Zoning › State preemptions › Kentucky

KRS Chapter 350 / SMCRA — Surface Coal Mining Regulation & Mountaintop Removal (KY)

Tracked preemption from the Kentucky overlay bundle.

Overview

← All state preemptionsKentucky overlay roll-upKentucky zoning wikiKentucky building codesFederal overlaysGlossaryFederal-conflict: Yes
Effective
1977-08-03
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:KY
Other Kentucky preemptions
2024 HB 443 — Objective-Standards / Ministerial-Application MandateKRS 65.490 et seq. — Tax Increment Financing (Local Development Areas)KRS 67C / Ky. Const. §156a — Louisville Metro Consolidated Local GovernmentKRS Chapter 224A / 224.01-400 — Brownfield Voluntary Environmental RemediationKRS 100.348 — Manufactured Housing Anti-Exclusion & Parity (2025 HB 160)Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP) — Designated Nature Preserves & T&E HabitatKRS 146.200 et seq. — Kentucky Wild Rivers SystemKRS 224.71 et seq. — Wetlands & Waters of the Commonwealth (KPDES §401 Certification)

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

OR
  • parcel.in_coal_mining_permit_area == True
  • parcel.in_post_mining_aoc_or_variance_area == True
  • parcel.within_300_ft_of_active_mine == True

Preempted fields

3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
review_typerequireky_dmre_smcra_permitKRS 350.060: Kentucky Department for Natural Resources / Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement permit required for all surface coal mining and reclamation operations
land_development.within_300_ft_occupied_dwellingwaive—30 USC §1272(e) / KRS 350.085: surface mining within 300 ft of occupied dwelling, public road, public building, school, church, or community/institutional building prohibited absent waiver
post_mining_land_use.approximate_original_contour_or_variancerequireaoc_or_higher_better_use_variance30 USC §1265(c) / KRS 350.445: mountaintop removal requires post-mining 'higher or better use' variance from AOC restoration — industrial, commercial, residential, or public-facility end use

Citation

Authority source
Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (30 USC §§1201–1328); KRS Chapter 350 (Kentucky implementation; primacy under SMCRA §503); 405 KAR Chapters 7–24
§ 30 USC §§1265, 1272; KRS §§350.020, 350.060, 350.085, 350.445; 405 KAR Ch. 7–24
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/chapter.aspx?id=37467

Research notes

Kentucky operates federally approved SMCRA primacy program. Eastern KY coalfields (Pike, Letcher, Harlan, Perry, Knott, Floyd, Martin, Bell, Leslie counties) and Western KY coalfields (Muhlenberg, Ohio, Hopkins, Union, Webster) are the dominant footprint. Mountaintop removal mining (MTR) requires post-mining land-use variance and was the subject of the federal 2008 'stream buffer zone' rule reversal and the 2015 Stream Protection Rule (rescinded 2017 under CRA). Coal-mine subsidence and abandoned-mine-land (AML) issues persist for decades after mine closure — flag any parcel in a historical mine footprint.