RUSSELLVILLE – Logan County Fiscal Court’s offer to purchase a 758-acre property at Wildcat Hollow for $1.1 million has been taken off the table.

Following the proposal of a motion to rescind the court’s previous offer to purchase the land from the Lincoln Heritage Council – a Boy Scout council that serves 64 counties in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee – and its subsequent passage, the court’s Tuesday meeting featured debate on the subject and input from the public.

District 2 Magistrate Jack Crossley, who had previously voted to make the offer, is now against it until the county can decide how it wants to develop the land and conducts more research about the cost of such a plan.

He said his concerns largely rise from the cost of developing the property, adding that he likes the idea of the county owning the park and opening it up to the public.

“I’d like for the county to have it and I’d hate to miss out on something that would benefit the county and other counties,” he said.

District 1 Magistrate Dickie Carter originally voted to offer to purchase the property for $1.1 million and still wants to, adding that it would provide recreational opportunities for people of all ages in Logan County.

“If we’re ever going to think about getting it, there is no other place like this,” he said, adding that properties this large are almost never available as a single plot.

District 4 Magistrate Drexel Johnson, who previously voted against offering to purchase the property, made the motion to rescind the offer.

“I have no people in my district that have encouraged buying the property,” he said. “I had only two people who talked to me that were for it and they were not in my district.”

Adairville Mayor Donna Blake spoke against the prospective purchase of Wildcat Hollow, saying that everyone she’s talked to in her part of the county is against the purchase.

She said she would rather see about $500,000 go toward developing Savage Cave, a parcel of land that includes a cave the county acquired from Murray State University several years ago but has not been developed.

Logan County resident Johnathan Epley was the only other member of the public who came to the morning meeting to provide input.

He said he appreciates the county’s aspirations to provide trails and fishing opportunities for the public on the land but wants to hear a more concrete plan for the land’s development.

“The vision of it I like, but I have yet to hear a plan,” he said.

Epley wants the county to provide a plan for how it intends to pay for maintaining the property, replenish the money it would use to spend to acquire the land and a definite agreement with Russellville, which owns the Boy Scout Lake that the property borders, he said.

“I think there’s other places this money can be spent,” he said, adding that the money could be used to move the county coroner or Logan County Search and Rescue into a new building, or to update the county’s 911 dispatch.

During a roll call vote, fiscal court was split on the issue, with Carter, District 5 Magistrate Jo Orange and District 6 Magistrate Thomas Bouldin voting against rescinding the offer and Crossley, Johnson and District 3 Magistrate Barry Joe Wright voting for it.

Logan County Judge-Executive Logan Chick, who had previously spoken favorably about the intended purchase to the Daily News, voted to rescind the offer.

“I think if we move forward, we’ve got to have some kind of a plan,” he said before breaking the tie.