2026 July – LFUCG Activity Update

In no particular order, here are some of them:

1.  The Environmental Quality and Public Works (EQPW) committee of the Urban County Council will be looking at stormwater flooding tentatively in November.  FCNC has made recommendations to the Council on areas in need of review.  The answers could impact how development occurs in Fayette County.

2.  The Lexington Downtown Area Master Plan is closer to completion.  Downtown will be expanding for planning purposes, and you can find out about it at downtownlexplan.com.  Zoning will change to reflect the changes in the downtown plan, so if you live or work downtown or in an area that might become part of downtown, you should engage in any proposed changes in downtown zoning.  Changing what is allowed in a zone can impact you just as much as a request for a zone change in your neighborhood for a new development.     

3.  The Complete Streets Study is making progress, and will impact how new neighborhoods will be developed in Lexington.  A bicycle and traffic safety effort is ongoing and relates to the complete streets effort.  Limited streets in existing parts of Lexington will not allow street parking in bicycle lanes.  The design manual is 245 pages long.  Take a look at https://engage.lexingtonky.gov/completestreets for a more general view.  The engage lexington website is more designed for public review than the design manual but is very general.  FCNC has received complaints from neighborhoods about the behavior of children on motorized bicycles and scooters, particularly on walking trails or sidewalks. 

4.  LFUCG Planning is working on a corridor study for Winchester Road extending from the East End outward.  Engage in the planning process if you haven’t already done so, especially if you live on or near the Winchester Road Corridor.

5.  The Urban County Council is working on an Ordinance for developer and LFUCG responsibilities for infrastructure in the new expansion areas.  The Kentucky General Assembly likely also will be working on infrastructure financing for new housing developments.  The General Assembly will be resurrecting housing bills that failed to pass in the last Session of the General Assembly.  

6.  The General Assembly also will almost certainly have one bill or more that will deregulate short-term rental properties (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.) statewide.  Lexington has a compromise city ordinance that allows STRs but limits them with density and distance requirements.  The key to the Lexington approach is that no one especially likes the Ordinance, and that is the sweet spot for a regulatory law that is well done.  STRs remove homes from the residential market and raise home prices.  The General Assembly STR deregulation bill was not even heard in committee in either the State Senate or the House but came up on the last day of the Legislative Session attached to another bill..    

7.  Lexington now has a plethora of private student dorms, and the number continues to grow.  It remains to be seen if South Broadway will be usable if everything proposed is built and whether the construction will increase flooding problems.  Maxwell Street is facing a similar intensity of development. 

 8.  The Lexington Planning Commission just voted down a proposal that would have allowed industrial solar farms outside of Lexington’s Urban Services Boundary.

Make sure your neighborhood joins the Fayette County Neighborhood Council .  Contact us at fayetteneighborhoods@gmail.com for more information.  

Walt Gaffield, President

Fayette County Neighborhood Council, Inc.