Money flowing from real estate developers into a new fund overseen by the Warren County Division of Stormwater Management is leading to some needed improvements at county parks, with one project expected to start soon.

Nikki Koller, the county’s stormwater management program coordinator, was approved recently by Warren Fiscal Court to begin negotiations with successful bidder Scott & Murphy Construction on the final scope of a project to improve water quality and stabilize the Drakes Creek stream bank at Phil Moore Park.

Bowling Green-based Scott & Murphy, with a bid of $285,700, was the lowest of three bidders on the project to prevent erosion and improve the kayak and canoe launch area in the section of the park across Scottsville Road from the gymnasium and ballfields.

“There is significant erosion in that area from people using it for kayaking, canoeing and swimming,” Koller said. “This will be a stream bank stabilization project, and we’ll also create a new area for put-in and take-out of canoes and kayaks.”

Preliminary work at the park site has been completed by Louisville-based ecological restoration company Resource Environmental Solutions. Now Koller said she hopes to begin soon on the canoe/kayak launch construction while Drakes Creek is at low flow.

Resource Environmental Solutions did planning work at the county’s Phil Moore and Romanza Johnson parks, and now Koller is using money collected in the county’s Fee In Lieu of Construction fund to move forward with the first of the two projects.

The FILOC program of the Kentucky Division of Water allows developers to pay a fee instead of constructing and maintaining post-construction water quality infrastructure.

Stormwater Management is then required to use the funds on stormwater quality improvement projects.

With Warren County being a hotbed of construction activity recently, the FILOC fund has grown.

Since its inception in 2019, the fund has collected $771,133.24 in fees from developers and spent $122,212.44 on work preparing for the initial two projects.

Based on the response from developers so far, Koller expects the FILOC fund to continue growing.

“With any project that’s over one acre, you can do a post-construction plan or do the FILOC,” Koller said. “We’ve had almost every development in the county do this program.”

While moving forward with the Phil Moore Park project, Koller said she hopes to start next year on a Romanza Johnson Park project that will be more involved.

The work at Johnson Park will include removing the low-water ford across Trammel Creek that Koller described as “hazardous” in a memo about the project to Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon.

“The county has been interested in removing that for years,” she said. “The plan is to stabilize the bank, remove the low-water ford, and improve the water quality.”

Like Moore Park, Johnson Park is used for canoeing and kayaking, so Koller said the county hopes to determine the most effective launch locations at both sites.

Although improving water quality and preventing erosion are the main goals of the projects, Koller said they have the added benefit of improving recreational activities at the parks.