Week of January 17, 2022

Written By Richard Young

🔎 - Big topic this week: ARPA

Council rescheduled last week's ARPA Committee of the Whole meeting to this upcoming Thursday, January 20, at 3 pm. In this meeting, Council will likely hear from city administration on the feasibility, and true costs of ARPA proposals advanced to date.

Need a quick refresher on the American Rescue Plan Act and its impacts on Lexington? Here you go:

  • ARPA, or the American Rescue Plan Act, passed in 2021, provides financial relief to counties, states, and other institutions all across America in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Lexington Fayette Urban County Government is receiving $120 million in ARPA funds.

  • ARPA funding must be allocated to the Council's chosen areas by December 31, 2024 and must be spent by December 31, 2026, at the latest.

  • CivicLex has a summary page of the ARPA process to date. You can see that here.

  • We've also kept track of the projects that the Council is considering for ARPA funds in our ARPA database.

🏢 - This Week in City Hall: Complete Streets & Zone Change Notifications

Here are two topics we're keeping our eyes on in the Planning and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, January 18 at 1 pm. You can watch via LexTV.

Expanding Zone Change Notifications

  • As of right now, when a property owner applies to rezone a piece of land in Lexington, property owners within 500 feet receive a letter notifying them of the impending change.

  • Since mail goes to nearby property owners, not the properties themself, many renters and businesses do not receive a notification when a zone change is in process. Renters and businesses occupy 46% of Fayette County's housing units.

  • At a recent Planning & Public Safety Committee meeting, the Division of Planning proposed changing the Zoning Ordinance to expand the communication to include direct mail to both adjacent properties and their owners.

  • This expansion would cost property owners seeking a zone change an additional $25-50.

  • The committee will hear questions and concerns on this issue at Tuesday's meeting.

Recommendations for Ensuring the Continuous Operations for Shared Use Paths, Sidewalks, and Bike Lanes

  • Last fall's multi-month closure of the Legacy Trail for construction on a new Amazon processing facility caused significant blowback in the cycling and pedestrian advocacy communities.

  • As a result of that issue, CM Chuck Ellinger indicated that he wanted to create a new policy to prioritize keeping sidewalks, bike lanes, and share use paths open when new development or construction happens.

  • In this meeting, LFUCG's Bike/Ped Coordinator Scott Thompson will present on building a Complete Streets Policy that would require all departments in the city to address "foreseen and unforeseen barriers to a safe and reliable transportation network" with a focus on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

🏃 - Get Engaged: Opportunity Zones & Food Access

Opportunity Zone Input

The Urban League of Lexington, EHI Consultants, and the City of Lexington are holding a series of events about Opportunity Zones in Lexington.

Opportunity Zones are part of a federal program that allows investors to delay their capital gains taxes by investing them in funds to redevelop designated low-income communities. Any profit made through these Opportunity Zone Funds is tax-free for the investors. Nationally, Opportunity Zones have a mixed reputation.

Lexington has one Opportunity Zone, including much of Lexington's North and East End neighborhoods. These EHI/Urban League events seek to gather input on how Lexington should deal with Opportunity Zones.

There are upcoming events on January 25 and February 8 at noon. Register at https://cutt.ly/OZMeetings.

Food Access

2020's Commission for Racial Justice and Equality recommended that the city focus on improving healthy food access throughout the city. The city is considering creating a new mobile grocery store that would take fresh food into communities with little access to groceries.

You can get involved by attending one of five focus groups:

  • Centro de San Juan Diego, 1389 Alexandria Drive, at 5:30 pm on January 19

  • Lexington Legends Ballpark, 207 Legends Lane, at 5:30 pm on January 25

  • Black & Williams Neighborhood Center, 498 Georgetown Street, at 5:30 pm on February 15

  • Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center, 300 East Third Street, at 5:30 pm on February 22

  • Virtual Zoom Meeting at Noon on March 8. Zoom link will be made available at a later date.

You may also fill out this survey with your thoughts and experiences.


State of the City Address

Mayor Linda Gorton will give her State of the City-County Address speech on Tuesday, January 18 at noon via LexTV.

🗞 - Updates from Last Week

Council Stays Virtual For Now
At last week's city council meeting, Council voted to continue meeting online for two more weeks due to the continual spread of COVID. They will reevaluate at the Council Meeting on Thursday, January 27.

Summer Youth Job Training Program
Summer Youth Job Training Program workgroup members, Director of Youth Services, Stephanie Hong, and Executive Director of Partners for Youth, Briana Persley, presented the program's changes for Sumer 2022 to the General Government and Social Services Committee.

  • The improvements included allowing students to pick up and drop off their applications at their schools, expanding recruitment areas to provide more options for students' futures, and supplementary skill-based training spanning from September to December.

  • Hong and Persley asked for $960,000 in ARPA funding to meet the program's financial need and continue to run the program in 2023 and 2024.

Although this committee alone can not approve ARPA funding, many committee members supported the program.

A Quick Note on Election Filings
You may know that candidates for local office file with both the County Clerk and the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF). Filing with KREF allows candidates to fundraise for their race, but they must file with the county clerk to be completely ready to run. County Clerk filing paperwork includes a mandatory 100 signature petition from residents of the district.

A couple of readers reached out to us about our candidate listings, which we have been basing on the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. Candidates only in KREF aren't the whole picture of who is running - some have yet to open campaign accounts but have filed with the County Clerk.

Starting today, we'll indicate where we have seen the filing - either KREF or the County Clerk. We've also updated our Who's Running for Local Office page with which agencies candidates have filed.

🆘 - Corrections

Last week, we reported a new candidate for the District 5 Council race, Greg Ladd. We mistakingly announced a different person with the same name who owns the Cross Gate art gallery in Lexington. The Greg Ladd running was the former General Counsel at the Department for Local Government. (County Clerk, KREF)

🏢 - This Week in City Government

Monday, January 17th

MLK Holiday — No Meetings, LFUCG Offices Closed

MLK Freedom March
⏱ - 10:00 am on January 17th (lineup begins at 9:00 am)
📍 - Line up begins at the Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall C
Register Here

MLK Commemorative Program
⏱ - 12:00 pm on January 17th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Watch via YouTube
🗣 - No input option

———

Tuesday, January 18th

State of the City Address
⏱ - 11:00 am on January 18th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Watch via LexTv
🗣 - No input option

Planning & Public Safety Committee Meeting
⏱ - 1:00 pm on January 18th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Watch via LexTv
🗣 - Sign up for Public Comment

Council Work Session
⏱ - 3:00 pm on January 18th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Watch via LexTv
🗣 - Sign up for Public Comment

Continued Discussion, Reapproval and Extension Filing Deadline
⏱ - 4:00 pm on January 18th
📍 - Phoenix Building, 7th Floor (101 E. Vine Street)
📺 - No Viewing Options
🗣 - Contact

———

Wednesday, January 19th

Greenspace Commission and Trust
⏱ - 3:00 pm pm on January 19th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Zoom Meeting
🗣 - No input option

Board of Architectural Review
⏱ - 4:00 pm on January 20th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Watch Online, Zoom Invitation
🗣 - No input option

———

Thursday, January 20th

Corridors Commission
⏱ - 12:00 pm on January 20th
📍 - Video Teleconference
📺 - Watch Online, Zoom Invitation
🗣 - No input option

Planning Commission Work Session
⏱ - 1:30 pm on January 20th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Watch via Zoom
🗣 - No input option

Special Committee of the Whole (COW) Meeting
⏱ - 3:00 pm on January 20th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Watch via LexTV
🗣 - No input option

———

Friday, January 14th

No city meetings!

Richard Young
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