Warren County Fiscal Court approved orders Friday to catalyze development on a community kitchen and a racetrack for mountain biking.

Fiscal court approved a measure to advertise for renovations to the former Taylor Chapel AME Church, where the county government is planning to build a commercial kitchen, including sitework, demolition, doors, windows, moisture protection, HVAC and electrical services. 

County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said these renovations are supposed to be finished in the winter or late autumn and provide people who produce fruits and vegetables in the winter to sell their wares. 

“We’ll give them a place to kind of move into the inside so that they can actually have a marketplace on the lower level throughout the winter,” he said.

The court plans to build a commercial kitchen and teaching facility “for the culinary arts” and a food processing facility on the second floor of the old church, Buchanon said.

This renovation will not include the installation of any kitchen or food processing equipment, Buchanon said.

The court is waiting until the completion of a Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development feasibility study, which was approved at a February fiscal court meeting and expected to be completed in late June, to decide what sort of equipment to outfit the kitchen and processing facility with, he said.

“We know generally what equipment will eventually go in there, but we don’t want to overspec refrigeration and stovetops and ovens if (KCARD) can give us a better idea,” he said.

The study will seek community responses to determine what sort of equipment to install and what sort of rental fees people would be willing to pay, he said in February.

Construction on the second floor of the chapel would likely not begin until this winter, Buchanon said.

Plans to build the commercial kitchen have met with some doubt from the community. Joshua Poling, owner of Home Cafe & Marketplace, resigned from the SOKY Market Place farmers market’s board of directors in February 2015 because he felt the facility wasn’t needed and that the plan lacked input from local farmers, according to an email from Poling that was published on buylocalbg.com in 2015.

Fiscal court also approved a measure to sign a contract to lease part of Weldon Peete Park to Southwest Kentucky Mountain Bike Association for five years so the group can develop a dual slalom course.

At the March 4 fiscal court meeting, Chip Winger, SWKyMBA president, said SWKyMBA would foot the bill for the dual slalom course’s construction, which is expected to cost $20,000 to $25,000.

Buchanon said approving the order allowing SWKyMBA to go ahead with developing the course was “a no-brainer.”

The course will increase the quality of life for younger people in the area, he said.

“It costs us nothing, and it’s a great benefit to people who are into mountain biking,” he said.

Chris Kummer, Warren County parks director, said the course fits into a plan to link Weldon Peete Park with the nearby city-owned Mitch McConnell Park.

“I think it’ll be a great use of land,” he said. “It will be a great feature to add to the existing mountain bike trails that are there.”

Kummer said he doesn’t know when KyMBA was planning to begin construction of the course.

— Follow Daily News reporter Jackson French on Twitter at twitter.com/Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.