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 dedication discussion and zoning text amendments to implement the Urban Growth Master Plan.

Hal Bailey, long-range planning manager, introduced the staff———————proposal to create a formal growth-management program. "This process is meant to ensure sustainable use of the urban service area, preservation of significant agricultural areas, and a research based approach for future expansion," Bailey said. He described prior efforts (the Sustainable Growth Task Force and the Goal 4 work group) and said staff will work with the committee chair and Planning Commission to refine scope, public-input framework and a timeline for committee reports and updates.

City planning manager Tracy Wade briefed the committee on House Bill 443 and its implications for local development review. Wade said the bill amended KRS 100 and requires that local rules for subdivision plats and development plans be written as objective standards and be applied ministerially; she added the law allows discretion only where an applicant requests a deviation or where strict application would pose a specific threat to public health, safety or welfare. "House Bill 443 is a piece of legislation that was enacted last summer ... The change was enacted in April of 2024, and it will become effective in July of this year," Wade said.

Wade and other staff said the change means the city will revise Article 21 (development plans) and related manuals so that many final development-plan reviews that currently go to the Planning Commission could be processed administratively if they meet the objective standards. Planning staff expect to initiate zoning-text amendments with the Planning Commission in January, mail notice to neighborhood associations in February, hold hearings in March, return recommendations to the council in April and May, and implement changes before the July 1, 2025 effective date.

Council members asked staff detailed questions about acreage, landowner outreach, parkland, infrastructure funding and how public input will be preserved under the new, more administrative review for final development plans. Castro said staff mailed notice to every property owner in the expansion areas and met with owners and neighborhoods that requested meetings. On parkland, Castro said the city is beginning an education effort and that a parkland dedication ordinance, if pursued, would likely not be ready for public draft until at least the end of next year.

Committee members broadly praised the plan———————and highlighted next steps. Vice Mayor Wu said the current expansion process "just doesn't work" and expressed support for developing a new paradigm for growth-management. Council members emphasized the importance of funding and sequencing through an infrastructure funding plan, and several asked staff to preserve and clarify opportunities for neighborhood input as administrative procedures change.

Votes at a glance

- Liz Sheehan elected chair of the General Government and Planning Committee (nomination from Council member Lynch, second from Council member Baxter; voice vote: aye; outcome: passes).

- Committee approved the Oct. 15, 2024 Committee Summary (voice vote: aye; outcome: passes).

(The meeting also included multiple routine committee motions to remove or reassign items from the committee docket and to change sponsors; those procedural motions were approved by committee voice votes during the docket review.)

What happens next

Planning staff said the Urban Growth Master Plan will be implemented through follow-up zoning text amendments (ZOTAs), a Complete Streets design manual, and an infrastructure funding plan that staff and the commissioner———————————————office will develop. Staff will work with the committee chair and Planning Commission to develop the scope and public-engagement framework for a formal growth-management program. Zoning and subdivision ordinance changes required by House Bill 443 will be initiated with the Planning Commission immediately so edits can be in place by the July 1, 2025 effective date.

The presentation included technical recommendations staff said they will convert to regulatory language; the committee did not take final action on the master plan itself at the meeting.