Friday, July 23, 1999
Sewage plant opponents organize
Group's aim: Keep it out of Belleview
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BELLEVIEW — Residents opposed to a waste-water treatment plant in Boone County passed the collection plate Thursday night at the Belleview Baptist Church.
The full house raised more than $2,000, and after hearing from Kenton County attorney Eric Deters, decided to hire him as counsel on their behalf.
“It's nice to see people put their money where their mouth is,” said Alice Ryle, an organizer of those opposed to the plant.
The group also decided to create an account at the Bank of Kentucky in Belleview in their new name — the Belleview Action Committee — and solicited donations.
Mr. Deters told the residents, who are fighting to keep a waste-water treatment plant out of Belleview, that he thinks they have a fighting chance.
“If I have anything, I have a reputation for being tough,” he said, adding that there are some roadblocks the group can explore that would delay the process.
“You can do a lot of things to make them think twice.”
Commissioner Robert Hay of the Boone County Fiscal Court and Ed Massey, a member of the Boone County School Board, attended the meeting.
“You certainly got my attention,” Mr. Massey said. “That's why I'm here tonight.”
Mr. Hay, though, spoke to the broader issue of development in Boone County.
“This Boone County com missioner is 100 percent opposed to runaway development in western Boone County,” Mr. Hay told the crowd, adding that he was still educating himself on the issue of the waste-water treatment plant.
He said he could not take a stance yet either way, but did urge residents to get involved in the update of the county's comprehensive plan, a document that guides land use.
“I want to plead to all of you,” he said. “Please: We need your help showing up at the meetings for the comprehensive plan.”
Large groups can sway politicians to create a plan with some teeth in it, he said.
Belleview residents have voiced their strong opposition to the plant since the site was selected in early June.
Officials from Sanitation District No. 1 chose a site between the Ohio River and Ky. 20 in Boone County, about 1.3 miles north of Burlington Pike.
Since then, state Sen. Dick Roeding, R-Lakeside Park, and state Reps. Paul Marcotte, R-Union, and Charlie Walton, R-Florence, have joined the opposition, vowing to take the issue to Frankfort if necessary.
The Home Builders Association of Northern Kentucky wrote members this week asking them to write the state legislators and show their support for the chosen site.
Many at the meeting said they had no intention of losing this fight.
“We believe in this cause,” Ms. Ryle said.
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