Committee reviews Urban Growth Master Plan update, growth-management process and state changes to development review

The Lexington City General Government and Planning Committee on Jan. 14, 2025 heard a presentation on the Urban Growth Master Plan update, an overview of a proposed growth-management program, and an outline of how the city will implement House Bill 443 changes to development-plan review.

The Urban Growth Master Plan update, presented by Samantha Castro of Janelle Spangler Walsh and Associates, covers five areas the Planning Commission identified for inclusion in the city———————urban service area and "totaled, in the end around, 2,840 acres of of new land that is being brought into the urban service area," Castro said. She told the committee the plan is intended as a long-term vision that could guide development over 20 to 50 years and establishes design principles, minimum densities and a street network to guide future development.

The plan ties design principles to the Imagine Lexington 2045 comprehensive plan and includes a required minimum density of 7 dwelling units per acre for the expansion areas. Castro said the plan emphasizes a wider variety of housing types, "gentle density" (narrower lots, missing-middle housing and small multifamily), multimodal transportation provisions, and a goal that everyone be within a five-minute walk of some form of open space. She also described follow-up work: a citywide Complete Streets design manual, an infrastructure funding plan, a parkland…