Protect a natural area of Boone County and find a better way to meet our community’s sewer needs.

We are asking Sanitation District No. 1 (SD1) to reconsider the current Central Boone County Conveyance Phase 4 route and fully evaluate alternatives that could meet the project’s public purpose without taking Gayle Pille’s property.

Gayle Pille owns approximately 45 acres of beautiful, largely undeveloped land along Woolper Creek in Boone County. For years, she has worked to restore and protect this property as a natural habitat. She has planted more than 1,000 native trees and has devoted enormous time and care to preserving the land for wildlife and future generations.

Her vision has never been simply to own a piece of land. She has hoped that this property could ultimately remain protected as a conservation area.

Now a major sewer project threatens to permanently change it.

SD1’s Central Boone County Master Sewer Plan includes a sewer route that crosses Gayle’s property. The Kentucky Court of Appeals has affirmed SD1’s legal authority to condemn the necessary easements. But the court’s decision also documents that alternative routes were considered, including an alternative identified in a 2017 Hazen and Sawyer study that would not affect Gayle’s property or have the same environmental impacts.

We believe that when a project can be accomplished in more than one way, the community deserves a serious examination of whether the additional environmental and private-property impacts are truly necessary.

We are not asking SD1 to abandon the need for improved sewer infrastructure. We are asking SD1 to find the least harmful reasonable solution.

We respectfully ask SD1 to:

• Pause the implementation of the Phase 4 route through Gayle’s property while alternatives are reconsidered.
• Reevaluate the alternatives previously identified, including alternatives that would avoid Gayle’s property.
• Provide the public with a clear explanation of why an alternative route cannot be used, including its environmental, financial, and infrastructure impacts.
• Consider the permanent loss of natural habitat and conservation value—not simply the construction cost—when comparing routes.
• Work with Gayle and the community toward a solution that protects Boone County’s natural resources while still addressing legitimate sewer needs.

SD1 currently states that Phase 4 construction between Idlewild Road and Petersburg Road is being scheduled, but that construction dates have not yet been confirmed.

That means there is still an opportunity to reconsider.

Gayle has spent years caring for this land. Once mature trees and natural habitat are destroyed and a sewer easement is permanently established, that decision cannot simply be undone.

We are asking SD1 to listen to the people who live here and take another look.

Please sign this petition and ask SD1 to reconsider the Phase 4 route through Gayle’s property and pursue a reasonable alternative that protects Boone County’s natural heritage.

Protect the land. Protect the habitat. Find a better route.