Burgin Fall Festival Will Return Sept. 8-10, City Calls For Volunteers
City Council Discusses More Development, Abolishes Perpetual Care Fund
Parade at Burgin Fall Festival taken September 2017: the Harrodsburg Herald.
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
rmoore@harrodsburgherald.com
The City of Burgin is asking for volunteers to help with Burgin Fall Festival for this year. This will be the first time Burgin is hosting the festival in years, and city officials hope to have it on the second weekend in September, Sept. 8 to 10.
“I want to see it as big or bigger than the last time we had it,” said Mayor Joe Monroe at last week’s Burgin City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 14. They are looking to establish a committee to plan the event and are asking for the public’s help. Contact astewart@cityofburgin or bsmith@cityofburgin if you’d like to lend a hand.
At last week’s meeting, David Andrukhov of Four Seasons Homes approached the council about a development he and his partners would like to build on Spring Street. In particular, Andrukhov asked about building codes and lot sizes. He said they were looking at buying the current 18 units and adding at least 24 units by going vertical, adding six more fourplexes and possibly eightplexes. Andrukhov said the average monthly rent would run about $750 for two bedrooms and a bath plus. He said the new units Four Seasons would like to build will have two to three bedrooms and two bathroom, with one bathroom on each floor.
“They will be more like town homes,” said Councilman Doug Rulon.
Four Seasons has developed homes in Seattle, Washington, and has a website, fshomes.net. Asked asked if what they planned to build in Burgin would be similar to the properties on their website, the partners said they were looking to match what’s already in the friendly little city.
Burgin is not a member of Mercer County planning and zoning and are limited in how they can regulate building beyond lot size. Councilman Jamie Keebortz said the main concern would be utilities. Andrukhov said there are already water and sewer hook-ups on the lots. Councilwoman Melinda Wofford asked about the sewer system’s capacity to handle the development.
Keebortz said the partners could consult with the Mercer County Sanitation District. He asked about Four Seasons’ their time frame and asked if they could bring in a drawing. The partners said they’d been waiting for two weeks. Other investors were looking at buying the complex, they said.
“Go ahead and buy it,” Keebortz said.
Lewis Sexton, chief of the Burgin Volunteer Fire Department, asked about residential sprinklers.
“The more people we pack into an area, the more potential for a fire,” said Sexton, who said a sprinkler system would help prevent fires. “If we’re going to move in that direction, that’s something we’ve probably got to think about.”
Sexton said sprinkler systems are a big cost to the builder, but he said it was something they could consider.
Andrukhov said Seattle had codes specifying fire proof sheet rock for shared walls. In the past they’ve extended hydrants and Andrukhov said there are other measures that can satisfy fire protection requirements.
The city council took no action, but Keebortz told Andrukhov and his partners there has to be some kind of added protection from one unit to the next.
“That’s on you all,” Keebortz said.
In other business, the Burgin City Council voted to abolish the perpetual care trust. Mayor Monroe stressed that the city was eliminating the trust, which restricts how the funds are used, but not the perpetual care fund. City officials want to keep $25,000 in a fund for the city cemetery and use the remainder of $65,120 currently held in the trust as well as ARPA money to buy a truck.
“We can totally get rid of it and use that money for the benefit of the city and the cemetery,” Monroe said. He said he had consulted the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, who said it was perfectly legal.
“It’s just unlocking it,” Monroe said.
Each time the city sells a grave for $500, $150 goes to perpetual care fund. Monroe said the city formerly couldn’t touch the perpetual care fund without a court order, but the law changed in 2008 to allow local governments to abolish the trusts.
City officials previously hoped to use grant funds to buy the truck, but Monroe said they have been advised not to apply for a grant just to buy a truck. Once the trust is abolished, they will decide on buying a truck. City officials said $150 of every grave site purchase will still go for perpetual care.
