An open letter to the Kentucky House of Representatives urging approval of Senate Bill 274

Attention members of the Kentucky House of Representatives, let me tell you a little bit about the area around Exit 29 in southern Laurel County that is the subject of Senate Bill 274, or as us locals refer to it, north Corbin.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

First off, let introduce myself. I am Mark White, the managing editor of the News Journal, which is the only newspaper still located in Corbin. I have been covering news in this area for close to 30 years.

While I haven’t officially lived in the Corbin city limits since I was three, I have lived around Corbin and in the greater Corbin area almost all my life. I consider myself from Corbin and call this home.

I also know a good bit about Laurel County too. When I was a teenager, my family moved to the north Corbin area in southern Laurel County in a home that was located less than a five-minute drive from Exit 29, which is the area that this legislation is regarding. By the way, my first job out of college was working at the Sentinel Echo in London.

In other words, this is a subject that I feel pretty qualified to talk about.

First off, in all my 50 years on this planet, never have I heard this area referred to as “south London.” Even if London is permitted to annex parts of Exit 29, it will still never be referred to as London by those living in this area.

The Exit 29 area is Corbin in everything except for being in the official city limits.

For those unfamiliar with Corbin, it is uniquely located as it lies on the crossroads of three counties, Whitley, Knox and Laurel. About 25 years ago when the Corbin overpass was being constructed, the detour route had me driving through all three counties on my five-minute drive to work.

Corbin is officially incorporated in Whitley and Knox counties. The only thing that has prevented it from being in Laurel County is a 1930s era law that Senate Bill 274 seeks to fix.

Let me offer a few ways where the existing law simply doesn’t make sense.

I think everyone would agree that the Corbin City Garage should officially be in the Corbin city limits. I mean it would make sense. Right?

It isn’t.

The city garage lies probably one mile from Corbin City Hall, but it is about 200 yards into Laurel County so it can’t be inside the city limits.

Corbin supports the area of southern Laurel County.

In the 1970s, when the American Greeting Card Corporation wanted to open a plant in southern Laurel County, it was the Corbin Utilities Commission not London, that stepped up and provided water and sewer to help make this happen. Were it not for Corbin’s water and sewer infrastructure, then it is doubtful many of the businesses located off Exit 29 would be there today.

Consider these facts.

The Corbin Rotary Club and Corbin Kiwanis Club both meet at a local restaurant, David’s Steakhouse, which is located a few hundred yards from the Exit 29 on and off ramps.

Never have I heard about a London club meeting off Exit 29 in large part because it isn’t in London.

It isn’t just us locals that consider the Exit 29 area as Corbin.

The Exit 29 sign on I-75 notes that it is a “Corbin” exit.

The federal government has already classified the Exit 29 corridor with a zip code.

Homes and businesses in that area have a Corbin prefix on their telephone numbers. As a matter a fact, if you want to call “London” from a land-based telephone from a home or business near Exit 29, it is long distance telephone call.

It has been said by some London and Laurel County leaders that businesses and people, who live near Exit 29, don’t want to be in Corbin.

Truth be told, most people, who live in southern Laurel County/north Corbin, don’t want to be annexed into the city limits of either London or Corbin simply because they don’t want to pay city taxes.

To say that none of the businesses or property owners there want to be annexed into Corbin is a flat out falsehood.

In 2012, representatives from the Walmart Supercenter in north Corbin/southern Laurel County came before the Corbin City Commission to express support for Corbin to annex the area.

“We are willing to do whatever steps we need to take to have the law changed and so is Bentonville (Arkansas, the home of Walmart’s corporate headquarters),” said Nicole Creekmore, a shift manager at the store when she spoke to the city commission in 2012.

Weeks after Corbin filed the lawsuit to stop the London annexation attempt, MPI Ky. LLC (Metal Products Inc.), which is located off of American Greeting Road in north Corbin, joined the lawsuit as a co-plaintiff.

“MPI joined the lawsuit because we believe that governments should follow the law generally, including when annexing property. MPI is unsure of the long-term impact of London’s apparently illegal annexation of neighboring property, which is all the more reason to make sure it is done right,” said R. Scott Wilson, MPI’s Chief Executive Officer, in an e-mail responding to a request for comment from The News Journal. “Moreover, MPI believes that nearby cities should take a more regional approach that benefits everyone. Corbin has offered to pursue such an approach, and we at MPI are supportive of that.”

The Exit 29 area should be in the city limits of someone. It would promote growth and development, but incorporating this area into London simply makes no sense.

London wants to annex Exit 29 for one simple reason and that is greed. It wants the tax revenue it could potentially get from that area.

This area has been and will forever be considered part of Corbin by those of us who live here, and Corbin leaders have a far more vested interest in seeing Exit 29 develop.

Senate Bill 274 fixes a law that should have been fixed by the Kentucky General Assembly 50 years ago. Now is the time for the Kentucky House of Representatives to step up and finally do the right thing for this area.