Week of August 9, 2021
The Highlights
💡 - Big topic this week: Accessory Dwelling Units
Accessory Dwelling Units are back! It’s been a while since they’ve been discussed in public meetings - October 2019! - but they are reemerging in this week’s Planning and Public Safety Committee bonanza, detailed later in the CivicLex Weekly.
To help you understand ADUs, we’ve pulled together a piece about the proposed ADU legislation and how it’s changed over time. You can read that here.
Want to know where the ADU legislation stands now? Here’s a summary:
The proposed Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment would allow for ADUs on almost all residential properties in Lexington.
ADUs could be a converted space like a basement, a home expansion, or new free-standing buildings.
Property owners would be allowed to build or convert an existing space into an ADU by default.
Property owners building an ADU would be required to meet with Planning to review design recommendations, regulations, and deed restrictions before building a new ADU. Here are some of the regulations:
Only one ADU could be constructed per lot, and it must be under 800 sqft. in size.
The owner of the property must live in either the primary structure or the accessory unit.
A maximum of 2 persons and any children related to them would be allowed to live in an ADU.
There are some more restrictions:
The ADU could be used as a long-term rental property by default.
If the owner wanted to use it as a short-term rental (like an Airbnb), they would have to apply for a conditional use permit from the Board of Adjustment.
There also could be relief from restrictions in the long run:
Anyone who purchases a property with a legally allowed ADU would be notified of the restrictions on ADUs by LFUCG upon purchase.
There would be a mechanism for removing the restrictions of ADUs in that context if requested.
🏢 - This week in City Hall: Planning Bonanza
This week, we're highlighting two presentations in Tuesday's Planning and Public Safety Committee - one about Implementation Steps for the Comprehensive Plan and one about the Sustainable Growth Task Force.
Let's start with the Comprehensive Plan:
PPS will hear a presentation from the Division of Planning about Implementation Steps for the Comprehensive Plan that are being framed as two separate, but connected things:
Deregulation to make it easier to build housing; and,
Regulatory changes to enhance quality of life.
Some of these steps are finished and have been adopted. Some haven't been adopted and face an uphill climb.
The deregulation to allow for more housing steps are:
A change to the main shopping center zones in Lexington to allow for the construction of multi-family housing.
Allowing ADUs in residential zones city-wide (more on that above).
Reducing parking requirements for affordable housing.
A change in the Floor-to-Area ratio in all multi-family zones.
Elimination of parking maximums city-wide for all zones.
The regulatory changes to enhance quality of life are:
Increasing the standard width of sidewalks to 5 ft.
Changing how streets interact with the community they surround by improving safety, access to public parks and schools, and fire and emergency access.
Improving the quality of Open Space required in development while reducing the amount required.
Next, we have theSustainable Growth Task Forcereport out.
In the July 25th CivicLex Weekly, we covered the recommendations of the Sustainable Growth Task Force. You can read what we wrote here.
In this report out, the Committee will learn about the process of how the SGTF arrived at its recommendations, and will learn a bit more detail about the matrix that the Task Force developed.
As a reminder, the SGTF did not make any recommendations about whether or not the Urban Services Boundary should be expanded.
Instead, it created a framework for understanding whether or not he boundary should be expanded in the future.
This process also removed the decision about expanding/maintaining the Urban Services Boundary from the Comprehensive Plan conversation, which will change those decisions in a significant way.
The next steps after this presentation will be presentations to the Planning Commission and the full Urban County Council and voting whether to adopt the Task Force recommendations.
On September 16th, it will be before the Planning Commission's Work Session.
On October 28th, it will be before the Planning Commission for a Public Hearing
In November, it will go the the full council, pending approval from the Planning Commission.
If you'd like to get involved in either of these issues, we recommend reaching out to your Urban County Council Member, or reaching out to the Division of Planning via email or phone (859) 258-3160.
🏃 - Get Engaged: ARPA Workshops
Now that we're in August, we're getting much closer to the deadline for public input on ARPA funding, which is August 27th. To help residents understand the process, we've built a resource that we're continually updating with events around ARPA funding as we see them.
We're planning a series of in-person workshops in August to help residents understand the process and purpose of spending these funds.
In case you've forgotten, the city is receiving $120M in federal COVID relief funds. Council has released a survey to set some guiding principles for the uses of the funding.
Register for our workshops here:
🗞 - Updates from Last Week: Check back in next week
The CivicLex office was closed the last week of July and the first week of August, in alignment with Council recess. We'll have more information for this section next week. 😊
🏢 This week in City Government
Monday, August 9
♿️ - Commission for People with Disabilities
⏱ - 11:00am on August 9
📍 - Digital
📺 - Watch via Zoom
📖 - Read the agenda
🗣 - No input process available
—
🏡 - Board of Adjustment Meeting
⏱ - 1:30pm on August 9
📍 - 200 East Main Street
📺 - Watch via LexTV
📖 - Read the agenda
🗣 - Give input at the meeting
Tuesday, August 10
🏡 - Internal Audit Board Meeting
⏱ - 11:00am on August 10
📍 - Digital
📺 - Watch via Zoom
📖 - No agenda available
🗣 - No input process available
—
🚨 - Planning & Public Safety Committee
⏱ - 1:00pm on August 10
📍 - 200 East Main Street
📺 - Watch via LexTV
📖 - Read the agenda
🗣 - Give input in person
🔦 - Highlights:
Comprehensive Plan Implementation Items Update (see above)
Sustainable Growth Task Force Update (see above)
—
🏢 - Council Work Session
⏱ - 3:00pm on August 10
📍 - 200 East Main Street
📺 - Watch via LexTV
📖 - Read the agenda
🗣 - Give input in person
🔦 - Highlights:
Ad Valorem Tax Options for FY22
Here is a break down of Ad Valorem taxes (or personal property taxes) and what potential changes could look like from last year.
In this meeting, council will hear a presentation about their options for changing the Ad Valorem tax. Their options to change the Ad Valorem rate are the same as previous years - keep it the same, make it the same as last year, raise it by 4%, or raise it by more than 4%.
Council will likely leave the Ad Valorem rate the same.
If left the same, the Ad Valorem rate would cost the owner of a $200,000 property around $572 per year.
Wednesday, August 11
🚗 - Transportation Technical Committee
⏱ - 10:00am on August 11
📍 - 101 West Vine Street, 7th floor conference room
📺 - Watch via Zoom
📖 - Read the Agenda
🗣 - Give input via Zoom
—
🌳 - Tree Board
⏱ - 10:30am on August 11
📍 - 200 East Main Street, 5th Floor Conference Room
📖 - Read the Agenda
🗣 - Give input in person
🔦 - Highlights:
The street tree cost-share program and a street tree ordinance change
—
💨 - Congestion Management Air Quality Committee
⏱ - 1:30pm on August 11
📍 - 101 West Vine Street, 7th floor conference room
📺 - Watch via Zoom
📖 - Read the Agenda
🗣 - Give input via Zoom
Thursday, August 12
🏗 - Planning Commission Meeting - Subdivision Items
⏱ - 1:30pm on August 12
📍 - Digital
📺 - Watch via Zoom
📖 - No public agenda available
🗣 - No input option available
—
🏢 - Council Meeting
⏱ - 6:00pm on August 12
📍 - 200 East Main Street
📺 - Watch via LexTV
📖 - Read the docket
🗣 - Give input in person
Friday, August 13
🏢 - MIAAC Executive Committee Meeting
⏱ - 11:00am on August 13
📍 - No location available
📺 - No viewing available
📖 - No agenda available
🗣 - No input process available
🏃 More ways to get engaged
💰 - Give input on how to spend $120M in ARPA Funds
Now that we're in August, we're getting much closer to the deadline for public input on ARPA funding, which is August 27th. To help residents understand the process, we've built a resource that we're continually updating with events around ARPA funding as we see them.
We're planning a series of in-person workshops in August to help residents understand the process and purpose of spending these funds. We also are recording the city’s own workshops as well on our ARPA hub.
In case you've forgotten, the city is receiving $120M in federal COVID relief funds. Council has released a survey to set some guiding principles for the uses of the funding.
Register for our workshops here:
You can always take LFUCG's survey here.
🍃 - Provide your input for how Lexington should treat Open Space
🏃 - Give input here
The Division of Planning is proposing a Zoning Ordinance Text Amendments relating to Open Space.
What is open space? In the context of a city, think about small parks, greenspace, communal gathering areas, and other parts of our civic fabric. Open space provides opportunities for increased social cohesion and connection between neighbors and cultural events. It also has positive environmental impacts, including reduced water runoff, easing of heat islands, and more.
The Division of Planning's proposed changes to the Zoning Ordinance will set new definitions for open space, set open space requirements for new developments, and more.
🅿️ - Give your input on parking in Lexington
The Division of Planning has put out a call for community members to help gather data to evaluate the current parking situation in our city. Learn more and take the Parking Survey here.