Board denies conditional-use permit for rooftop live entertainment at 2 Fisted Willys after neighbors object

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Board of Adjustment voted to deny a permit for outdoor live entertainment at 2 Fisted Willys, a tavern in a neighborhood business node, after planning staff argued the venue would put amplified sound too close to residential properties and after several nearby residents urged denial.

Planning staff described the rooftop location as “significant concern” because the elevated, mostly unbuffered setting would project sound toward surrounding homes. Staff noted the city’s noise‑disturbance ordinance and enforcement limitations; a 2023 review found many noise complaints but few citations because officers often arrived after the sound had been turned down or off. “Approval of this conditional use and variance would negatively impact the health, safety, and welfare of the surrounding area,” staff concluded, and recommended disapproval.

Owner Bill Ransdell and the venue’s attorney, John Whittall, asked the board for permission to host seasonal acoustic performances and described outreach to neighbors before filing. Whittall said the proposal was for low‑amplitude, one‑guitar acoustic sets, with an upper time limit and sound‑monitoring by a hired engineer. “All we seek to do here is to… put a guitarist up here seasonally,” Whittall said. He told the board he expected music to end no later than about 10:30 p.m. on days with outdoor sound.

About a dozen neighbors and the district council member spoke against the application, saying amplified music on the rooftop would travel farther than proponents suggested and would reduce year‑round livability. “By the time the sound reaches Woodland Avenue, it will be no louder than 80 decibels,” the applicant’s materials claimed; neighbors and staff said measurements at street level and accounts of prior music suggested higher impacts. Council Member Hannah Legree told the board she received many constituent complaints about noise from the venue’s current operations and favored staff’s recommendation.

Residents described the area as a mixed neighborhood with retirees, families and students and said the rooftop sits within tens of feet of homes. Multiple speakers said they could already hear interior music through the venue’s open doors and believed outdoor amplified sound would be worse.

After public comment the board took a motion to adopt staff’s recommendation of disapproval; the board voted to deny the permit. Board members cited the small distance between the rooftop and surrounding homes, the lack of a natural buffer, and practical limits of noise enforcement as reasons to side with residents’ concerns.

The decision does not change the restaurant and bar’s indoor operations; it only denies permission to use the rooftop for outdoor amplified live entertainment. The venue can pursue non‑amplified, unamplified or indoor music in conformance with existing rules, or return with a new proposal that addresses buffering, hours, and a sound‑mitigation plan acceptable to staff and the community.

Votes at a glance: board denied the conditional‑use permit for outdoor live entertainment at 2 Fisted Willys; staff recommendation of disapproval was adopted.