Resident urges council to pull B3 zoning text amendment, saying it was rushed and would remove minimum building-size standard

Amy Clark, a resident of the Third District, asked the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council on June 26 to pull from the docket a zoning text amendment affecting the B3 corridor business zone (Item 8 on the agenda). Clark told the council the measure — which she identified as a B3 ZOTA — would "simply remove that minimum building threshold for developing land in B3 zone" and that the change had not been sufficiently vetted.

Clark said the proposal was placed on the council docket by administrative process after a narrow 6–5 vote at the Planning Commission and that staff and a zoning subcommittee had recommended an alternate text developed over several meetings. "This came straight from the planning commission report onto the agenda through administrative process," she told the council, and she said the Planning Commission had recommended approval "by the closest of votes." She added that the alternate text discussed at the commission "was not persuasive by one vote" and that "no real consensus was reached on this matter."

Clark told the council the ZOTA is not tied to the state mandate she cited, saying it "is in no way linked to the House Bill 443 mandate to make development plan standards objective and ministerially applied by July." She also argued the amendment has no decision deadline and therefore can be delayed for further review.

Clark said the amendment would affect how the city develops land along major urban corridors, including implications for housing density, use of scarce land, public right-of-way improvements and multi-modal transportation. "It affects how efficiently we develop scarce and valuable land on major urban corridors, how we foster housing and employment opportunity, how we improve the public right of way and support affordable transportation facilities to serve all modes of travel," Clark said during public comment.

The amendment (Item 8) was listed later on the agenda as a first reading ordinance described as "an ordinance pending Article 8 of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County zoning ordinance relating to the corridor business B3 zone to remove the minimum building lot coverage requirement." The transcript records the item at first reading but shows no council debate or vote on adoption during the June 26 meeting.

Why it matters: The B3 corridor designation covers commercially zoned parcels on major corridors; removing a minimum building-size or lot-coverage threshold can change development patterns, the mix of uses on a parcel, and how public infrastructure and sidewalks are planned. Clark urged additional public review and clearer alternative language rather than striking the requirement without replacement.

Meeting action: Item 8 was read on first reading during the meeting; no final action to adopt or reject the text amendment is recorded in the transcript for June 26.

Provenance (transcript evidence): Amy Clark’s public comment begins at the public-comment block (transcript block starting at 553.05005 seconds) and the ordinance item is read later in the first-reading section (transcript block starting at 1095.945 seconds).