Part of the Perryville Battlefield at Risk UPDATE (SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM)
Development Eyed Near
Kentucky's Biggest Civil War Battlefield
By Bruce Schreiner
3/14/2008
Associated Press, Louisville Bureau (KY)
Homes and
businesses may someday fill the landscape on a stretch of pristine property once
within earshot of cannonfire from Kentucky's bloodiest Civil War battle.
Landowner Pete Coyle envisions turning the approximately 34-acre tract on the edge of Perryville into a housing subdivision along with an assisted living center and limited commercial development.
A national Civil War preservation group is so worried by the proposed development that it placed the Perryville battlefield site on a list of the nation's 10 most endangered Civil War battlefields.
The designation
this week comes amid a rezoning proposal that would clear the way for the
development.
The proposal won approval recently
from a sharply divided Danville-Boyle County Planning and Zoning Commission but
still must win backing from the Perryville City Council. Perryville Mayor Anne
Sleet said Friday that she hasn't made up her mind on the plan.
The development in the central Kentucky town about 85 miles southeast of Louisville would be visible from hilltops about a mile away at the battlefield, where more than 7,500 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after five hours of fighting in October 1862. A Confederate withdrawal after the battle secured Kentucky for the Union.
The Perryville battlefield - which includes nearly 670 acres that have been preserved - has long been considered a historic gem because of little or no modern encroachments. The battlefield draws about 100,000 visitors yearly and has been the site of two national Civil War re-enactments this decade.
"When you're here, you're in 1862," said Chris Kolakowski, executive director of the Perryville Enhancement Projectpreservationist group. "I could take any veteran of the Battle of Perryville ... out to the ground that they fought on, and they would be able to recognize where they were."
The property wasn't the site of fighting but was a key transportation route as troops marched toward battle and some came back bloodied and wounded to be seen at makeshift hospitals, he said.
Kolakowski said he'd prefer that the property remain undeveloped, but there's a bigger concern - an adjoining 52-acre rural tract closer to the battlefield.
That property is also owned by Coyle, who has had talks with the state about a possible conservation easement to protect the 52 acres from development. Coyle said he hopes an agreement can be reached, but added, "anytime you're dealing with the state with budgets, you never know."
The talks come at a time when Kentucky lawmakers are putting together the state's next spending plan while grappling with a nearly $900 million projected revenue shortfall over the next two years.
"We are supportive of preserving this property, and we very much want to work with the landowner on it," said Gil Lawson, a spokesman for the state Commerce Cabinet, which includes the state parks department.
"However, with
the current state budget situation, funding for parks is very limited."
The rural property is separated from the
battlefield park by a 50-acre tract owned by someone else.
Coyle envisions the subdivision
becoming a haven for empty-nesters and retirees. The addition of just over 50
homes, the assisted living center and commercial development on a couple of lots
would be a boon to the historic town of about 800, generating new tax revenue in
a community with little growth opportunity, he said.
"There's no other
place to build in the city," he said. "So this is kind of a salvation for the
city."
James Lighthizer, president of the
Civil War Preservation Trust, sees it differently. He said the rezoning
applications threaten the "historical integrity of the area."
It was the first time that the trust, a nonprofit battlefield preservation group, added the Perryville battlefield to its annual list of the nation's most endangered Civil War battlefields.
Kenneth Noe, an Auburn University history professor who has written a book about the battle, said he was "floored" to see the Perryville battlefield added to the endangered list.
"I can't think of anyone who has done a better job of preserving a battlefield than the people of Perryville and Boyle County," he said.
He's worried about the proposed development and even more concerned about the precedent it might set. "It could have national implications," he said. "If it can happen at Perryville, it can happen anywhere."
Kolakowski said it would be the first major residential development on the end of Perryville closest to the battlefield. "Do we want to see it stay agricultural? Yes," he said. "But we're realistic enough to know that may or may not be a possibility."
The property includes a strip of land that was a road used by the Confederates to move soldiers to the front, haul supplies and transport wounded troops to hospitals. Coyle said he wants to see that strip turned into a hiking and biking trail that would lead from town to the battlefield.
The development would be visible from a couple of hills at the battlefield, including one where Confederate artillery was positioned and soldiers moved to attack Union lines further west, Kolakowski said.
"The way the terrain is out here, anything within about two or three miles of the park is going to be visible and is going to impact the vista and be an intrusion on the landscape," he said.
Still, Kolakowski sounded conciliatory in discussing Coyle's development plans, with his bigger concern being safeguarding the 52 rural acres from development.
"It's his property," Kolakowski said. "We're trying to balance his desire to develop it with preservation needs. We're trying to strike the best balance."
Coyle said he'd
like to see an outcome in which the 52 rural acres are left undeveloped.
"There was blood shed there; people
being carried back from the battlefield to the hospitals," he said. "It's still
hallowed ground."
Urgent Help Needed!
Boyle County Planning and Zoning approved a zoning change to allow for a high
density development on the edge of the battlefield. This zone change sets a
DANGEROUS precedent for development around the battlefield. Despite being
against their comprehensive plan for Boyle County the zoning board allowed Pete
Coyle (who currently sets on that board) to receive a zoning change for his
property that is off Hayes Mayes Rd. This development will impact the
battlefield in multiple ways and set a future precedent that will allow and
encourage more farm land to be developed into unneeded subdivisions around the
battlefield. This particular tract of land contains part of the original Old
Mackville Turnpike.
The Perryvillel City Council will have final approval of this issue and it will
come before them on April 3 at 7:00 P.M. I know many of you have spent a great
deal of time on this hallowed ground and do not want to see develpment encroach
upon the area. I encourage you to act NOW. Call the Perryville City Council
and voice your opinion. Show up at the meeting and ask why even though this
plan goes against the Comprehensive Plan for Boyle County is it being
considered.
This is also the reason that Perryville has now just been relisted on the CWPT's
top 10 endangered battlefields.
The Perryville City council number is 859-332-8361. Spread the word we need
help - Call and write NOW!
PERRYVILLE — By a 4-1 vote Thursday night (April 3), the Perryville City Council rejected a proposed subdivision that would have been near Kentucky’s largest Civil War battlefield. “I’m relieved,” said Sherry Robinson, a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who had spoken against the proposal. “Right now, we’re ecstatic.”
Marion “Pete” Coyle Jr., the landowner who had wanted to develop a portion of his farm on U.S. 150 just west of downtown Perryville, had little comment after the vote.
“I’m upset right now,” Coyle said as he left City Hall.
Had the council approved the rezoning, Coyle could have put 53 single-family houses, an assisted living center and two commercial highway businesses on 34 acres.
But the proposal came under fire from Civil War re-enactors and preservationists who feared the rezoning would only open more farmland around the battlefield to development. At last count, city hall had received 169 telephone calls, many from re-enactors around the country who opposed the development. Re-enactors say Perryville remains relatively unspoiled and appears much as it would have to its original combatants.
“We have to continue to protect this land, because if we don’t there’s a strong possibility it may rear its head again,” said Union re-enactor Chad Greene of Perryville.
The proposed rezoning prompted the Civil War Preservation Trust, a non-profit group in Washington D.C., to put Perryville on its Top 10 list of endangered battlefields last month.
Some 7,500 were killed or wounded in the October 1862 Battle of Perryville. It was a tactical Confederate victory, but Kentucky remained in Union hands for the rest of the war. Perryville council member Sheila Cox recalled those soldiers while reading a written statement about her support for Coyle’s proposal.
“I would hope to think that the soldiers that lost their lives for rights and freedom did not intend for us not to grow and make progress,” Cox said.
She added: “The battlefield and the city of Perryville both need to understand that each other have got to give and take in order to survive. The Coyle proposal has taken great pains in seeing that the plans include the best interests of both parties.”
But council member Georgeanne Edwards said Coyle had failed to demonstrate a need for the rezoning. And she said there was no evidence of any major economic, social or physical changes to the area that might warrant a zone change.
“Also, the development is not compatible with the efforts to preserve the Perryville battlefield, and the historically significant land surrounding the battlefield,” Edwards said.
On the vote to reject the rezoning, council members Edwards, Bill Chance, Julie Clay and Dawn Hastings voted yes, and Cox voted no. Council member Phillip Crowe was absent. Mayor Anne Sleet was not permitted to vote because she is not a member of the legislative body.
Troops did not fight on the Coyle property. However, Old Mackville Road, used by both Confederate and Union soldiers as they went to and from the battlefield, crosses through the property.
Last fall Coyle had preliminary talks with the state Parks Department, which wanted to purchase an easement for the old road and turn it into a walking trail.
But those talks stalled when Gov. Steve Beshear shifted $29 million in bond money to the Kentucky Horse Park for preparations for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
Council member Clay said she was encouraged that Coyle wanted to preserve the Old Mackville Road corridor.
“I think that’s something we should look into,” Clay said. “We do receive a lot of visitors to the battlefield. And I think walking the land that the soldiers walked would be an interesting and agreeable thing to promote.”
Greg Kocher covers Boyle County for the Herald-Leader. Reach him at (859) 885-5775.