Hal Snowden, Jr., D/B/A Roseglade Farm v. City of Wilmore, Kentucky

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedAugust 23, 2023
Docket2022 CA 000652
StatusUnknown

This text of Hal Snowden, Jr., D/B/A Roseglade Farm v. City of Wilmore, Kentucky (Hal Snowden, Jr., D/B/A Roseglade Farm v. City of Wilmore, Kentucky) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hal Snowden, Jr., D/B/A Roseglade Farm v. City of Wilmore, Kentucky, (Ky. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

RENDERED: AUGUST 25, 2023; 10:00 A.M. NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals NO. 2022-CA-0652-MR

HAL SNOWDEN, JR., D/B/A ROSEGLADE FARM APPELLANT

APPEAL FROM JESSAMINE CIRCUIT COURT v. HONORABLE C. HUNTER DAUGHERTY, JUDGE ACTION NO. 17-CI-00158

CITY OF WILMORE, KENTUCKY; BRIAN DENGER, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; DAVE CARLSTEDT, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; DAVID RIEL, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE WILMORE, KENTUCKY, CITY COUNCIL; DENNIS ADAMS, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; DON COLLIVER, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; ERIC ZABILK, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; HAROLD RAINWATER, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS A MEMBER OF THE WILMORE, KENTUCKY, CITY COUNCIL; HAROLD RAINWATER, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MAYOR OF THE CITY OF WILMORE, KENTUCKY; JAMES MCKINNEY, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; JANE BALL, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; JEFF BAIER, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE WILMORE, KENTUCKY, CITY COUNCIL; JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; JIM BRUMFIELD, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE WILMORE, KENTUCKY, CITY COUNCIL; JOHN OSBORNE, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; KIM DEYER, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE WILMORE, KENTUCKY, CITY COUNCIL; LEONARD FITCH, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER

-2- OF THE WILMORE, KENTUCKY, CITY COUNCIL; LYNN COOPER, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE WILMORE, KENTUCKY, CITY COUNCIL; MARY JO MORROW, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION; AND PETER BEATY, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS MEMBER OF THE JESSAMINE COUNTY – CITY OF WILMORE JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION APPELLEES

OPINION AFFIRMING

** ** ** ** **

BEFORE: DIXON, GOODWINE, AND KAREM, JUDGES.

GOODWINE, JUDGE: Hal Snowden, Jr. (“Snowden”) appeals from orders of the

Jessamine Circuit Court entered on October 28, 2018, November 9, 2018, August

9, 2019, July 20, 2020, September 24, 2020, May 12, 2021, March 22, 2022, and

April 18, 2022. After careful review, we find no error and affirm.

BACKGROUND

This matter, litigated for nearly three decades, concerns the location

and size of a conservation easement on Snowden’s property, Roseglade Farm, in

Wilmore, Kentucky. The history of this matter includes a 2018 appeal in this

-3- action and two prior appeals to this Court in related actions concerning the

development of Roseglade Farm.1 In the 2018 appeal, this Court summarized the

history of this matter as follows:

Snowden owns a 175-acre parcel of land referred to as Roseglade Farm. The northeast portion of the tract lies near the “Y” intersection of U.S. Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 29 in Jessamine County. . . .

In 1997, Snowden submitted an application for a zone change for the farm from agricultural to residential. A review of the several public hearings conducted as part of the zoning process indicates that the matter was hotly contested. Members of the public were most concerned that greenspace would be lost across that part of Roseglade [F]arm lying between two historic homes on the northern part of the farm near the Y-intersection of U.S. Highway 68 and Kentucky 29. However, Snowden’s preliminary plan for the development of the farm explicitly depicted greenspace at this location, setting aside slightly more than 100 acres (identified as the East Field Permanent Greenspace Area) for continued agricultural uses. In December 1997, the Wilmore City Council approved a zone change of the farm from A-1 to R-5 as consistent with the Wilmore Comprehensive Plan. “R-5” is designated a rural transition zone. The local zoning ordinance provides that those areas within the City of Wilmore zoned as R-5 should function as transition areas between the smaller urban lots found in the Wilmore community and the five (5) – acre minimum density lots found in the agricultural areas of surrounding Jessamine County. In R-5 zones, both agricultural and residential

1 See Kopser, et al. v. City of Wilmore, No. 2001-CA-000232-MR (Ky. App. Mar. 1, 2002); see also Snowden v. City of Wilmore, 412 S.W.3d 195 (Ky. App. 2013); see also City of Wilmore v. Snowden, No. 2017-CA-001345-MR, 2018 WL 4264921 (Ky. App. Sep. 7, 2018).

-4- development are permitted. According to the ordinance, this zone “shall provide a permanent green space/buffer area to the growing areas of Wilmore and allow a compatible transition into the active agricultural areas of the surrounding County.” As a condition to development in this zone, “an undeveloped portion of the parent tract . . . will remain in permanent green space.” The town council found that “the proposed zone change and development plan are in agreement with the comprehensive plan as they meet all the criteria of the requirements of an R-5 zoning classification, the goals and objectives and the Wilmore Community Plan.” It also found that there “is a present need for residential property as proposed by the applicant. His property provides for and protects a substantial green space along the two abutting highways [the Y-intersection at U.S. Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 29].”

Snowden, 2018 WL 4264921, at *1. In December 1998, Snowden dedicated

approximately 100 acres of the farm to the City of Wilmore (“the City”) as a

conservation easement. Id. The deed of conservation easement stated, in part,

[t]he property includes a designated area of permanent greenspace, as shown on Exhibit “B” and described in Exhibit “C” attached hereto and incorporated herein by this reference, and such area shall be maintained perpetually subject to the terms and restrictions of this Conservation Easement[.]

Id. at *2.2 The deed further described the conservation easement as containing

“open space of approximately 100 acres of farmland, pastures, and grassland[.]”

Id. The easement consisted of “approximately 4,100 feet of frontage along U.S.

2 Neither Exhibit B nor C was attached to the deed, nor did it appear from the record that either had ever been prepared.

-5- Highway 68 . . . and approximately 3,000 feet of frontage along Kentucky

Highway 29[.] . . . Furthermore, the [conservation easement] is specifically located

at the beginning of the Kentucky Highway 29 scenic entry corridor to the City of

Wilmore[.]” Id. The deed also describes the Betty Bryan House and Ashbrook

House as “immediately adjacent” to the easement. Id. The deed states that “the

remaining balance” of the property, meaning Roseglade Farm, would be rezoned to

R-5 to allow for development. Id. at *3.

In 2016, Snowden applied again to the planning commission for a new consideration of a plan to develop Roseglade Farm into 174 residential lots of approximately .25 acres each. This plan for the property reconfigured the preliminary development plan prepared in August 1997 (and approved in December 1997) by inverting the proposed residential area as platted and the greenspace area referred to in the conservation easement.

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Bluebook (online)
Hal Snowden, Jr., D/B/A Roseglade Farm v. City of Wilmore, Kentucky, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hal-snowden-jr-dba-roseglade-farm-v-city-of-wilmore-kentucky-kyctapp-2023.