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f you've been following the recent dust-up over the city's decision to put an explosives-storage facility on the Cardinal Hill Reservoir property, you know that one metro council member in particular, the 25th district's Doug Hawkins, has been doing his damnedest to start a major pubic brouhaha out of this decision. He claims that putting the bomb-storage site on the Louisville Water Co. site (the water company is owned by the City of Louisville) potentially endangers the water supply for parts of southern Jefferson County and is too close to some existing homes.

To learn more about the issue, check out this C-J article.

It appears that Councilman Hawkins has had some success in at least delaying the decision, as the city has said it will consider other sites if a better location can be found. And here's where we, the public, come in. Hawkins is asking Louisvillians to recommend a better site for the explosives; if you think you know one, here's your chance to save the city's water supply from the perils of having confiscated firecrackers and bottle-rockets stored near it.

The following news release was issued by Hawkins today (Wednesday, July 16) and has a tight deadline — he'd like to have suggestions in hand by tomorrow. Help Councilman Hawkins find the perfect local bomb-storage site. They don't call us Possibility City for nothing!

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f you have any ideas to help the city out, click the "Add New Comment" link below and leave your suggestions. We'll be sure they get to the right place.

Here's Hawkins press release with the criteria needed for a good bomb-storage site:

Council Reviews Alternate

Bomb Storage Sites

(Hawkins Seeks Public Help on Finding Alternate Sites)

Councilman Doug Hawkins has successfully gotten the administration to consider alternate sites to locate a bomb storage facility and is seeking your help.

“I am asking everyone to help me find a parcel of ground where we can store bombs more safely than on top of our main water supply,” said Hawkins. “It is a shame that citizens have to do the work for the city but if a safer location is not found, the mayor will force the facility on Cardinal Hill.”

Public Works will only review suggested sites through the council, and are accepting suggestions for sites that are owned by Metro Louisville or Metro Agencies like TARC, Louisville Water Company, and MSD.

Below is a list of federal guidelines that must be considered:

· It must be on about five acres of land, with nothing around it.

· It can not be in a floodplain.

· It must be at least 470 feet from an inhabited building.

· It must be at least 350 feet from a rail road or major roadway.

· It must be 190 feet from smaller roads.

· Submissions must be received as soon as possible preferable by tomorrow (Thursday, July 17) so we need your immediate help.

Please submit any sites you believe may fit the above criteria to Doug.Hawkins@louisvilleky.gov. To help you search for a site, you may want to look at the maps available at www.lojic.org.