County says no, at least temporarily, to private donations for fairgrounds study

At their Feb. 6 meeting the Morgan County Commission declined to approve a request by County Recreation Director Lydia Hebdon to allow her department to accept private donations to help fund a NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] study on the county fairgrounds.

Last year Hebdon applied for two federal grants to help redevelop the fairgrounds, but the county did not have the funds to pay for a required study, she said. “So ultimately we weren't awarded these grants and lost the opportunity of about $1.5 million in funding for the fairgrounds project. Since that time, I've been able to find people in the community that agree that an environmental assessment should be done before we move forward with this project and are willing to privately fund it themselves.”  

Hebdon did not indicate who the people willing to fund the study were.

A NEPA Environmental Assessment would identify the environmental impacts of redeveloping the fairgrounds. This could include looking at biodiversity, environmental justice, wetlands, air and water pollution, traffic, geotechnical risks, public safety issues, and hazardous substance issues. Such a study, which would address the first phase of the fairgrounds project, would cost about $30,000, Hebdon said. 

The county is under a time crunch because applications for the grants are due by the end of the month, she said. “Having that testing done would then make us eligible for federal or state funding should we choose to pursue grants again.” 

However, some commissioners seemed to think the action would be premature and might interfere with other projects.

“It’s not that I don't want to do the project because you know I do - very, very much - but what I'm wondering is if we're putting the horse before the cart,” Commissioner Blaine Fackrell said. Research he has done indicates that the county may not need a full NEPA environmental assessment, he said.

Commission Chair Mike Newton expressed reluctance to consider the request. While the county wants to upgrade the fairgrounds, it has not been decided whether to go after federal funding to help do so, he said.

“In many cases that federal funding and the strings attached to it ends up costing you more money than it would if we just outlaid the money ourselves to do the project,” he said. “So, I'm concerned about spending $30,000 to do an EA which we may or may not need if we don’t do federal funding. I think we need to first decide are we really willing to take the federal funding, what are the strings attached and are we willing to deal with those strings that are attached to that funding. So, to me, we're a little too early here.”  

Although Morgan County has posted a concept plan for the fairgrounds on its website for more than 18 months, that plan has actually not been adopted by the county commission. While Newton wants to wait until that plan has been adopted, Commissioner Jared Anderson said perhaps it is time for the county to act before more opportunities for grant funds are missed. 

“We have had a master plan that's been posted on the website [for more than 18 months] … We have had I don't know how many meetings about this master plan,” he said. “My concern is the more we say this isn't ready, we haven't approved this yet, we are missing out on funding opportunities.”

Anderson supported moving forward and meeting with Division of Natural Resources representatives right away to seek information and try and meet the grant deadlines. Fackrell agreed that the county should get a plan approved on the fairgrounds but said it would not be appropriate to have Hebdon move forward with a privately funded NEPA study before then. The commission asked Hebdon to work on the grant applications while Anderson and Fackrell planned to meet with Division of Natural Resources representatives within several days to gather more information. 

“At the next [commission] meeting we could have maybe a consensus and submit it,” Fackrell said.

It is unclear if a majority of the commission members would be supportive of Hebdon’s plan at that point (Commissioners Robert McConnell and Matt Wilson did not make any comments during the discussion), but Anderson said, “If somebody is giving the county money to do a study, as long as it doesn't hurt us, there's absolutely no reason we should turn that away.” 

The fairgrounds concept plan may be found on the Morgan County website. λ