Week of September 19, 2021
The Highlights:
💡 - Big topic this week: Sustainable Growth Task Force
One of Lexington's most contentious civic issues - the Urban Services Boundary - is coming before the Planning & Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, September 21, via a presentation about the Sustainable Growth Task Force.
Why is this presentation happening now? Now is an important time for the Sustainable Growth Task Force as it tries to get its recommendations for the Urban Services Boundary formally adopted. The Sustainable Growth Task Force presented to the Planning Commission last week and is planning a Public Hearing on October 28. Council will likely be taking up the recommendations of the Sustainable Growth Task Force in November.
If you don't remember what the Sustainable Growth Task Force is or what it recommended, here's a quick refresher:
Mayor Gorton created and appointed the Sustainable Growth Task Force after it was recommended in Imagine Lexington, our 2018 Comprehensive Plan.
The Task Force addresses the topic of the Urban Services Boundary (USB) and its role in Lexington's growth. But! It's not supposed to make recommendations on whether or not to expand the boundary.
Instead, the Task Force is building an evaluation framework that LFUCG can use to understand when the conditions are right for expanding the USB.
The Sustainable Growth Task Force's final work product focuses on an evaluation framework using three scenarios for growth:
A scenario that is mostly a continuation of our current growth patterns
Another scenario that details growth after implementing flexible urban development policies (which would theoretically allow for more development)
Finally, a third scenario that projects even more robust growth via aggressive infill development.
If adopted, this is the process that the city would use to consider expansion of the Urban Services Boundary:
Gather publicly available data points to inform the process.
Use these data points to understand the city's residential, office, retail, and industrial space needs over the next twenty years.
Run this data through the three growth scenarios mentioned above.
Score the data that comes out of these scenarios against a series of eleven goals in the Comprehensive Plan, each with its weighted number score.
Using these scores, determine if the growth scenarios can meet the projected demand for all four types of space listed above.
If they can't... then consider USB expansion.
If you're confused by the above, we're sorry! We've tried to explain it as best as we can. We'd recommend watching this Planning & Public Safety Committee meeting to hear it straight from the Task Force.
🏢 - This week in City Hall: ARPA Project Guidelines in Work Session
In this week’s Council Work Session, Council will hear a presentation from Finance Commissioner Erin Hensley about how ARPA projects will be implemented.
A couple points about ARPA to refresh you:
Lexington received about $120M in federal ARPA funding for recovery from the COVID pandemic, almost all of which remains unallocated.
Council received public input about how to spend these funds in two ways: first, a survey that asked residents about their priorities for ARPA funding; and then a project submission form.
The Mayor released her recommendations for funding, but they are just recommendations. Council will make the final decisions.
Council is in the process of making decisions on how to spend all of these resources. There’s an update on that in the updates from last week in our CivicLex Weekly.
OK, now that we’re caught up, here is how the process works:
All projects must be implemented and reported on according to the Department of Treasury’s Interim Final Ruleand the Compliance and Reporting Guidance State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds documents.
Council will evaluate projects based on the priorities in the Treasury’s Final Rule, LFUCG’s priorities, and some basic risk/reward weighing.
You can see the full rules here.
Once a project has been selected by the council, a budget cap will be set and a budget amendment will be filed to create the project.
As a reminder, Budget Amendments require both first and second readings - plus a ⅗ majority vote.
After the project has been funded by council, the administration will set up an “internal project form”, containing the essential details of the project, including budget, population served, and more.
The process gets more complicated with project administration. Many departments, divisions, and public entities will have to work together to monitor the project’s progress and costs, but this is typical of many city projects that already exist.
Once the project is in process, quarterly and Annual reports will need to be submitted. Quarterly reports will track elements like finances and contracts, annual reports will also track more qualitative data like community engagement, equity, and labor practices.
All projects must be selected by 12/31/2024 and have to be completed by 12/31/2026. Project reports and financial records will be preserved until 12/31/2031. All forms are open to inspection by Treasury at any time.
🏃 - CivicLex Redistricting Reading Club
Tuesday, September 21st via Zoom
This Tuesday, the Redistricting Reading Club starts back up! We'll be going over where Lexington's Redistricting Process is to date and reviewing the public information that LFCUG has made available about the process!
When: Tuesday, September 21 at 5:30pm
Register / Join via Zoom here
Read this:
Bring any questions you may have about where we are in the process to the meeting!
As a reminder: We'll be meeting on zoom every other Tuesday starting September 21st, and going through to Thanksgiving. Instead of covering a single book, our Redistricting Fellow Gabrielle Mason will lead the club through several articles, posts, and websites dedicated to local redistricting.
Meetings will be on the following Tuesdays at 5:30pm:
September 21st
October 5th
October 19th
November 2nd
November 16th
🗞 Updates from last week: ARPA, Redistricting, & ADUs!
Last week was a busy one in City Hall. We're excited to provide you with a variety of updates! Let's get started.
Update from the Special Public Safety & Planning presentation on ADUs
On September 14, the Planning and Public Safety Committee held a public hearing about their proposed zoning ordinance text amendment (ZOTA) to allow ADUs to any single family home in Lexington.
The hearing lasted over 4 hours and brought forward residents that were both strongly for and against the proposed zoning change. Residents against brought up concerns of parking, increased strain on city services like the sanitary sewer systems, and fear of renters.
Speakers in favor of ADUs included residents with aging family members or adults with disabilities, and supporters of more multi unit housing options in Lexington.After hearing all presentations and public comment, Vice Mayor Steve Kay proposed three amendments to the ordinance, two for clarification and one substantive change:
Clarifying the definition of residences that are eligible for ADUs as “single family residential”
Clarifying that basement ADUs are not limited to the 800 square foot maximum size restriction, as long as they do not exceed the footprint of the existing house
Changing the ordinance to a “pilot program” that only allows three of the four ADU types (converted garages, basements and attics, or attached additions to the principal home) and does NOT allow any new detached construction, to be revisited in a year
The council discussed the pros and cons of these amendments, including:
The issue that not allowing any new detached construction might be unfair to families who do not happen to already have a garage or suitable basement/attic
Resolving the potential issue of someone building a new garage and then a year later converting that to an ADU by adding a date that pre-existing garages must be built before
After some discussion, the council voted to APPROVE all three amendments, with CMs Baxter, McCurn, Worley, and Moloney voting against the third, most significant, change. The council then voted to pass the ZOTA out of committee, where it will appear in a council work session in Mid October.
Redistricting Committee Meeting
The Redistricting Committee met on September 15, 2021, in the Phoenix Building on Vine Street. The meeting was broken into two major parts:
A full committee discussion about potential scenarios for district shapes
Work groups focused on these scenarios
Here's what the full Committee talked about:
The Committee heard a presentation from the city's GIS Department on specific changes in certain districts in Lexington.
A central goal of the redistricting process is to have a relatively similar number of people in each District. We learned that as it stands, two Districts - Districts 6 & 7 - are over that threshold, while District 11 is under - this is a complication!
One of the guidelines for the Redistricting process is that the maps have to be drawn using existing Voting Precincts. We learned that this is presenting some complications to the process.
One complication occurs when making minor district adjustments on the edge of the Urban Services Boundary. Why? Some precincts on the USB's edge extend all the way to the county line and can't be further divided, adding too much (or too little) population to the potential new District.
Another complication is that some of the voting precincts cross major roads and corridors. Drawing Districts that extend over these roads and corridors is against the redistricting guidelines. Complex stuff.
The Committee discussed the Compact Plan, which we referenced in the last Redistricting Newsletter. They learned that this plan would need to be vetted for council before formal consideration because of the significant changes.
The Committee also saw a new version of the Iterative Plan. This one makes more minor adjustments/changes to the council districts than the original Iterative Plan. Only 21 precinct changes city-wide!
Lastly, there was much conversation about the "shoulds" vs. the "shalls" in the redistricting guidelines. Basically, which of the rules were required (shall) vs. recommended (should) would significantly impact the process and final outcome.
Here is what the Work Groups worked on:
We're going to call the first Work Group the Galloping Giraffes, just for fun and ease of distinguishing them. They mostly worked with Iterative Scenario No. 2 (the new one).
The Galloping Giraffes interpreted the guideline that preserves the current Council Member in their District as a shall (required). They also indicated that Population Growth projections should also be treated as a shall.
The Galloping Giraffes worked on District 12 for a while because it is projected to grow in population significantly by 2030.
The growth was mainly around the future development of Overbook Farm, which could add up to 6,000 people to the District.
They reduced the projected future population in District 12 by moving 5 precincts in Iterative 1. Huzzah!
The second Work Group - we're calling them the Candid Cats for the same reason - focused on Districts 1, 2, 3, 8, and 12.
The Candid Cats were also concerned about the 12th District's growth in population. They wanted to hear more details about the Overbrook Farm development.
The Candid Cats didn't move many Voting Precincts because they focused on the current District population instead of the projected population.
As the Committee meeting wrapped up, they discussed the next meeting and what resources they needed from LFUCG staff for their September 29 meeting.
At the next meeting, they'll keep working in smaller groups and exchange maps and potentially people in the work groups.
The Committee requested a map of future sewer placement to try and help with growth predictions.
The "shoulds" and "shalls" came up again, with Committee members discussing weighing different guidelines against each other.
The Committee also asked for maps that showed population density and counts at the voting precinct level.
Update from the ARPA Committee of the Whole
On Thursday, September 16th, the Committee of the Whole (COW) met to continue discussing the $120 million that LFUCG is receiving from the federal government in ARPA funding.
Led by Vice Mayor Steve Kay, the committee was careful to emphasize that they are not close to making any final funding decisions - the meeting was to discuss the process and survey data.
CMs Sheehan and Kloiber and their aides took the time to analyze and categorize the data from the ARPA survey and project proposals, and created an excel sheet for other CMs to use to sort through and rate projects. This data is supposed to be posted to the public on the LFUCG ARPA website page in the near future.
There was some debate over the best path moving forward, but the committee decided that each CM should take the spreadsheet data and pick the top 30 project submissions that they believe deserve to be seriously considered.
The CM’s will bring this top 30 to the next ARPA COW meeting, and begin the process of narrowing down from there.
The other issue discussed was the question of public input, and when it should start to happen.
A fair number of LFUCG employees showed up at the COW, believing that they would be able to give public input on the process.
However, Committee of the Whole meetings do not typically allow for public comment, and the Committee ultimately decided not to allow it at this one, stating that they were worried about the precedent it would set.
After some further debate, they decided not to allow public comment at ARPA meetings until they specifically request it - we will keep you updated on when that is!
🏢 This week in City Government
Monday, September 20
🏡 - Planning Commission - Continued Discussion, Re-approval & Extension Filing Deadline
🕜 - 4 p.m. on September 20
📍 - 101 E. Vine St, Phoenix Building, 7th Floor Planning Office
📺 - https://www.lexingtonky.gov/lextv
📖 - No agenda provided
🗣 - Give input in person
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Tuesday, September 21
🏢 - Planning & Public Safety Committee
🕐 - 1pm on September 21
📍 - 200 East Main Street, 2nd Floor Council Chamber
📺 - Watch in person or on LexTV
📖 - Read the agenda
🗣 - Give input in person
🔦 - Highlights:
Presentations on recognizing hairdressing as a home-based business
Sustainable Growth Study update
The Lexington Community Paramedicine program
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🏢 - Council Work Session
🕐 - 3:00pm on September 21
📍 - 200 East Main Street, 2nd Floor Council Chamber
📺 - Watch in person or on LexTV
📖 - Read the agenda
🗣 - Give input in person
🔦 - Highlights:
Life Cycle of an ARPA project
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Wednesday, September 22
♿️ - Commission for People with Disabilities
⏱ - 11 am on September 22
📍 - 195 Life Lane, Senior Center
📺 - No Viewing Option Available
📖 - No Agenda available
🗣 - No input option available
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🏞 - Special meeting -- Rural Land Management Board meeting
⏱ - 3pm on September 22
📍 - 200 East Main St, 2nd Floor
📺 - Watch via LexTV
📖 - Read the agenda here
🗣 - Give input in person
🔦 - Highlights: ADU Update and a study of the proposed Jessamine-Fayette Connector
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🌳 - Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Meeting
⏱ - 4pm on September 22
📍 - Zoom
📺 - No Viewing Option Available
📖 - No Agenda available
🗣 - No input option available
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Thursday, September 23
🏘 - Planning Commission Public Hearing -- Zoning Items
⏱ - 1:30pm on September 23
📍 - 200 East Main Street, 2nd Floor Council Chamber
📺 - Watch via LexTV
📖 - Read the agenda
🗣 - Give input in person
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Thursday, September 24
🥮 - No City Meetings
🏃 More ways to get engaged
City Committee Watch Parties at Cornerstone
Tuesdays, until October 5 from 12:30-3pm | UK Cornerstone
CivicLex is partnering with BBNvolved and UK Student Organizations and Activities to organize a series of LFUCG Council Committee Watch Parties at the UK Cornerstone every Tuesday until October 5 from 12:30-3pm. Join us to watch a live broadcast of local government committee meetings, and answer any and all questions you have concerning how local government works. There will also be optional crafting activities and food from Rolling Oven!
These watch parties are FREE and open to students & community members.
Please RSVP here.
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A Conversation with Sam Quinones
September 22 at 6pm
Quinones is the bestselling author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic. In October, his new book, The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth will be released.
Quinones will discuss his new book as well as some of the impactful things he learned while researching and writing it. We hope you can join us for this virtual event.
You can register for the event at the link below. You can find additional information attached. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
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Downtown Neighborhood Meeting
September 22nd | 6PM - 8PM | Pam Miller Downtown Art Center
Do you have an idea on how to improve downtown? Downtown residents are holding an open conversation to explore how residents and businesses can come together as a downtown neighborhood to discuss issues that they care about and work towards solutions.
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Provide your input for how Lexington should treat Open Space
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.
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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.