Vote on controversial zone change on Nicholasville Road ended in a tie. Now what?
The Urban County Planning Commission deadlocked Thursday on a controversial zone change that would allow the razing of a 1920s-era home on Nicholasville Road.
After a more than three-hour hearing, the planning commission voted 4-4 on an application to change the zone from residential to professional office at 1918 and 1922 Nicholasville Road.
That means the commission will vote again on the zone change at its Feb. 27 meeting. Carolyn Plumlee, a planning commission member, had to abstain from the vote Thursday because she had jury duty earlier in the afternoon and did not hear the entire presentation. Planning commission member Patrick Brewer was absent.
Tracy Jones, a lawyer with the city, said a tie vote had only happened once before in recent years.
Traci Wade, planning manager, said if there is a tie vote again on Feb. 27, the zone change application would be forwarded to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, which has final say on all zone changes.
Julie Butcher, who owns the property, applied to change the property’s zoning so she could raze the Dutch Colonial home on the corner of Nicholasville and Edgemoor Drive and build a two-story office building.
In 2008, Butcher had applied for a similar zone change but ultimately withdrew the zone change after staff recommended disapproval. In 2008, the comprehensive plan, which guides development in Lexington, indicated the property should remain residential for a variety of reasons. But the 2018 Comprehensive Plan emphasizes density on major corridors such as Nicholasville Road, planning staff said.
The planning staff supported the zone change.
“Staff agrees the proposed development type can be appropriate for this location,” said Hal Baillie, a planner with the city. There are other commercial zones in that area, including a bank, restaurants, a gas station and a hotel.
The entrance to the property would be on Edgemoor Drive.
There will be sidewalks on Edgemoor Drive and the development will not have bright flood lights, lawyers for Butcher said. They will preserve as much of the tree canopy as possible, said Nathan Billings, a lawyer for Butcher.
Jessica Winters, a lawyer for Southern Heights Neighborhood Association, said there are 300 homes in the area and the Dutch Colonial home is a key part of the neighborhood.
“It contributes to the architectural value of this neighborhood,” Winters said.
The planning commission should follow the recommendations of its staff in 2008, which said the zone change should not be allowed, she said.
She also argued it is premature to grant the zone change until an ongoing corridors study is completed later in 2020.
A 2014 study of that section of Nicholasville Road showed that 1918 and 1922 Nicholasville Road should remain residential, Winters said.
The zone change “would be detrimental to the neighborhood,” Winters said.
More than a half dozen people from Southern Heights told the commission they worried about traffic on Edgemoor and said the home on Nicholasville Road was a key buffer between the neighborhood and commercial property on Nicholasville Road.
Joseph Van Sickles said traffic on the wide, residential street is already bad.
“This calls for a building with 50 parking spaces,” Van Sickles said. “We’ve already had animals run over.”
Others said making a left on Nicholasville Road into Edgemoor is nearly impossible at certain times of the day.
Scott Dreyer said it can be very difficult now to turn onto Edgemoor, which is just north of the intersection of Nicholasvile and Southland Drive.
“I can’t get into the turn lane becasue of cars trying to turn into El Toro,” Dreyer said of the restaurant on Nicholasville Road parallel to Edgemoor.
Brittany Sams, of the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, said the preservation group opposes the zone change and the destruction of the 1924 home.
“This property is neither vacant nor under-utilized,” Sams said.
Kim Combs Gersony, who lives in the neighborhood, said traffic on Nicholasville goes from seven lanes to five lanes at Southland Drive, creating back ups and crashes.
“There is already a big funneling right now,” Gersony said. The highest numbers of collisions on Nicholasville Road are in this area, she said, citing city traffic data.
Although the house is historic, the 2018 Comprehensive Plan does not say that historic houses must be saved, Billings said.
Billings said traffic from the property will be minimal.
Jim Duncan, director of planning for Lexington, said there is no moratorium on zone changes while the corridors plan is pending.
Development on that section of Nicholasville Road has been controversial in the last two years. Directly across Nicholasville Road, the Pensacola Park neighborhood recently became the city’s latest historic district. That designation was prompted in part over concerns about a townhouse development at the corner of Nicholasville Road and Penmoken Park that was approved by the planning commission in December 2018.
