Grocery store gets initial OK for Lexington neighborhood with limited access to fresh food
A neighborhood grocery store that specializes in fresh vegetables and fruits won initial approval Thursday from a Fayette County planning body.
Black Soil, a small business dedicated to promoting Black farmers, proposed a zone change from a residential zone to a neighborhood business zone, or B-1, for a grocery store at 460 and 462 Florence Avenue off of Georgetown Street.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve the zone change, allowing the new store in a neighborhood whose residents have had to drive miles to a grocery store for fresh food. The neighborhood has been working with Black Soil to bring the new grocery store to the area.
Thursday’s zone change hearing was a continuation of a hearing in November.
“It has been a convenience store,” said Daniel Crum, a senior planner with the city, during the Nov. 16 hearing. But the previous markets were a non-conforming use of the property.
To put the grocery store there, Black Soil had to get a zone change even though the building and site has been operating as a market in prior years.
The back of the property has a pathway to a community garden off of Roosevelt Boulevard. A gate will be installed and it will remain open during business hours. The neighborhood had requested the gate remain closed during non-business hours due to concerns about crime and illegal activities, said Chris Clendenen, a lawyer for the Florence Avenue property owner.
Black Soil will remove the small parking lot and put in a patio. The rear part of the property could also be used for outdoor events, such as markets. Parking will be allowed on the street.
Some in the neighborhood wanted to restrict the use of the property to only a grocery store. That’s one of the reasons why the zone change was delayed until Thursday.
No one spoke against the zone change.
Clendenen said Black Soil was interested in some restrictions but did not want too many for any future uses of the property. Clendenen said on Thursday they have agreed to various restrictions or uses to the property.
Clendenen said the grocery store did not want to limit the sale of alcohol in case in the property became a restaurant if the grocery store left. The grocery store will not have retail sales of alcohol.
Neighborhood representatives said they wanted the alcohol restriction because there are five sober living homes on that street, along with dozens of others in the Georgetown Street area.
The planning commission ultimately allowed restaurants and sales of alcohol by the glass as part of what could be allowed in a B-1 zone.
The zone change must be approved by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council. A date for the zone change has not been set.
This story was originally published December 15, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
