Downtown restoration efforts and animal control concerns found their way to Christian County Fiscal Court Tuesday morning — two timely and ongoing conversations within Hopkinsville, Oak Grove, Pembroke, Crofton and Lafayette.
A historic preservationist and architectural conservator by trade, and a Christian County resident alongside her husband since 2020, Grace Abernethy spoke on behalf of the Weber Building — lauding magistrates for pausing demolition efforts until all other avenues of revitalization are exhausted.
Having spent years working in the Nashville and Franklin areas of central Tennessee, Abernethy noted that consistent research shows mental, physical and fiscal success can come to a region that saves its monuments and buildings — rather than flipping it for new, modern growth.
Take Franklin, she said, for example. Grassroots efforts in the early 1980s have turned the city into a visitor’s mecca, reportedly generating more than $1 billion in spending and $1.29 million in state and local taxes for 2022.
Rather than building new, Abernethy said business newcomers are also finding downtown success in renovations of older structures — incubating both commerce and architecture in tandem.
It’s this local spending, she added, that fits not only with the Christian County Chamber of Commerce ethos and vision, but also fiscal court’s strategic plan for business opportunity through 2030.
Meanwhile, Director of Haven 12:10 Animal Sanctuary, Inc., CJ Hale returned 13 months after visiting magistrates last summer with frustrations about animal control — and a need for more financial and manpower support.
She, and others, recently picked up six dogs on the loose — a mother, a father and four large pups — with not much room anywhere for them to succeed.
Fiscal court next meets September 9.
ABERNETHY SPEAKS:
HALE SPEAKS:
