The years-long battle over who has the rights to the former Disabled American Veterans property on U.S. 27 in Cold Spring continues.
The property, which the City of Cold Spring currently owns, has been embroiled in an eminent domain fight since the locally known DAV moved from its Cold Spring facility and into Erlanger.
The Campbell County Board of Education attempted to purchase the site by eminent domain after the DAV turned down their bid in favor of Cold Spring’s bid.
In the latest development, on June 7, the Kentucky Supreme Court agreed to review the appeal over their previous decision on the ability of the Campbell County Board of Education to purchase the site by eminent domain.
“We are doing everything we can to move this project forward without delay,” Campbell County Schools Superintendent Shelli Wilson said. “We have a vision and commitment to provide world-class learning spaces for our students. The Board of Education continues to make this a priority.”
But Cold Spring City Attorney Brandon Voelker told LINK nky that the city has never disputed the need for a new middle school.
“It’s unfortunate that the board cannot balance development of a community as a whole, especially in light of the significant tax revenue that’s available to the board with the proposed Cold Spring development of the site,” Voelker said.
He continued to say that if the property were to be turned into a middle school, it would lead to a significant rise in taxes.
“Cold Spring has always prided itself on establishing a strong community that lends itself to keeping taxes low while providing first quality services,” Voelker said.
In December of last year, the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the Campbell County Circuit Court’s decision that the Board of Education was entitled to eminent domain to acquire the property.
Then in January, the Campbell County Board of Education voted to seek a discretionary review of the appeal.
The court of appeals decision said that the board’s right to eminent domain does not extend to public property, which is what the DAV building is considered. This newest decision of the court has agreed to review the appeal.
Eminent domain is the right of a government or its agent to seize private property for public use, with payment of compensation.
It is noted that the school board did bid on the site before the city of Cold Spring did, but DAV rejected the school board’s bid, which was somewhere between $4 and $5 million. Therefore, the board decided to pursue eminent domain.
Cold Spring argued that the board of education could not claim eminent domain for public property; however, on Nov. 30, 2021, the Campbell County Circuit Court ruled that the board could condemn the property.
“The board had demonstrated a need for a new middle school and the need to condemn the disputed property specifically; that it had negotiated for the purchase of the property in good faith; that there was reasonable assurance that the school project would be completed; and that use of the property would promote economic development for the city,” the circuit court reasoned at the time.
On Dec. 7, 2021, the school took possession of the property and submitted $5.5 million to the courts, the recommended value.
On an appeal filed on March 4, 2022 the city argued that the circuit court made an error by concluding that the board could take its property through eminent domain proceedings because the General Assembly authorized the board to only take private property.
“The general rule is that a condemner to whom the power of eminent domain has been delegated may not condemn public property unless authority is expressly or impliedly granted by statute,” The appeal stated.
The appeal further reasoned that per (KRS 416.540(1), “to condemn” means to take private property, not public property, for public use under the right of eminent domain.
The appeal then addressed the board of education’s argument that the city purchased the DAV property as a “ruse” and challenged how it intended to use it. The appeal stated, “we are restricted by law to addressing only relevant matters, not peripheral or speculative issues.”
Find a timeline of all the events of this battle in our previous reporting.
Haley Parnell contributed to this report.