes to an end. Meanwhile, County Administrator Jim Collins is sure the defendants will end up the winners. They have done their research and have nothing to worry about, he said.
County plan commissioners have said the recent rezoning request - from rural suburban estates to industrial, for a 25-acre parcel south of Interstate 275 and east of Deck Lane - conflicted with the county's comprehensive plan.
It is not ready for industrial uses because necessary infrastructure is not planned for the immediate future, planning commissioners have said. And the comprehensive plan doesn't call for office land uses, while AIG's proposal does.
The ministry's project entails constructing three buildings on the 25-acre parcel that AIG has an option on. AIG would house offices, a creation museum with life-sized model dinosaurs and educational, warehouse and storage facilities.
AIG members believe humans coexisted with dinosaurs thousands of years ago.
AIG members were to gather today for an 11 a.m. rally.
If you go
Answers in Genesis will gather today for an 11 a.m. rally on the 25-acre parcel that they would like to see become a creationist museum. Ken Ham, AIG's founder and executive director, will speak.
