SUMMARY OF COUNCIL FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Somerset Northern Bypass Advisory Council Majority Opinion Most of the Somerset Northern Bypass Citizens Advisory Council members recommend that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) build the North Alternate.The Council supports this recommendation with the following observations. The North Alternate: • takes the fewest homes and causes the least disruption to neighborhoods; • provides the most opportunity for business and economic development; • provides the most space for the planned and controlled, sustainable growth of Somerset and Pulaski County; • provides a highway that will minimize the impact of increasing traffic volumes and congestion and enhance traffic safety in Somerset and Pulaski County; • provides for good local access and connectivity to other major roadways and would serve as an important link in the I-66 corridor, if constructed; and • has the greatest overall negative impacts on the natural environment and farmland, creating the need to develop appropriate ways to mitigate those effects. Minority Opinion Members representing the minority opinion respect and appreciate the hard work and dedication to the project displayed by the KYTC, its consultants (JDQ) and other Council members. However, they feel the choice of the North Alternate as the preferred alternate is misguided and based more on personal bias than on the objective assessment scores of the supporting Work Groups. Some members representing environmental interests think the Crossover Alternate or the South Alternate are better than the North Alternate, and would prefer the KY 80 Upgrade Alternate (if it were still an option)or the No-Build Alternative to any of the build alternates remaining under consideration. It is their feeling that the community should make a proactive choice on behalf of the environment that sets a standard and example for other projects and future generations. They formally request that mitigation measures outlined in this report be the minimum applied during this project and urge the KYTC to consider all consequences before proceeding to a final decision. Mitigation The entire Council recommends that the KYTC take a progressive and proactive approach to the mitigation of the negative impacts of the new highway and to the protection of the ecosystems and scenic beauty of the region. Council suggestions include: • designing and constructing attractive highway features such as rock cuts, retaining walls and bridges, in an aesthetically pleasing way; • providing environmentally friendly sound barriers, where needed; • planting trees and other vegetation to protect and enhance the scenic resources and ecosystems of the region; • providing special signing for local tourism destinations; minimizing the splitting of farms andproviding for adequate access for farming operations in the design of the highway; • minimizing degradation to the human and natural environments by diverting water run-off from the roadway away from cave systems, sinkholes, streams and other conduits to cave systems and aquifers; • locating replacement wetlands (developed to replace wetland acreage taken for construction) within the project corridor; • exploring the feasibility of constructing elevated road beds in sensitive areas, including wildlife crossings, wetland areas and stream crossings; • developing an emergency spill plan for responding to spills from vehicles; • exploring the feasibility of minimizing the width of right of way through neighborhoods and where sensitive geologic features exist; • ensuring that local values are incorporated into proposed mitigation measures by using a citizens group to work with the KYTC during the design and construction phases of this project; and • lessening the impacts on people's lives by proceeding quickly to the design and construction of the proposed improvement. Public Involvement Process The public involvement process for this project study was streamlined and well-integrated with the technical impact studies and engineering design work. It afforded all interested groups the opportunity to voice their concerns and identify common interests and goals. The time spent in such a process is extremely valuable in developing a community vision for transportation and land use. In addition, the process focused on listening carefully to one another, and fostered an environment well suited for dealing with change. Failure to provide a means for public dialogue could have led to frustration among citizens about the identification of community needs, existing resources and how to meet those needs. The Advisory Council recognizes the value of the public involvement process in developing majority and minority opinions for its recommendation to build the North Alternate. The Council also recognizes that the KYTC went well beyond the requirements of law and policy in providing public input to the Somerset Northern Bypass engineering and environmental impact studies. According to Lee Florea, a member who represents the minority opinion, "This effort by the KYTC should be incorporated into future highway projects." ALTERNATES STUDIED Council members initially studied four, fully access-controlled alternates developed by the KYTC: (1) a North Bypass Alternate, (2) a South Bypass Alternate, (3) a Crossover Alternate, which utilized portions of both the North and South Alternates, and (4) an upgrade of existing KY 80 through Somerset. During the Council's final analysis of alternates, the KY 80 Upgrade Alternate through Somerset was eliminated from further consideration by the KYTC because it did not adequately address the purpose and need for the project. Thus, final evaluation was applied to the following build alternates: - the North Alternate, - the South Alternate, and - the Crossover Alternate. Environment Work Group The Crossover Alternate has the least impacts on cave systems and sinkholes and plant and animal life and habitat, while the South Alternate has the least impacts on ecosystems. For air and water quality and noise impacts, the Crossover Alternate has the least impacts, and the North Alternate has the most impacts. Three sources of data were compared to determine impacts, 1) the KYTC's bypass technical study data, 2) Council member Lee Florea's own field work data and 3) a combination of these. Each source yielded about the same results: that the Crossover Alternate has the least adverse impact on the environment of any of the build alternates. However, at the time the KY 80 Upgrade Alternate was dismissed from further consideration by the KYTC, some Environment Work Group representatives said it would have been their preferred build alternate because it is already the most-developed alignment and, therefore, would disturb the natural environment the least. Also, while the Environment Work Group overall did not support a build alternative in the project study, representatives did select from among the remaining alternates in terms of which is least destructive to the environment if a bypass is to be constructed. Even though the analyses show that the Crossover Alternate would cause the least environmental damage of the build alternates, the Environment Work Group prefers to stop the spread environmental degradation to other areas of the project corridor. Consequently, the Environment Work Group recommends the "No-Build Alternative". Reaching Agreement While Council members agreed that they were in a position to work toward consensus concerning this project, they felt that describing their majority/minority opinions was a more realistic goal for their report to the KYTC. Council members also recognized that in reaching a majority opinion, not all Council members could retain their first alternate preference and that mitigation was needed to lessen the impacts in certain issue areas, especially those identified in minority views and by those Council members choosing an alternate not favored by their Work Groups. Build/No-Build Alternatives Most Council members agreed that KYTC statistics and their own personal experience showed that a new four- lane bypass of Somerset is needed. The Council cited the area's high population growth rate as well as the continual growth in the business, economic-development and tourism sectors, which depend on broadening the region's transportation infrastructure. One Council member representing the neighborhoods interest area did not necessarily agree that the KYTC had shown a need for a highway, based on "a world in which families would be talked to about cutting down the need for everyone to have a car." Some members of the Environment Work Group said they preferred the No-Build Alternative and believe that the need for taking more land to build a new four- lane highway is not warranted. KY 80 Upgrade Dismissal Most Council members also agreed that the KYTC's decision to drop the KY 80 Upgrade Alternate from consideration was appropriate. The KYTC studies had shown that the Upgrade alternate would not relieve traffic congestion on KY 80 and connecting roadways and would operate at an inadequate level of service for future traffic volumes. Another consideration was that the area along KY 80 has become built up with residential and commercial development, which also would suffer considerable disruption if KY 80 were upgraded to a fully access-controlled highway. However, there was some sentiment among Council members representing environmental interests that the KY 80 Upgrade was the best build alternate, because -- as the already most-developed alternate -- it would have the fewest impacts on the environment. When that alternate was dismissed by the KYTC, these members were left to choose from among the other build alternates. Preferred Alternate Based on Work Group and other public input, the Council's community vision and other major impacts and issues, a large majority of the Advisory Council agreed to recommend the North Alternate as its preferred alternate. While the North Alternate caused the most negative impacts to farmers and agricultural land, both members of the Agriculture Work Group supported it. According to Keenan Turner, "If we don't use the North Alternate, we'll have to use more land in the future to build another bypass as the community grows." Allen Crawford, while not completely happy with the choice of the North Alternate, supported it stating "My heart wasn't with the North Alternate for my own selfish reasons -- part of my farm will be taken -- but the North Alternate is best for the community. There were others who, while they may have preferred another alternate, supported the North Alternate. J.P. Wiles, Mayor of Somerset, stated "I originally wanted the highway closer in, to tie in at Sugar Hill for better access to KY 914, but so many people came to me wanting the North Alternate, that's the one I support." Reverend Mark Harrell pointed out, "If it ever is to become part of I-66, the bypass is in the right spot with the North Alternate." Darrell Beshears, Pulaski County Judge Executive stated "I don't know for sure that we will grow out to the North Alternate, but we must base our decisions on what our history of growth has shown us." Steve Dunn also supported the North Alternate even though it was not a good alternate for him personally. "I live in Pleasant Hills. The North and Crossover Alternates would take my house. But I'm not bigger than Pulaski County. My heart is with the people. The North Alternate is best for the community." Mitigation The Council recommended that the KYTC take a progressive and proactive approach to the mitigation of the negative impacts of the new highway and to the protection of the ecosystems and scenic beauty of the region. According to council member Lee Florea, "The environment must be maintained for us to survive. Tourism ties into the environment. We must balance what we need with what we have." Minimizing degradation to the human and natural environment could be achieved by considering the following needs during the design and construction of the proposed northern bypass. • All water run-off from the roadway should be diverted away from cave entrances, sinkholes, streams, and other conduits to cave systems and aquifers. • Wetlands that will be developed to replace wetland acreage taken for the construction of the bypass should be located within the project corridor. These newly developed wetlands should be designed to: - Intercept all highway and bridge water run-off; - handle the flow from a 50- year storm; and - enhance benthic diversity. These measures, when added to best management practices followed during construction, such as silt traps and vegetative filters, will help protect the Lake Cumberland watershed. Benefits provided by these measures include: reducing the amount of solids and other roadway run-off that can have negative effects on aquatic life; providing additional protection from hazardous substance spills by encouraging benthic and other microbial activity that supports biodegradation; and maintaining wetland habitat. Other suggested mitigation measures included: • designing and constructing attractive highway features such as rock cuts, retaining walls and bridges, in an aesthetically pleasing way; • providing environmentally friendly sound barriers where needed. • planting trees and other vegetation to protect and enhance the scenic resources and ecosystems of the region; • providing special signing for local tourism destinations ; • minimizing the splitting of farms and providing for adequate access for farming operations in the design of the highway; and • exploring the feasibility of constructing elevated road beds in sensitive areas, including wildlife crossings, wetland areas and stream crossings; • developing an emergency spill plan for responding to spills from vehicles; and • exploring the feasibility of minimizing the width of right of way through neighborhoods and where sensitive geologic features exist. The Advisory Council also believes that to best ensure that local values are incorporated into the proposed mitigation measures, a citizens group should work with the KYTC on the design and construction of the highway. Negative impacts on people's lives, such as making decisions on how and when to relocate homes and farming operations, can be mitigated somewhat, if the KYTC proceeds quickly to the design and construction of the proposed improvement. Other Suggestions In addition to these mitigation measures, intended for KYTC consideration, Council members thought the following should be taken into consideration by the responsible parties. The KYTC should consider performing an appropriate geophysical survey to identify major karst features such as faults and oil fields; designing a monitoring plan to gauge the cumulative effects the roadway run off would have on aquifers in the area; and performing a survey to identify the biodiversity in the project corridor. The way in which the land between the existing city limits of Somerset and the North Alternate is developed is crucial to carrying out the community vision. While the North Alternate would allow for more development, it also would allow for more parks and green spaces. As new business corridors develop, extending from the Somerset city limits to the North Alternate, a conscious effort should be made to attract business operators to the city center to avoid its demise. To assure the safety of area residents and visitors to Somerset and Pulaski County,local governments should work to ensure that adequate emergency services can be provided along and in close proximity to the North Alternate.