LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Some are claiming a piece of property may have been wrongly designated "historic" and is costing the Ohio River Bridges project a lot of money. This accusation comes from a Kentuckiana developer. He estimates the $4 billion bridge project could cut hundreds of millions of dollars if the east side property is taken off the historic list.
The Drumanard property is 55 acres in northeastern Jefferson County near HWY 42 and the Gene Snyder, which landed in the center of controversy.
"Some are referring to this as the worst travesty ever orchestrated against citizens of metro Louisville," said Denis Frankenberger who organized the press conference.
Frankenberger is a Kentuckiana developer who is calling it an east end bridge conspiracy, which is also the name of his website which is filled with documents regarding the property: www.eastendbridgeconspiracy.com
Other businessmen agree.
"The conspiracy is that people with power didn't want a bridge in eastern Jefferson County," said Tyler Allen who ran for Mayor last year.
The proposed plan would dig a tunnel underneath the Drumanard property which is designated historic. Frankenberger says eliminating the tunnel and cutting through less than 10 acres could reduce the cost by more than $200 million.
"If it's delisted there's no reason the state couldn't utilize the procedures of eminent domain to take the highway through the northern edge of the property," said Frankenberger.
In the petition to delist the property, not the house, he alleges that the Jefferson County Office of Historic Preservation and Archives and the Kentucky Heritage Council worked to designate it as historic to block the expansion of I-265 and coerced the property owner at the time to agree.
"I would have to think that it was probably driven from the River Fields organization," said Frankenberger.
A 1998 document to the National Register of historic places says the nomination was from a grant from the Kentucky Heritage Council to River Fields, which is a land advocacy group against the bridges project. Frankenberger's complaint stems back to the boundary expansion in 1988. River Fields denies involvement in that.
President Lee Cory of River Fields said in a statement: "River Fields did not write the petition to list Drumanard on the National Register in 1988, nor did we, or any other preservation organization, choose the tunnel option. The eastern bridge path through the Drumanard property was chosen by transportation agencies in 2001."
Lindy Casebier, acting Director of the Kentucky Heritage Foundation, says they are "unfounded accusations." He says The Kentucky Heritage Foundation has 45 days to send a recommendation to the National Register.
Last year there was a petition to remove it from the list, which was denied.
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