Confidential sources have told Owensboro Times that Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) is building the Ellis Park expansion on nearly 40-acre property at the intersection of Highway 2830 and Wrights Landing Road — across from multiple mobile home parks with hundreds of lots. That property, which is currently listed for sale, was rezoned Thursday evening by the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission.
Two CDI spokespersons did not respond to questions from OT earlier this week. One co-owner of the property essentially ignored in-person questions Thursday, while the other co-owner declined to confirm or deny if CDI was planning to buy the land.
On June 12, CDI announced it had scrapped plans to use Towne Square Mall and instead had secured a site to build an Ellis Park extension facility in eastern Daviess County. At that time Owensboro Times asked for a more specific location, and a CDI spokesperson said “We will be able to share exact location info soon, but not at the current moment.”
Almost immediately, confidential sources pointed OT toward a small handful of properties believed to be the possible location. OT asked CDI about those locations specifically in mid-June but got no response.
Among those properties was 6601 HWY 2830, a 39.976-acre piece of land that has been the subject of speculation in recent days as the site CDI was referencing. That property runs along the west side of Wrights Landing Road, stretching from US 60 East to HWY 2830.
Sources including nearby property owners and people close to the project have told OT that CDI has been looking into that property and potentially some adjoining properties.
On July 7, the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission released their July 13 meeting agenda, which included the consideration of a zoning change for 6601 HWY 2830. Rumors about CDI using that location intensified even more in the days following.
On July 9, OT obtained through a confidential source a copy of the Notice of Proposed Zoning Change, a document sent to the owners of adjoining properties.
On July 10, OT obtained through an open records request the Zoning Map Amendment Application regarding that property.
The following information came from the above documents, the OMPC meeting held Thursday, and multiple confidential sources.
The property is owned by Kuegel and Kamuf Land LLC, which purchased the land in 2007 for $300,000. Charles J. Kamuf is a member of that LLC, which was the applicant for the zoning change. Kamuf also served as the attorney and behalf of the LLC.
Kamuf did not answer multiple calls and messages earlier this week. When OT tried to ask him questions in person after the OMPC meeting Thursday, he kept walking and said “Nothing’s final, we just rely on what the (OMPC) board does.”
Rod Kuegel is the other member of the LLC that owns the property. After the meeting, he said they were seeking the rezoning because the property previously had two zonings, and making it uniform made the site more marketable. He said they had “three or four people ask us” about the zoning of the property.
Kuegel said he can’t say who has been looking at the property “because we don’t have anything in writing” and they will “continue to pursue selling the property.”
Asked if CDI was interested in the site, Kuegel said he “can’t confirm or deny, we’re not that far along.”
The property had been zoned as both I-2 Heavy Industrial and B-4 General Business, with the existing land use being farming. The application requested the zoning be changed to entirely B-4 General Business, with a proposed land use of “commercial.”
Trey Pedley, Senior Planner at OMPC, read the planning staff’s recommendation to approve the application during Thursday’s meeting. The recommendation includes seven “findings of fact” that largely say the proposal is in compliance with the community’s adopted comprehensive plan. The recommended also says approval was subject to these conditions:
- Direct access to the subject property should be limited to HWY 2830 and Wrights Landing Road.
- Direct access to Wright’s Landing Road should be in compliance with the access management manual.
- Obtain approval of a final development plan.
There were no comments or questions from the public or the OMPC board, and neither Kamuf nor Kuegel provided any details during the meeting, so the application was quickly approved without any discussion (which is not unusual for zoning change requests).
After the meeting, multiple OMPC board members said they don’t know what is planned for the site.
“We literally know nothing,” said OMPC Executive Director Brian Howard. “We’ve asked questions, but nobody’s told us anything.”
Howard noted that applicants don’t have to specify their intended use when requesting a rezoning, but would have to do so if and when they file a final development plan for the site.
Multiple local elected officials have said they have heard the rumors, but none knew for sure if CDI was planning to purchase the property.
The Barron Commercial Group has the property listed as land for lease, with brokers listed as Bo Barron and Todd Humphreys.
Humphreys told OT via text Monday “we felt like a B-4 Zoning (which half of it is currently) made more sense for that property.” Asked who requested the zoning change, Humphreys said “The owner wants it changed. B-4 gives us more options. Split zoned properties are difficult to do anything with.”
Asked if he could confirm whether or not CDI was involved, Humphreys did not respond.
The Zoning Map Amendment Application listed 15 adjoining properties — 11 of those are directly east across Wrights Landing Road; one is directly across south HWY 2830; one is directly north across US 60; one diagonally northeast across the intersection of Wrights Landing Road and US 60; and one is directly west with no road separating the land.
One of those property owners declined to comment Monday when asked about any proposed developments regarding 6601 HWY 2830.
Part of the application also included a letter dated June 12 that was sent to OMPC Director Brian Howard from Charles J. Kamuf II, who is also an attorney at Kamuf, Pace and Kamuf.
He wrote “After researching the records of the Daviess County Clerk for a period in excess of 60 years from the date of this letter, I find that there are no deed restrictions, no deeds of dedication, and no other covenants of record regarding the above described property prohibiting the proposed request for a zoning change from I-2 to B-4 for the subject property.”
A portion of zoning amendment applications also require an applicant to cite findings of fact they believe show their proposal is in compliance with the OMPC’s Comprehensive Plan.
The application for the zoning change at 6601 HWY 2830 claimed the findings are in compliance, saying: “The property is located in a Rural Maintenance area where the following criteria applies: (b) Logical zoning expansions of proportional scope. Existing General Business zones may be expanded onto contiguous land that generally abuts the same street(s). The expansion of a General Business zone should not significantly increase the extent of the zone in the vicinity of the expansion and should not overburden the capacity of roadways and other necessary urban services that are available in the affected area.”
The application notes that the property is in a “floodplain area” and is “prime agricultural land.” It also shows that the property has access to existing sanitary sewage and solid waste disposal; storm water drainage easements and improvements; and with water, electricity, and natural gas supply.
