Floor-to-Area Ratio Text Amendment
(9/25/20 - Update: In a Council Meeting on 9/25, Council unanimously passed the FAR ZOTA while noting the city needs to be more intentional about community engagement)
This week, we're highlighting a proposed Text Amendment to the Zoning Ordinance (ZOTA) that would make a few changes to three residential zones in Fayette County. Initially scheduled for Second Reading on August 27, Council delayed the hearing until the September 24, 2020, Council Meeting due to pushback from many neighborhood associations across Lexington.
Here's what you need to know:
The ZOTA would change the Floor-to-Area (FAR) ratio, allowing multi-family buildings to take up a substantially larger space on lots in certain multi-family zoned parts of the city.
The change would only impact three types of zones: Planning Neighborhood Residential (R-3), High-Density Apartment (R-4), and High Rise Apartment (R-5) zones.
The FAR ZOTA was unanimously approved by all attending Planning Commission members (8 out of 11) at a June 25 Planning Commission meeting.
The FAR ZOTA will work towards many of the goals and objectives in the 2018 Comprehensive Plan, Imagine Lexington.
Lexington's Division of Planning has stated that it will reduce the burden of developing more "missing middle" housing - small-scale, multi-family housing.
Other Advocates argue that the ZOTA will create more housing units to address Lexington's growing housing crisis.
An example of this housing scale would be the four-plexes in Chevy Chase, built before the existing zoning ordinance restricted them from being created in many residential zones.
Policy recommendations from other cities have listed FAR changes as a strategy to increase affordable housing and mitigate gentrification.
Many neighborhood associations and the Fayette County Neighborhood Council have expressed concern about the FAR changes. Their principal concern is that the change will cause large-scale demolition of existing structures and the construction of much larger structures, changing existing neighborhoods' character.
Many of those raising concerns argue that the ZOTA will usher in a "second wave of urban renewal" and heighten gentrification in many parts of the city.
They also argue that our "first target for rezoning should not be existing residential land but rather the city's overlarge retail footprint, [and] underutilized land…"
Two other criticisms of the FAR ZOTA made by the FCNC have to do with resident involvement of passing and implementing the ZOTA:
There was little Public Comment during the Planning Commission discussion of the ZOTA likely due to decreased information exchange from the city with the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since this would be a change to the Text Amendment itself, allowing larger buildings to be built inside existing zoning would reduce the number of public engagement requirements that come with zone changes.
Judging from how amendments to Floor-to-Area ratios have played out in other cities, changes to the city's built environment would likely occur over a long period as new buildings are built. Most residential zones would not be impacted by the changes at all. Any shift in county-wide housing costs resulting from the FAR change may be challenging to measure on a macro level.
Demolition of existing structures to create larger structures would likely not happen frequently, as it would produce an increased cost-burden on development. However, if it did, demolition and removal of the existing property would substantially increase the completed housing's end cost.
If adopted, newly-constructed buildings that take advantage of the new floor-to-area ratio would likely have lower cost-per-unit due to savings from a larger structure with more units.
Want to learn more about the costs of development? This fantastic interactive tool from the Urban Institute demonstrates the various impacts and costs of development.