Calvert City planners ask staff to draft zoning change after developer proposes golf course and meal‑production kitchen

The Calvert City Planning Commission on Tuesday discussed a redevelopment proposal for the former Holiday Inn site that would reestablish a par‑3 golf course and add a lodge with an on‑site restaurant and a packaged‑meal production kitchen.

Chair said the developer, identified in the discussion as Mitchell, has purchased and is updating the property and would like to bring back the small golf course and operate a lodge with a visible food‑preparation area. Commissioners cautioned that the Limited Use (LU) zoning currently excludes many production or manufacturing activities and that any meal‑production activity could blur the line between a restaurant and manufacturing.

"If you're gonna do production, you gotta have warehousing," a committee member said, warning that allowing production without strict limits could lead to larger‑scale operations. Another member cited the corridor investment, noting, "That was a $9,000,000 project," and urged the commission to avoid uses that would invite heavy truck traffic or warehousing needs.

Commissioners discussed specific constraints that might make Mitchell's concept acceptable, such as limited hours, a cap on days or shifts, prohibition on trucking/long‑term storage, and framing the activity as a novelty or display kitchen rather than a production plant. They compared the proposal to existing local models that prepare meals for home delivery (referred to in the discussion as the "Marcellus" model), where meals are cooked on a limited schedule and delivered locally rather than frozen and shipped.

The commission agreed the simplest near‑term fix for the golf request is a text amendment to the LU schedule to allow golf courses as a conditional use. Chair asked staff to draft a proposed amendment and to prepare the required public‑hearing notice. "So, Miss Ashley, can you work us up the text amendment for that? Have that for the next meeting?" the chair asked; staff agreed.

No formal vote on the zoning amendment was taken at this meeting. Commissioners said they will invite Mitchell (and his project representative, Mr. Adams) to the next meeting so the developer can present detailed sketches and clarify whether the intended operation would be demonstrably limited to local, non‑shipping meal preparation.

Next steps: staff was directed to draft the LU text amendment to allow golf courses as a conditional use, to prepare advertising for a public hearing, and to invite the developer back to present more detailed plans.