Developers seek B6P zoning and Kroger at Patch and Wilkes; planning staff recommends postponement on zone change, conditional‑zoning amendments and variances

A developer-led proposal to rezone part of the Patch and Wilkes farm for a large grocery-anchored mixed-use center and two multifamily buildings drew extensive questions from Lexington planning staff and commissioners on June 2, and the commission voted to postpone action so the applicant can provide additional information.

Planning staff Daniel Crum summarized the application from RD Property Group LLC and its request to rezone roughly 32 acres of the larger Patch and Wilkes parcel to B6P (community center zoning) to accommodate a roughly 127,000‑square‑foot grocery store (Kroger), multiple commercial outlots along Winchester Road, and two multifamily buildings behind the retail. “They are requesting a standard zone change, a variance associated with the zone change, and they are requesting to amend existing conditional zoning restrictions,” Crum said. Staff agreed with the applicant’s place‑type choice under the city’s Place Builder framework but noted several missing details.

Staff asked the applicant to provide clearer plans for the outparcels along Winchester Road, show how the grocery store’s orientation and service areas would interact with the multifamily buildings to the rear, clarify floodplain shown on the site, show pedestrian connectivity into the remaining undeveloped farm parcel and demonstrate how the applicant meets multifamily design guidelines. Planning staff also described the technical threshold for removing conditional zoning restrictions established by earlier rezoning in 2004–2005 and said that removing those restrictions requires evidence that conditions in the area had already changed materially.

Applicant representative Brandon Gross said the parcel already includes commercial zoning and that the developer needs B6P to permit a grocery store of the size Kroger markets now commonly builds (Kroger Marketplace). Gross said the project provides a signalized intersection at Winchester Road, outparcels with parking oriented to the highway, a fuel station and pharmacy pickup area, and that the design team would be willing to add enhanced landscaping and buffering where the truck/service areas are visible. He also said the project team had a well‑attended neighborhood meeting and planned additional outreach; he confirmed the proposal would include sidewalks and that the developer will work on an east–west connection for pedestrians between the multifamily buildings and the grocery store to shorten walking distances despite a substantial grade change.

Commission discussion focused on the conditional zoning restrictions placed on the parcel in 2004‑05, which mandated minimum residential counts and vertical mixed use across a larger parcel, and whether those conditions remain appropriate for the smaller frontage parcel the applicant now proposes to alter. Senior planning staff noted the legal standard: to remove conditional zoning the commission must find an economic, physical or social change had already occurred and that the change must be shown to have happened. Gross said the family that owns the farm has successors and the developer is working with the ownership group; RD Property Group is the applicant/developer.

On motions, commissioners voted to recommend postponement on the zone change application and asked the applicant to respond to the staff’s list of details; that postponement vote was unanimous. Commissioners later voted 4‑1 to postpone consideration of the variance and the conditional‑zoning amendments pending the applicant’s responses and additional design detail.

Next steps: staff will expect more detail on outparcel development, floodplain mapping, sidewalk and pedestrian connections into the overall Patch and Wilkes farm and more information satisfying the narrow legal test for removing conditional zoning restrictions. The applicant said it would meet with staff next week to work through those items.