Rural land group ‘disturbed’ by Lexington youth soccer fields fights project in court
A group representing Fayette County rural land owners has filed an appeal of a Board of Adjustment decision to approve a conditional use permit for 12 youth soccer fields off of Newtown Pike.
The Fayette Alliance filed the appeal in Fayette Circuit Court this week.
The group argues the Board of Adjustment did not consider adverse environmental impacts in the area or road capacity and traffic issues that youth sports fields and the tournaments will generate.
“The purpose of the A-R zone is to preserve the rural character and nationally significant soils that are synonymous with the Lexington we know and love. We are therefore disturbed by the approval of this disruptive proposal, especially given the substantial amount of unrebutted testimony about safety concerns over existing roadway capacity and adverse environmental impacts,” said Bruce Simpson, a lawyer representing the Fayette Alliance.
The group argued in court documents that the board ignored a local law requiring them to review potential impacts to any identified environmentally sensitive area, such as the millions of gallons of polluted stormwater that the development would generate and feed into nearby Cane Run Creek.
No traffic study that would model how traffic would change in the busy Newtown Pike and Interstate 64 and Interstate 75 junction when the youth fields are completed was conducted, the group argued.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit also include Lisa Lourie, who owns Spy Coast Farm, which is less than two miles from the proposed site; Don Robinson, chairman of the Fayette Alliance who also owns a farm on Military Pike, and Greg Goodman, who has controlling interest in Mt. Brilliant Farm on Russell Cave Road, which is two miles from the proposed soccer complex.
The Board of Adjustment voted 6 to 1 on June 28 to approve the conditional use permit with some conditions.
Anderson Communities owns the land where Lexington Sporting Club, Lexington’s professional soccer franchise, wants to put 12 youth sports fields next to a proposed 10,000 seat soccer stadium.
The land is between Russell Cave and Newtown Pike. Access to the soccer fields and stadium will be off Newtown Pike.
Dennis Anderson of Anderson Communities said he could not comment on the appeal because he has not seen it.
On Thursday, the Urban County Planning Commission was expected to decide whether to approve two zone text amendments related to the soccer fields and stadium. The first proposed change would allow for a stadium in an economic development zone. The second text amendment would allow lights and concessions at the proposed youth sports complex.
The city’s planning staff has proposed alternative language for those zone text amendments. The staff has recommended to the planning commission those changes be approved, according to planning documents.
Anderson said Wednesday that they will ask the planning commission to delay the hearings on the text amendments. Dick Murphy, the lawyer representing Anderson Communities, is ill and cannot attend the Thursday hearing.
The planning commission must agree to delay the hearing. The commission typically honors such requests, particularly in the case of illness.
In a rare move, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton, in a Lexington Herald-Leader opinion piece, said she opposed the text amendments that would allow a stadium so close to agricultural land and working horse farms. The changes could set a precedent for dramatic changes in the use of agricultural land, Gorton said.
