BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BURLINGTON - About 300 people gathered Saturday to support a controversial religious group and the legal action it has filed against Boone County officials.
The rally came a day after Answers in Genesis (AIG) filed a legal complaint and appeal against Boone County Fiscal Court members and Boone County Plan Commissioners, who rejected the rezoning request it needed to build a national headquarters and museum in western Boone County.
Those at Saturday's rally ate hot dogs and drank hot chocolate on the 25-acre parcel where AIG wants to build a Bible-based, creationist museum filled with dinosaur models. The project would cost $5 million to $8 million.
The property is south of Interstate 275 and east of Deck Lane. AIG, a group that opposes evolutionary theory and believes that dinosaurs and humans once roamed the earth at the same time, also would like the site to become home to its offices and educational and storage facilities.
While highway traffic could be heard zooming by, many at the rally said AIG's beliefs are the main reason Boone County officials have put a stop to AIG's proposal two times in two years.
"I don't understand the opposition (AIG is) getting. It makes no sense," said attorney Steve Rawlings, of Union.
Many people signed petitions Saturday to demonstrate their support of AIG, which plans to give the documents to newly elected Boone County Fiscal Court members.
Ken Ham, AIG's founder and executive director, led the rally. He told the crowd that the reason the event was taking place on the 25-acre parcel, which AIG has an option on, was because he wanted them to see that the area is ripe for development.
The opposite side of Interstate 275 already is zoned for commercial and industrial purposes, he noted, and a cell tower is near the parcel. The group has worked closely with planning staff, received their recommendation of approval and agreed to finance infrastructure for the property, he said. Yet Boone County Fiscal Court members and Boone County Plan Commissioners have turned down AIG's proposal. "It's arbitrary and capricious," Mr. Ham said.
AIG is seeking at least $20,000 in damages for legal fees it has paid while pursuing its project.
Court documents filed in Boone Circuit Court call the comprehensive plan, which guides land use decisions, "unconstitutionally vague."
Its vagueness, the documents state, has allowed county officials to manipulate its contents and use them for whatever purpose they choose - to approve the project or not to approve it.
In the legal action, AIG also contends that its constitutional rights to free speech and religion have been denied.
Going against the recommendation of plan commissioners, Boone County Fiscal Court members said no to an AIG project in 1996.
This time, plan commissioners and fiscal court members denied AIG's request.
Their reasoning: The targeted property is not ready for industrial uses because no infrastructure will be in place in the immediate future. Also, the county's comprehensive plan doesn't call for office land uses; AIG's proposal does.
