The every-five-year review of Lexington’s Comprehensive Plan, the document that guides growth in the city, is about to begin.
The two-year review will determine whether there is a need to extend service boundaries and open up new rural land to commercial and residential development.
“This is a rather lengthy process, and we want to give it the care it deserves,” said Chris Woodall, manager of long-range planning for the city’s Division of Planning. “We do a lot of prep work ahead of time to get that done. When finished, it will be known as the 2018 Comprehensive Plan.”
The last Comprehensive Plan was released in 2013, and it contained only minor updates from the document formulated fi ve years earlier. The last time there was significant revision of the plan was in 1996. At that time, the Urban Service Area “acquired” 5,300 acres of the Rural Service Area. The boundary separates city development from the famous green space and horse farms that ring the city.
As is often the case when it’s time to update the Comprehensive Plan, developers and Realtors express hope that first the Lexington Planning Commission, and ultimately the Urban County Council, will see the need to expand the boundary.
“We want to make sure the needs are met for the consumers and at the same time protect farmland, which is what Lexington is known for,” said Ty Brown, of Weichert, Realtors – Towne & Country, and president-elect of the Lexington-Bluegrass Association of Realtors. “But we all have to realize that as a city, there is going to have to be some smart expansion, along with infill redevelopment, or there is not going to be enough land for the expected growth of the community.”
Brown said some of the lots that remain undeveloped inside the urban services boundary are “not prime building lots,” which he said means added cost to the consumer to get those lots ready for construction.
“There are some areas that make more sense [for expansion] than others,” said Brown.
Some pro-growth advocates have zeroed in on the Hume Road area and other undeveloped land around Winchester Road and Interstate 75. Another area discussed is Richmond Road near I-75. Both areas, said Brown, are not “prime horse farmland with million-dollar horses grazing on it.”
Brown added that issues facing developers include some property owners not willing to sell their land and lack of infrastructure to handle the density needed for home development. Brown said the city must be realistic.
“It is very important for us to have alternatives for people to buy in all price ranges, and as everybody knows, the cost of new construction is rising pretty sharply,” he said.
Though the debate over expanding the Urban Service Area will grow over the next two years, some are already clear about which direction the city should go.
“I think that eventually we’re going to grow, but my stance on it now is that we first need to look inside the current Urban Services Boundary,” said Kathy Plomin, who recently was sworn in as the new 12th District council member. “There is a lot of acreage that is underutilized.”
Plomin’s 12th District rings most of the city and contains much rural land. First, she wants more city infill.
“Let’s make it easier for our developers to go into those areas. Right now it is cumbersome for infill and redevelopment, and we need to revisit those regulations.”
Planning manager Woodall recently met with the Planning Commission to update members on the Comprehensive Plan and its process and timeline. This fall and into early 2017 will be the time for data collection.
“We’ll look at the previous plan to see what worked and what didn’t, what can be carried over to the next one, how the population changed and the demographics. We’ll lay the baseline for all these things,” he said.
February and March of next year will involve the public process. Meeting sites will be announced. In the past, libraries have been used as data-gathering places for discussions.
“We want to catch as many people as we can from every segment of the population to understand what the community is after and get a buy-in,” said Woodall.
In the spring and summer of next year, the Planning Commission will work on what recommendations it might make to the Urban County Council. There will be a public hearing on that. Council members will then “workshop” those goals and objectives themselves.
“They will be the ones who adopt them, which is really the framework or backbone of the plan,” Woodall said. “The rest of the elements, like land use, transportation, small area plans, basically the meat of the Comprehensive Plan, will be based on the goals and objectives the council approves. That process will take place in 2018.”
Throughout 2018, the Division of Planning will work on a draft for the Planning Commission with additional public input. Finally, the two-year process will wind down.
“Toward the end of 2018, we hope to be putting the bow on it and wrapping it up,” said Woodall.