Talk of a technical trade school at the corner of Carthage Road and the AA Highway caused a stir in the California, Kentucky community.
What everyone could agree on? That the school is needed.
But where exactly the school should go was another story entirely.
Dave Martin owns Martin Solutions, a construction company based out of California. He began working on plans for building a trade school around three years ago.
“It kind of dawned on me by just things that I had dealt with since I’ve been in business and being in the field,” Martin said. “Young people who are getting out of school and didn’t have a whole lot of options and wanted to learn how to run equipment. And for themselves didn’t have a lot of options to get experience, and a lot of contractors or businesses didn’t want to take a chance with somebody young, putting them in the seat of a piece of equipment with lack of experience and the liability that goes with it.”
Martin said a storm is brewing out in the industry with older contractors and operators getting to the age of retirement and there being no one left in the field who knows how to operate equipment or who has the proper licenses.
But Martin’s idea didn’t receive the reception he anticipated.
California resident Travis Rowlette is against the school’s location – he said it would essentially be in his backyard.
“In reality, my livelihood is what he’s trying to train for,” Rowlette said. “My job is part of hiring the guys that he’d be training and be all honest; I’d be looking for the certifications because now commercial jobs are requiring them. The question is not about the need of skilled workforce. It’s not about the need of a trade school. I think a trade school would be absolutely awesome especially located in Campbell County.”
Though Rowlette agreed there was a need for the type of school Martin wanted to build, he was not in favor of the school’s location.
“It’s more taking that little piece of country that we’re holding on to, that we love, that we raise our kids, that we hunt, that we play, that we fish,” Rowlette said. “We’re just trying to hold on to that, and we’re looking for your guys’ support to turn down this thing.”
The goal for the school, Martin said, was to be low impact and blend in with the surrounding environment so it didn’t disturb the community that lives in the area. The low-impact design includes trees to block the facility on almost all sides and a canvas roof.
The original school building design plan would have covered about three acres. Then with additions like the parking lot and the enclosed training shelter, the entire facility would take up approximately 10 acres, with adjacent wright-offs coming to a total of 18.5 acres, according to the staff report from Campbell County Planning and Zoning.
The current zoning for the plot of land at the corner of Carthage Road and the AA Highway is Agricultural-One. The zoning would have to be changed to Institutional to accommodate the trade school.
Due to resistance from the community on the zone changing from Agriculture-One to Institutional, a Campbell County Planning and Zoning meeting took place on Oct. 28, 2021, to hear from residents who were opposed to the zone change and to hear from members of the community who were in support of the school. The meeting lasted almost six hours.
One of the aspects that commission members and residents pointed out that could create a problem down the road is that many different types of infrastructure could be built on the land after a zone change to Institutional. Meaning if Martin’s school did not go on the plot of land, but the zone was changed, buildings from police and fire stations to public-owned swimming pools could potentially be built.
There is currently nowhere in the county that is correctly zoned to fit the trade school Martin wanted to build.
Once plans were set in motion to change the zoning, the report went out in the Campbell County Recorder, and Planning and Zoning gave notice to residents around the surrounding area, signs were also posted on the land itself.
The type of trade school Martin was seeking to build was specifically for small industrial equipment. Though, confusion arose due to the licensing being referred to as heavy machinery licensing.
“When you say heavy equipment, everybody thinks I’m talking about big bulldozers or track loaders, or excavators with metal tracks; you know something that weighs an access 40,000 pounds,” Martin said. “But I just wanted to start with the smaller equipment, which is like the mini excavators and compact track loaders, which would be like bobcats and stuff like that. Things that are probably equivalent to the average automobile. Because that would be a good way for people to get the fundamentals, get some seat time and then work up from there.”
Martin sought out his accreditation about two years before starting to open a school. Accreditation is a lengthy process that establishes professionals in an institution of higher education. The program makes sure quality standards are met and backed by research.
Because of his accreditation, Martin said he has had numerous companies reaching out, including a major utility company that wants him to train their employees.
Martin also hired and is working closely with master trainer James Wilbers, who would teach at the school.
Some complaints compiled before the meeting and what citizens were outspoken about at the meeting were things like harmony with a rural lifestyle, urban creep and commercial building, noise and dust pollution, and traffic and safety.
“It was a real buzzkill because I was trying to do something really good and what is really needed in our area,” Martin said. “And I already have a business that makes good money. This was not about the money. This was about more trying to leave this world in a little bit better place than what I found it in when I was in it. Just because you could see how much something like this is needed. And it was such a letdown to see how people were acting about it.”
Comments of support that Planning and Zoning gathered consisted of professional growth and opportunity for a non-college education; advanced training betters individuals and the community; 15-30 students will not create a traffic issue; equipment noise will blend in with the AA’s regular noise and training the next generation.
During the meeting, there were physical bobcats and mini excavators outside in the parking lot for the commission and attendees to see a size representation of the equipment students would use at the school. Martin explained during the meeting that the actual training on the equipment would take place in an enclosed shelter to help eliminate noise and dust. The equipment used also has rubber tracks that make less noise, and the school would keep the dirt wet to help reduce dust.
Martin also assured that maximum class sizes of 18 students that would be staggered would not cause traffic issues.
Campbell County Area Technology Center Principal Dan Franzen spoke at the meeting in favor of building the school.
“Being in education for 27 years and seeing kids that don’t even know that this world exist until they get to high school unless they have a parent that’s a part of that workforce,” Franzen said. “Some younger kids need to be exposed to that to know I’m not stuck in the classroom all the time or something I like to do with my hands, and I can make a living out of.”
Franzen said he is approached all the time by people seeking to implement plumbing programs, HVAC programs and CNC programs at the Area of Technology Center.
“I can tell you that the opportunity he’s presenting is very much warranted right now,” Franzen said. “It’s very much in need and quite honestly could change people’s lives if we can move in that direction.”
Many concerned citizens shared why they did not want Martin’s school to be built at the meeting. The majority that came forward said that it was a good idea, and they recognized a need for that kind of training; however, they did not like the location and felt like it would infringe upon their homes.
The surrounding areas of the site for the school are residential and agricultural. According to the Director of Planning and Zoning Cindy Minter, the closest houses to the site are 640 feet, 385 feet, 850 feet, 1,100 feet, and 500 feet, as read from a report at the meeting.
Justin Verst on the commission said something that would make him more comfortable approving the zone change was to zone the school industrial instead of institutional. Performance standards for industrial zones have noise requirements.
After being presented with the industrial performance standards for sound, Martin agreed to the change.
After voting, the commission had a tie vote. Four yes and four no.
After a second motion to approve it, the commission still had a tie vote. All four commissioners who voted no based it on the grounds of the school’s location. The proposal then went to the Campbell County Fiscal Court with no recommendation of approval.
Martin has since withdrawn from the Fiscal Court after all the pushback received from the community.
“The hardest part about the whole thing was, it wasn’t like I was trying to open up a casino or something like that; I was trying to open up a school, and people were acting that way about it,” Martin said.
After he withdrew from the Fiscal Court, Martin said some people came out of the woodwork and gave him options to open the school up in other locations, though he would not disclose who he was working with or where the new site would be.
As for Martin, he is not giving up on his school and neither are those that are in support of it.
“To be honest with you. I’m kind of burnt out on it right now,” Martin said. “But the individuals that came forward don’t want this to just to fade away because they knew how hard it was to get to this point.”
