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Board continues Lexington Universal Academy site plan amid unresolved traffic concerns
Summary
The Board of Adjustment continued a conditional use amendment for Lexington Universal Academy at Nicholasville Road after disagreement between the applicant's engineers and Traffic Engineering over stacking capacity, emergency access and a preferred alternative site plan; the case was continued for one month to allow staff and applicant to reconcile a specific plan and findings.
The Board of Adjustment voted to continue consideration of a conditional-use amendment for Lexington Universal Academy at 4580/4590 Nicholasville Road, after staff and traffic engineering presented differing alternative site plans to address documented stacking, spillback onto Nicholasville Road and emergency-access concerns.
Planning presenter Dalton Belcher told the board staff recommended approval only if the property is developed in accordance with a traffic-engineering alternative site plan designed to increase on-site vehicle stacking and mitigate spillback. Traffic engineer Stephen Parker said the existing single ingress/egress creates internal gridlock and showed collision data he said were concentrated near the gravel entrance; "Entrances generate accidents," Parker told the board, urging stronger access management.
Applicant engineers from Thoroughbred Engineering, Joe Elder and Daniel Rainer, said their proposed design would split one entrance into a one-way in and a one-way out to reduce internal conflicts, increase on-site stacking and improve safety. Elder described how the proposed circulation would separate pick-up/drop-off movements from parking and argued the plan aligns with Federal Highway Administration and Kentucky Transportation design principles.
Board members and staff debated multiple alternatives, how many cars could realistically stack on site (the applicant reported observed peak stacking in the 50–75 range; traffic staff provided counts and alternate stacking scenarios), and whether approval should be tied to a single, specific plan. Because staff recommended conditioning approval on Traffic Engineering’s alternative plan and the parties had not reconciled their differences, the board continued the case for one month so staff, traffic and applicant can finalize a plan and findings for vote at the next hearing.
