Lexington’s General Government & Planning Committee on Tuesday will get its first full look at a proposed overhaul of how the city measures growth, decides whether to expand the Urban Service Area and pursues large industrial projects — changes staff say will “codify long-standing practices” and make decisions more data-driven and transparent. A separate public forum on the plan is slated for Sept. 16.
The headline item is the Division of Planning’s “Lexington’s Preservation & Growth Management Program” (LPGMP), a new framework that would require the Urban County Council to evaluate policy or zoning fixes before considering any boundary expansion, and cap any expansion at no more than 30 years of identified residential need. The proposal also eliminates a standing calculation of commercial and industrial land demand, replacing it with a tightly defined “Special Economic Development Need” pathway for employment projects — limited to industrial use, initiated by the mayor or council, and capped at 250 acres. Staff highlight the aim to “establish a transparent data-driven approach,” anchored by an Imagine Lexington analytics center.
Planning Manager Hal Baillie’s slide deck outlines a five-year Growth Trends Report that draws on official sources — the Kentucky State Data Center, U.S. Census and LFUCG permitting — to calculate 20-year residential acreage needs. If a need is found, the council would first consider policy or regulatory changes; only after that step could an expansion move forward, with the council setting the minimum acreage needed (and the 30-year cap as the maximum). A vacant-land review subcommittee would evaluate buildability inside the current boundary before any land is added, and master planning would follow if expansion is approved.
The draft also sketches a special track for big-ticket job projects: the “Special Economic Development Need.” Under that process, council would determine the need and initiate any zone change, while the Planning Commission would amend the Comprehensive Plan and evaluate the zoning. The slide notes a two-thirds vote requirement at council for the step that amends the Comprehensive Plan and initiates a zone change…