City gives $180,000 to foundation to raise money for Town Branch Commons Park

The Lexington Urban County Council on Thursday voted 11-1 to approve a $180,000 contract to the Blue Grass Community Foundation to raise $31 million for Town Branch Commons Park.

The city also gave the foundation $180,000 to raise funds for the park last year.

Some on council raised questions in earlier meetings about giving additional money to the foundation.

Foundation officials told the council during an October meeting that no money had been raised in the last 12 months for the park that will be part of the Town Branch Commons, a more than 2-mile trail through downtown Lexington that will connect the Town Branch Trail to the Legacy Trail.

The park is planned for land adjacent to Rupp Arena.

Allison Lankford, general counsel for the foundation, told the council in October the foundation had spent much of the past year identifying potential donors and developing the legal groundwork for the creation of the park. A memorandum of understanding between the landowners that the park sits on had to be signed before fundraising could begin. To boot, donors wanted assurances the 2-mile trail would be built before agreeing to pledge money.

A feasibility study identified 566 potential donors — individuals, foundations and corporations — interested in giving for the project.

The goal is to have 60 percent of the $31 million, or $18.6 million, by 2019, Lankford said.

The remaining $12.4 million would be raised by 2021.

The $31 million will pay for construction and an endowment to maintain the park.

The city recently received a $14 million federal infrastructure grant to help pay for the downtown portion of the Town Branch Trail. The trail will go from the Town Branch Park through downtown to Midland Avenue and Third Street, where it will eventually connect to the Legacy Trail. The council has already approved more than $10 million in city money for the construction of the more than 2-mile trail.

Bill Farmer was the only council member to vote “no.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 5:41 PM with the headline "City gives $180,000 to foundation to raise money for Town Branch Commons Park."