"For the longest time in Lexington, it wasn't unusual to hear someone say during a discussion about the city's future that "we have to decide what kind of city we want to be."
Tealeaf reading indicates that decision finally was made with the 2006 election of Jim Newberry as mayor and Jim Gray as vice mayor. In sum, their election on platforms calling for an era of environmental responsibility coupled with thoughtful and carefully measured growth and development represent a widely held recognition that we have something wonderful here in Lexington and Central Kentucky and that we are dangerously close to losing it forever. That something — distilled to its basis — is a wealth of prime Maury and Lowell soils found in this region and in only a few other places on the entire planet. What is at stake in their preservation is not lost on Fayette county voters, 74 percent of whom told a MatrixGroup survey commissioned by the Fayette Alliance Organization that they do not feel more land is needed for new housing, business and industrial development outside the current urban service area.
In a 2006 report on equine as a "cluster" industry, University of Kentucky professor Lori Garkovich asked, "What do Nashville, Tenn.; Detroit, Mich.; Silicon Valley, Calif., and Napa Valley, Calif., have in common? They are examples of economic clusters, geographic concentrations of interdependent firms that have provided a competitive edge in the global marketplace for their regions. The Central Kentucky Bluegrass region also boasts a world-famous economic cluster — horses."
There is a direct relationship between the existence of the precious soils of the Bluegrass region and a Thoroughbred industry that, along with bourbon, provides Lexington with distinction among the medium-sized markets of America. As Garkovich stated, "While other states have a greater total number of horses, according to the Census of Agriculture, the value of horses sold in Kentucky is more than five times greater than the next ranked state."
It seems almost silly to ask, but can you think of any other reason why Fayette County is home to two of the largest Thoroughbred horse sale agencies in the world: Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton; or, for that matter, why our area was chosen to host the 2010 World Equestrian Games?
In addition to Thoroughbreds, Kentucky cattle producers generated over $561 million in cash sale receipts last year with the Bluegrass Stockyards — the largest such operation east of the Mississippi — ringing up $3 million in sales each week.
There is, however, another force that is every bit as legitimate and necessary. The economy of Fayette County is dominated by manufacturing, which alone generates more than $1 billion in earnings. Health care and social assistance also figure into the billion-dollar club, along with state and local government and government enterprises. Retail brings in more than $650 million, and you can count on construction for another roughly $500 million.
These sectors, employing tens of thousands of Fayette County residents as well as many from neighboring counties, require space. And as they grow, they need ever more space.
Growth and development can and should be incredible positives for a local economy — assets that no one in their right mind would want to discourage. It's when growth and development are permitted to devour a region's most valued signature resource that it just makes good sense — business sense — to raise hard questions about the direction our city has taken in the past and the consequences — unintended or otherwise — which we now face.
Achieving the peaceful and productive co-existence of these competing interests should become the leading imperative for the region's economic leadership.
Lexington is fortunate to have among its development and homebuilding communities many who recognize the awesome responsibility inherent in transforming pristine farmland into human communities. Some are making efforts to devise a unique system of buffer zones that would protect sensitive equine populations from human encroachment. Developer Dennis Anderson, cited in Susan Baniak's article (see page 11) on the public's keen interest in creating more bike and walking trails, serves as an example. "The number one thing that people want is more permanent green space," Anderson said. "It's about a long-term return for the community more so than a short-term gain for the developer," he added.
We need a lot more of that kind of thinking from everyone. There is every reason to feel encouraged that the concepts of environmental stewardship and sustainability are settling into the Central Kentucky mindset. People are at once concerned and excited: concerned enough in growing numbers to be seeking intelligent growth that is guided by a determination to avoid further damage to our economic and cultural brand, and excited that emerging new leadership understands this and is showing the will to act before it is too late.
"