Urban Service Boundary: Share Your Thoughts on Possible Expansion Areas

At September 5th’s Urban Growth Management Plan Advisory Committee meeting, members voted on which potential expansion areas to present to the public at a Public Input session this Tuesday at 6pm in Council Chambers.  You can view the entire presentation here.

• Where’s expansion likely to happen? The 5 areas that will be presented for expansion are around Mint Lane and Man O’ War, Royster Road near Winchester Road, and a section between Todds Road and Athens-Boonesboro Road. You can view the areas in the map below.

The draft map that will be presented at Tuesday’s Public Input Session includes all 5 areas, though the committee voted on September 5th to prioritize just area C, which is the largest area to the west along Winchester Road. Members decided to prioritize this area because it is the only option that would alone reach the minimum net acreage needed to fulfill the requirements set by the Urban County Council. Some members of the committee expressed concerns, including:

• Expanding only in one direction

• Only meeting the minimum acreage requirements

• Dangers of developing near PDR-protected farmland and historic rural hamlets in Area C

Ultimately, the committee decided to gather feedback on all 5 areas before developing a final draft map.

This week’s Urban Growth Management Plan Advisory Committee meeting will be a bus tour of the five areas being considered for expansion. While this is still an open public meeting, space is very limited due to the bus’s seating capacity. The meeting is for information only, and there will be no discussion or votes made by the committee. The bus will leave from the Transit Center at 10am on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

Following the bus tour, the committee will have a public input session on the draft map. This meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 12th at 6pm in Council Chambers. You can attend in person or watch live on LexTV. If you cannot attend the public hearing, feedback can be given online here.

What happens next?

After the public hearing, the committee will have two more meetings to consider public feedback and finalize a draft map to present to the Planning Commission by September 26th. The Planning Commission will then vote to accept, reject, or revise the map on either September 28th or October 12th.

The finalized map will set the boundaries used by a hired consultant to create the Expansion Area Master Plan, which is to be completed by December 1, 2024.