Lexington council rejects plan to tear down home on Nicholasville for office building
A more than 10-year contentious battle over the future use of a property on Nicholasville Road may finally be over.
On Thursday, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted 6 to 5 to uphold the Urban County Planning Commission’s February 2020 decision to deny a zone change for 1918 and 1922 Nicholasville Road. The change would have allowed for the demolition of a two-story home on the property and the construction of an office building.
The council vote came after a four-hour hearing on Thursday night.
Julie Butcher, who owns the property, applied for a zone change from residential to professional office for the property located on Nicholasville Road and Edgemoore Drive.
In a rare move, the planning commission deadlocked 4-4 on the zone change at a January 2020 meeting. The zone change was heard again Feb. 27 and was denied by a 5-4 vote.
The subsequent hearing before the council was delayed multiple times over the past year due to the coronavirus.
Planning staff recommends approval of zone change
The fight over the use of the property goes back 13 years.
In 2008, Butcher had applied for a similar zone change but ultimately withdrew it after city staff recommended disapproval. In 2008, the comprehensive plan, which guides development in Lexington, indicated the property should remain residential for various reasons. But the 2018 comprehensive plan emphasized density on major corridors, such as Nicholasville Road, planning staff said.
The planning staff supported the latest zone change. A professional office zone is less intense than retail or other commercial zones and generates less traffic, planning staff said Thursday.
“Staff recommended approval,” said Hal Baillie, a senior city planner. There are other allowed businesses in that area, including a bank, restaurants, a gas station and a hotel.
The Urban County Planning Commission rejected the latest zone change because the home is a key part of the Southern Heights neighborhood and other reasons.
Nathan Billings, a lawyer who represents Butcher, said they talked to hundreds of neighbors before the latest effort to get approval for an office building. Billings said those discussions led Butcher to seek office zoning over other options that would allow townhomes or large apartment buildings, which neighbors said they didn’t want.
“We have selected the less intensive ... use,” Billings said.
The two-story building design was changed several times after talking to neighbors, he said. Butcher agreed to several restrictions on the property, including requirements to lessen light and noise pollution, he said.
The property is currently underutilized as a single-family home, Billings said.
“This is a more efficient use of land,” Billings said.
Butcher has tried to sell the home off and on since purchasing it more than a decade ago.
It’s been on the market 1,700 days since 2008, Billings said. No buyers materialized. It is currently a rental property.
“Families don’t want to live on Nicholasville Road,” Billings said.
The home is a central part of an old Lexington neighborhood
Jessica Winters, a lawyer representing the Southern Heights Neighborhood Association, urged the council to uphold the planning commission’s decision to reject the zone change.
“The planning commission does not typically disagree with its staff,” Winters said of the commission’s 5-4 vote. “Key to their decision is that the comprehensive plan has a goal to preserve neighborhoods.”
The home is a key cornerstone in the Southern Heights Neighborhood.
“It is one of the oldest and one of the most significant in the Southern Heights Neighborhood,” Winters said.
The neighborhood has maintained its boundaries for nearly 100 years. “If you approve this zone change request, it will pull that professional (office) zone into the neighborhood,” she said.
The 2018 comprehensive plan does not recommend a professional office zone for any area, Winters said. Edgemoor Drive serves as a land-use boundary, separating residential from professional or commercial uses, she said.
The 2018 comprehensive plan said the city has “too much vacant office space in Lexington,” Winters argued. There are more than 30 vacant professional offices within a mile of 1922 Nicholasville Road, she said.
Billings said the house was built in 1924, but it is not in a historic district.
“The comprehensive plan does not say that because you have a historic property, you turn down a zone change,” Billings said.
Butcher could file a demolition permit tomorrow, Billings said.
There appears to be no vacant office space on Nicholasville Road, he said.
Several people from Southern Heights told the council they worried about traffic on Edgemoor and said the home on Nicholasville Road was a key buffer between the neighborhood and commercial property on one of Lexington’s busiest commercial corridors.
Andy Mead, who lives on Edgemoor, said Edgemoor has no sidewalks, which makes walking down that road treacherous. The proposed building only has an entrance and exit on Edgemoor. That traffic could back up on Edgemoor because it’s difficult to turn onto Nicholasville Road during peak traffic times.
Nicholasville Road goes from seven lanes to five lanes near the front of the property. An office building would generate 55 cars leaving the property at that spot, potentially causing significant traffic backups on Nicholasville Road. There are already considerable traffic backups on that section of Nicholasville Road, other neighbors said.
Council members who voted against the zone change: Fred Brown, Steve Kay, Susan Lamb, Hannah LeGris, Kathy Plomin, LIz Sheehan. Those who voted in favor: Whitney Elliott Baxter, Amanda Bledsoe, James Brown, David Kloiber, Richard Moloney.
