Flooding Concerns Arise From Proposed Zone Change

On Tuesday, the Paducah Board of Commissioners introduced an ordinance to change the zoning of a property on Pecan Drive, but not without hearing from neighbors about potential flooding problems.

The wooded 18-acre property located at 4231 Pecan Drive would be rezoned from an R-1 low density residential zone, to an R-4 high density residential zone. 

The zone change request is coming from CDB Service Finance, LLC. The company wants to construct a 100-bed nursing facility that would be 77,300 square feet in size. According to city ordinances, a facility of this type is only allowed in an R-4 zone.

A public hearing was held at the April 3 Planning Commission meeting, where a resolution was adopted to approve the zone change. 

Several nearby residents raised concerns about increases in flooding. Pecan Drive resident Janice Coward spoke to the commission Tuesday. "I do know that there's a lot of flooding," Coward said. She asked commissioners not to change the zone and to keep the residents safe.

Commissioner Sarah Stewart Holland also posed questions about storm water runoff, and how the area would be addressed by the consultant working to develop a Comprehensive Storm Water Master Plan. "My main concern is we just spent a lot of money to gather a lot of  information on the storm water issues in our city, and I am hesitant to move forward on something like this when we don't have that information," Holland said.

Commissioner Allan Rhodes said he understood the concerns, but was ready to move forward. "I'm just not ready to say we should just not have any kind of activity in the City of Paducah; any kind of new building activity until they do what they are going to do. We have a plan. If it needs to be tweaked in the months and years ahead, we will. But I am not interested in just stopping economic activity. We have to grow. We need the jobs," Rhodes Said.

City Engineer & Public Works Director Rick Murphy said retention ponds would be included at the site as required by the current city ordinance. The ponds would hold the additional runoff and release it slowly. 

The final vote on the measure will take place at the next commission meeting.