Week of October 4, 2021
By: Kit Anderson & Megan Gulla
The Highlights:
💡 - Big topic this week: ARPA Proposals and Next Steps
Last week, the Committee of the Whole (COW) met again to discuss what LFUCG should do with the $120 million it received in ARPA funding. So far, they have mainly debated their process and haven’t moved on to considering specific projects. Last week finally cleared up some of those details!
The COW has decided to use a “subgroup” structure, similar to the links, to discuss the city budget.
The five subgroups for this process are economic growth, parks and recreation, public safety, equity services, and infrastructure.
Each subgroup will receive a bucket of 60-75 proposed projects.
The subgroups should consider various sources, including their own opinions, public input, the Mayor’s funding recommendations, and project logistics, to pick a list of proposals they would like to see funded.
The subgroups have about three and a half weeks to make these decisions and will reconvene at a COW meeting on October 26
The first subgroup to convene is Infrastructure, which is scheduled to meet this Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. in the Government Center.
We also want to take a moment to highlight some of the public input information the council is working with:
Council received 3,287 responses to the public input survey. CM Sheehan and her staff created this breakdown of the survey response data. Some of the highlights are;
The number 1 funding category ranked was community health, wellness, and quality of life, followed by critical city services and harm prevention & public safety.
The data is also broken up by district, but the category rankings are relatively consistent across districts.
If you look at the full breakdown, it seems like many respondents to the survey were not residents of Lexington. CM Sheehan stated that this is likely because survey respondents were unsure which district they lived in and selected “non-resident” as the only other option, so it is expected that a large proportion of the “non-resident” respondents live in Lexington.
Council also received 1,084 project proposals
That’s a lot of proposals! We do not envy the council staff who were in charge of sorting through the data.
The proposals cover A LOT of ground. Some of the most popular themes are:
Sidewalks, especially along major corridors (Versailles road, Leestown, New Circle) and in low-income areas
Bike and walking paths
Sports infrastructures, like golf course improvements, disc golf courses, and a youth sports complex
Eco improvements in LFUCG, like solar panels and hybrid vehicles
Affordable housing projects
Parks improvements, including pools and splash pads
Arts programming and infrastructure
Sanitary Sewer updates
Bus stop shelters
You can view the document with all 1,084 project proposals here - it is one of Lexington’s most up-to-date resources on what our residents care about right now and is worth a read!
Some of the proposals fit well into the requirements of the ARPA funding, and some don’t. It is now the job of the COW subgroups to sort through their lists and decide which proposals deserve consideration for funding.
🏢 - This week in City Hall: Redistricting Meeting
When: Wednesday October 6th - 10:00am in Council Chambers
LFUCG's Redistricting Committee will meet again on Wednesday, October 6th, at 10:00am in the Government Center's Council Chambers.
In the previous two meetings, the Committee broke into two working groups tasked with adjusting Council District boundaries in the Iterative 1 and Iterative 2 plans. In the last meeting, the two groups discussed their proposed changes, finding they had independently reached similar conclusions.
In the upcoming meeting, the two groups will combine their ideas into one plan. Once they've agreed on a draft map, they'll work with Councilmembers to decide on a format for public input sessions. They hope to make any other major changes by October 20th and finalize the map by October 27th.
Until there's a formal public engagement plan, you can email your redistricting comments or suggestions to redistrictinglexington@gmail.com.
🏃 - Get Engaged: Apply to join the Mayor’s Commission on Racial Justice & Equality
If you're interested in helping our community find answers to the challenges of systemic racism, consider applying to be a part of the newly formed Racial Justice & Equality Commission. The 68-page report produced by the Mayor's Commission for Racial Justice & Equality last summer called for the establishment of a permanent commission, and now the Mayor’s Office is looking for community members to serve.
Learn more and apply here.
You can also read our complete coverage of the report from Mayor’s Commission on Racial Justice and Equality here.
🗞 Updates from last week: ARPA COW & Redistricting Meeting last week
ARPA Committee of the Whole
Last Thursday, the Committee of the Whole (COW) held a special meeting to discuss its ARPA proposal selection process. As mentioned above, a data team sorted the proposals into five buckets and subgroups of Councilmembers, based on the Budget Links structure, will assess 60-75 projects each.
CM's are aware that there will be a lot of project overlap at this point. As the process moves forward, they'll be able to see which projects receive consistently high ratings. They may also decide to combine similar projects.
VM Kay mentioned several times that nothing is off the table at this point. Council should be open-minded in the early stages.
The Committee decided to change the timeline for subgroup project selections. The original two-week deadline was too short and they decided, instead, to make the deadline for subgroup report-outs October 22nd, and the next COW October 26th.
Watch a recording of the full meeting here!
Redistricting Committee
Last Wednesday, the Redistrict Lexington Committee held its fourth meeting in the Phoenix Building's 3-rd floor conference room. The Committee members broke into two working groups focused on the Iterative 1 and Iterative 2 plans.
Neither plan differs too much from the current district map. The main things to remember about these two options are their starting points: Iterative 1 bases changes on projected 2030 population numbers, while Iterative 2 does so with the most recent 2020 numbers. Iterative 1 also moves more precincts than Iterative 2.
Here's what each group discussed:
Group 1 (Iterative 2)
Tried to connect the split Stonewall Community in District 9, but found that it wasn't possible.
Suggested that District 11 expand toward Meadowthorpe and Leestown Rd. to keep businesses together and give the 11th a chance to absorb the Distillery District expansions.
Suggested that districts with low growth projections be assigned population counts at the higher end of the guideline.
Mostly ready to present to the public
Group 2 (Iterative 1)
Moved Stonewall into District 9, along with Wellington Gardens
Moved two precincts from District 11 to District 10, and two from District 2 to District 11.
Found it difficult to keep population numbers within guidelines for District 4 and 9 beacuse they couldn't draw from District 12; had a similar issue with the boundary between Districts 11 and 13.
Close, but not quite ready for public input
At their next meeting, on October 6th, they'll be combining both group's work into a single draft plan.
🏢 This week in City Government
Monday, October 4
No City Meetings!
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Tuesday, October 5
🗺 - ARPA Subgroup Meeting: Infrastructure
⏱ - 2:15pm on October 5th
📍 - Government Center - 5th floor Conference Room (200 East Main Street)
📺 - No viewing option available
🗣 - No input option available
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Wednesday, October 6
🗺 - Redistricting Committee Meeting
⏱ - 10:00am on October 6th
📍 - Phoenix Building - 3rd floor Conference Room (101 E Vine St.)
📺 - No viewing option available
📖 - No agenda available
🗣 - No input option available
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Thursday, October 7
🏘 - Planning Commission - Subdivision (Sub) Committee Meeting
⏱ - 8:30am on October 7th
📍 - Virtual
📺 - Watch on Zoom
📖 - No agenda available
🗣 - No input opportunity available
🏘 - Mornings With Planning, “Lexington transportation: How are new trends shaping the future?”
⏱ - 9:00am on October 7th
📍 - Imagine Lexington, 101 E Vine St.
📺 - Register Here
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🎨 - Public Arts Commission Meeting
⏱ - 12:00pm on October 7th
📍 - 200 East Main Street, Caucus Room
📺 - No Viewing Option Available
📖 - No agenda available
🗣 - No input opportunity available
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🏘 - Planning Commission Zoning (Sub)Committee meeting
⏱ - 1:30pm on October 7th
📍 - Phoenix Building - 7th floor Conference Room (101 E Vine St.)
📺 - No Viewing Option Available
📖 - No agenda available
🗣 - No input opportunity available
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Friday, October 8
No City Meetings!
🏃 More ways to get engaged
🌳 Tree Week is back! October 9-16, 2021!
This week, join the Urban Forest Initiative in celebrating Lexington's fourth annual Tree Week! Trees in our communities help to offset the negative effects of climate change. They reduce storm-water runoff, cool cities, filter air and water pollutants, store carbon dioxide, and help improve mental health and wellbeing. Tree Week helps us join together in appreciating and supporting our trees so that they may continue to provide these important benefits for us. Learning to properly care for a tree, planting new trees, and even learning to name trees are all things that we can do to support the trees where we live. Events this week include: tree plantings, tree walks, tours and hikes, educational programs for youth and adults, art, yoga, and much more in communities throughout Kentucky! Please follow public health guidelines in effect in your community.
Para español haga clic aquí: https://ufi.ca.uky.edu/treeweekespanol
☕️ Mornings with Planning: Roots & All - Urban Trees for Growing Vibrant Communities from the Ground Up
Join “Mornings with Planning” – a monthly interactive digital panel series, held on the first Wednesday of the month, to discuss how our City’s planning efforts have evolved and changed over time. This Wednesday, (10/6) the discussion will also delve into how we, as a community, may celebrate the trees that weave their way throughout the spaces where we conduct our daily lives. Join expert panelists as they discuss how Lexington may meaningfully prioritize and implement the expansion and management of our community’s urban forest to reflect the intersection of values within a diverse stakeholder network.
https://www.lexingtonky.gov/events/14835/mornings-planning
📖 Redistricting Book Club
Join CivicLex and our Redistricting Fellow - Gabby Mason this Tuesday for our second virtual reading club to dive deeper into process of redistricting and how it affects our lives. The second club will be discussing Steve Bickerstaff’s article, Making Local Redistricting Less Political: Independent Redistricting Commissions for U.S. Cities.
Please read the article before joining!
Join via zoom here.
🎄 City Seeking Two Christmas Trees for Downtown
Do you have a large evergreen tree that is nicely shaped that you want removed from your property? If so, consider donating it for the city to use for Lexington’s holiday season celebration!
City officials will evaluate all trees and select the two chosen for the city Christmas trees. If your tree is chosen, the City and Kentucky Utilities will coordinate with the property owner remove it in early November. There’s no financial compensation, however removal of the tree and stump grinding is FREE.
The chosen trees will be placed in Triangle Park and in front of the KU building on Quality Street. They will be decorated and lit Friday, Nov. 26, as part of Luminate Lexington presented by Kentucky Utilities and Baird. Help your tree live out its Christmas destiny! The trees need to meet certain guidelines, which can be found here.