The Wilmore city council got a sneak peek at the city’s new Web site Monday night that is up and running at wilmore.org.

According to webmaster Steve Milans, the new site will be a better means for visitors to find out important information about the town including contact info for the officials, sanitation and recycling information and a calendar of city events.

“This has been brewing for about a year, working through the community development board,” Milans said. “One of the main things that made us want to do this is because the old site was wonderful 10 years ago before we wanted to be able to add more to it. I had a lot of trouble adding things to the Web site.”

The new site features a new design with a banner that displays various photos of the town. The longer pages, such as the government page, were broken down into categories to facilitate finding information, and the individual town events and festivals got pages with descriptions for tourists and vendors.

In the future, Milans said he wants to add frequently-utilized ordinances for quick references, more city forms and a page for ministries in the town.

Granary update

Wilmore Community Development Director Margaret Morgan gave the city council an update on her work to get the funds to buy the Brumfield granary for the city and turn it into a transportation museum.

Morgan has already been awarded a T-21 transportation grant for $463,000, which requires a $75,000 match from the city and can be paid with $15,000 this year and $30,000 each of the next two years. She said she is going to petition the governor’s office to get stimulus money to fund the match. Also, she said that plans for the building include green technologies which makes it eligible for even more federal grant money.

“We talked about sun collectors on the roof and really small wind turbines,” Morgan said. “I did find other warehouses in the United States doing that. Definitely we will put a couple of roof gardens on because they do cool the buildings in the summertime, and they can be most attractive. We will also be doing water gardens, and we will be talking about rain barrels to collect water on the railroad side.”

Mayor Harold Rainwater reminded the council that without the help of the other governments, Wilmore will most likely not be able to complete the project on its own.

“We need Jessamine County’s support for this — this is a project far bigger than Wilmore,” he said. “We’re probably going to have to lobby for some help. The money that Margaret’s gotten in the grant barely buys the property, and then the money begins.

“This is not a good time in the economy to ask our council to basically buy a sinking ship and then find enough money to plug the holes. We’ve got to have some help to make it everything it can be, otherwise it’s just a big empty building on a big lot and possibly a big drain on the city.”

Morgan added that she has been told that if the project gets underway, there is possibly more grant money to be had to see it through to completion.

Wesley Village update

In another non-action item, Wesley Village President Glenda Creech told the council about a request she has made to the Jessamine County/City of Wilmore Board of Adjustments.

The Village is adding homes for memory care on the property, and Creech is asking the board to allow a 100-foot setback from Ky. 29 instead of the current 200-foot setback. She said the reason for the request is to limit the building on a slope that could be dangerous for elderly residents who get around better on flat surfaces. The homes were originally planned to have the backs to the road, but Creech said that with them going closer to Ky. 29, they would be willing to turn the homes around to face the road for aesthetic’s sake.

“We want to meet whatever the council wants us to do, and these homes out here that we are building are beautiful homes,” she said. “They would have large garden areas that would be controlled areas, and those gardens could very well back up to the road, or we could flip them around and put the entrances from the back side.”

The Board of Adjustments meets March 19.