Should Lexington expand service boundary? At-large council candidates share their view
How Lexington will grow in coming years will take center stage in the next year.
Later this year, Lexington will begin debate on the 2023 Comprehensive Plan, which determines where and how Lexington will grow for the next five years. A key part of that plan is whether the city should expand its growth boundary for the first time since 1996, when the city added 5,000 acres for development.
Eight candidates are running in the at-large race for the May primary. The top six vote getters will advance to the November general election. In November, the top vote getter will become vice mayor. The second and third place finishers will serve at-large.
The nonpartisan race is city-wide. At-large council members serve for four years.
Here’s what the candidates had to say about whether the city should expand its growth boundary.
James Brown
Brown said it’s time the city look at where the city’s growth boundary can be moved. Brown is co-chairing a committee that is identifying areas where that boundary could be expanded when and if Lexington makes that decision.
“I think it’s time that we come up with a process to determine where there are opportunities outside the boundary that make sense that does not threaten farmland or what makes Lexington unique,” Brown said.
Chuck Ellinger II
On whether Lexington should expand its growth boundary, Ellinger said a work group appointed by Vice Mayor Steve Kay is already looking at the issue of where the city could expand. That works still need to be completed.
“I want responsible growth,” Ellinger said. A logical places is where Interstate 75 and Interstate 64 intersect north of Lexington. But Lexington’s growth boundary has also created a unique sense of place. Green sand open spaces make it unique, he said.
“I don’t want us to become anyplace USA,” Ellinger said.
Arnold Farr
Farr said he is not opposed to discussions about expanding the urban service boundary.
“I think we will eventually have to expand it, it’s inevitable,” Farr said.
He, however, dismisses the argument that opening the boundary will create affordable housing or make housing more affordable. That’s not what happened in previous expansion in 1996, he said.
Bill Farmer, Jr.
Farmer said the question on whether the city should expand the urban service boundary is too narrow. The city has to look at areas that can be brought into the city’s growth boundary and minimal costs first. There are areas outside the boundary that already have water and sewer lines, he said.
Lillie Miller Johnson
On growth and expansion, Miller Johnson said only half of the 5,000 acres that was part of the expansion in 1996 has been developed.
If the boundary is moved, Miller Johnson said she would need a lot more information.
“I need to know what you are going to do with that land if there is an expansion,” she said. “What are you going to be building? What types of homes are going to be built? Are they affordable?”
Matt Miniard
Miniard said he would support opening the urban service boundary and sees it as a social justice issue.
I will advocate expansion of the urban service boundary providing more opportunities for the ‘have nots’ fulfilling my pledge for social justice; creating more affordable housing opportunities, Miniard said.
Richard Moloney
Moloney said “the time has come” to look at expanding the urban service boundary. “We are building two hospitals out there on Polo Club Boulevard close to the interstate. To me if we are going to expand anywhere it’s there,” Moloney said. “Affordable housing doesn’t exist anymore.”
Dan Wu
Wu said more needs to be done to encourage infill development before the city expands the urban service boundary. The process should be streamlined to make it easier and cost effective for developers to redevelop or build inside the boundary, he said.
“While expansion is inevitable, well down the road, it is not a silver bullet to solving our affordable housing crisis,” Wu said. “We have to take a good hard look and find bolder and creative solutions to smarter infill development first.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
