Urban Service Boundary: Last week’s court hearing and big decisions coming up this week for the USB Expansion
On Thursday, October 5th, the Fayette County Circuit Court had its first hearing of the lawsuit against the Urban County Council over the Urban Service Boundary (USB) expansion. The case is being heard by Fayette County Circuit Court Judge Lucy VanMeter.
The suit was brought by Fayette Alliance and several community members whose lands or neighborhoods would be impacted by the expansion. Their attorney argued not against expansion as a concept but claimed that the Council illegally authorized it.
Fayette Alliance argues that state law requires thorough data analysis as part of the Comprehensive Plan process and before the final vote. They claim that no analysis was done before voting to expand the USB.
They also argue that only the Planning Commission can recommend USB expansion, not the Council.
They have asked Judge VanMeter to stop the expansion before the City spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies and Master Plans that may be rendered useless if the court sides with them.
The attorney representing Council argued how crucial it is that this process moves forward because current “unknowns” - such as how long it will take or how expensive it will be to develop the expansion areas - will be addressed as part of the Expansion Area Master Plan which will be completed by December 2024.
No decisions were made at this hearing. Judge VanMeter asked both parties to submit more evidence over the next two weeks.
Council and the Planning Commission have been advised to proceed with working on expansion while this litigation continues. Two expansion-related votes will happen this week:
The Planning Commission will vote on whether to accept, reject, or revise the map of recommended expansion areas proposed by Planning Staff and the Urban Growth Management Advisory Committee.
At Tuesday’s Work Session, Council will vote on whether or not to approve a contract hiring TSW as a consultant for the Expansion Area Master Plan.
The Urban County Council will meet for Work Session on Tuesday, October 10th, 2023, at 3pm in Council Chambers.
The Planning Commission will meet on Thursday, October 12th, 2023, at 1:30pm in Council Chambers. You can attend both meetings in person or watch live on LexTV.
