In 2007, the Knight Foundation awarded the Blue Grass Community Foundation with a $2.55 million grant for the formation of the Legacy Center, created to initiate and implement a project that would help Lexington prepare for the World Equestrian Games while having a lasting impact on the city beyond 2010. The grant, spread out over five years, is the largest Kentucky has ever received from the Knight Foundation.
In deciding on a project that would help Lexington prepare for the World Equestrian Games and remain meaningful beyond the event, two major undertakings rose to the forefront of last year's community-led discussions: the revitalization of Lexington's East End neighborhood, and a mixed-use trail linking downtown with the Kentucky Horse Park.
According to Legacy Center Director Steve Austin, those were the two projects that Lexington can do something with significantly between now and the games, and the two "that will have the longest lasting impact for the community at large."
The Legacy Center was formed last year with help from the Knight Foundation grant, and now acts as the civic engagement arm of the Blue Grass Community Foundation. In December 2007, after a series of community conversations and forums designed to generate ideas for the legacy project, they decided the Legacy Trail and East End Revitalization (focusing on Third Street, near Midland Avenue) would be their primary focus. The Legacy Project is slated be completed by 2010.
With the projects still in the planning stages and the two-year clock ticking, the Legacy Project is admittedly on a "fast time frame," according to Austin. But he remains confident that the projects will be in good shape for the Equestrian Games in 2010. The Legacy Center recently named Strand Associates, Inc. Engineers as consultants for the Legacy Trail - - a nine-mile long, 12-14' wide paved path leading from downtown's Cheapside Park to the Horse Park, with various trailhead options along the way. Plans are underway to include the new mixed-use loop path at UK's Coldstream Campus, as well as to build new paths through the campuses of LexMark and the Northside YMCA.
In addition to the paved trail for biking, walking, jogging, skateboarding and roller-blading, aspects that the Legacy Center hopes to incorporate into the trail include public art; cultural monuments; environmental aspects, such as rain gardens; mini-parks dedicated to early childhood nature-oriented learning; and attractive landscaping efforts. At this stage, the planning committee is still open to new ideas from the public.
Community involvement has been a key component of the Legacy Project from the start. To that end, the Legacy Center hosted a series of events from October 23-25, inviting community members and stakeholders alike to share ideas and concerns, to make sure the nine-mile Legacy Trail "reflects what the community wants it to be, and not what the special interests or the designers ... want it to be." The designers plan on meeting with the community again during the upcoming months, as a sort of checks and balances system to ensure that everything is on the right track.
"Our goal as the Legacy Center is to get the community engaged with the designers, so that it's not done in a vacuum," said Austin. The Legacy Trail and the East End aspects of the project will be directly linked - - a heritage trail will lead from the main route of the path, down Third Street to the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden. The Art Garden, located where Third Street hits Winchester Road, will honor the former Lexingtonian, one of the first African-American jockeys. Murphy was also the first person inducted to the Thoroughbred Jockey Hall of Fame, and is to this day often considered one of the greatest race-riders of all time. The trail will wind through Murphy's former neighborhood all the way to his grave site at the horse park.
The Legacy Center and the Knight Foundation have sponsored the newly formed Creatours group (creatours.ning.com) in taking a group of emerging and engaged Lexington community leaders on trips to other cities, in order to expose them to "innovative ideas from communities and people around the country." In early October, Creatours took a group to Columbus, Ohio, and to Detroit for the Creative Cities Summit in mid-October. Creatours has an upcoming trip to Indianapolis planned, which Austin hopes will be "dead-spot-on" inspiration source for the Legacy Trail.
The state and the federal highway administration have already committed $3.2 million for the design and the construction of most of the trail; however, there are still gaps in funding. The construction of bike lanes onsite at the Northside YMCA and at LexMark, along with improvements on the sidewalks and existing bike lanes in town, might cost at least another million dollars, Austin said. Costs for sculptures, benches, and landscaping along the trail may be another half a million to a million dollars.
"We still need to raise probably $2 million, and that may be conservative," Austin said. The project can reapply for additional grants, and they may be able to leverage some of the money at the Legacy Center and the Knight Foundation. The Legacy Center is also looking into corporate sponsorships.
"We have enough to make a great start, a committed start, and we believe that we will be able to finish it up by the 2010 games," Austin said.
Stay tuned to Business Lexington for an upcoming update on the East End Revitalization progress. For more information, visit legacycenter.ning.com.