Property owner on Lexington scenic by-way cited 13 times for alleged ‘dump’
A Lexington planning body ruled this week a landowner with a history of violations can’t store construction vehicles on a property at a key intersection of one of Fayette County’s only nationally recognized scenic by-ways.
The city’s Board of Adjustment voted unanimously Monday to uphold a November 2024 zoning enforcement violation issued by city officials that said the owner of 404 Alexandria Dr. was improperly using the property to store construction and other vehicles.
The fight over conditions at the property at 404 Alexandria Dr., at Old Frankfort Pike and Alexandria, started in 2019. A group that oversees the Lexington-Old Frankfort Pike Corridor says the city has not done enough to enforce city planning and code enforcement rules to make the landowner comply with city ordinances and codes.
Since 2019, FRM Lawson, the owner of the property, has racked up 13 different violations ranging from flood plain violations to nuisance violations involving keeping junked cars on the property, city records show.
“On one side, we have a $55 million privately funded generational park (Gatton Park at Town Branch) and on the other side we have a dump, and the city isn’t doing anything about it,” said Billy Van Pelt, a member of the Lexington-Frankfort Scenic Corridor Committee, a quasi-government nonprofit that oversees the Old Frankfort Pike corridor.
FRM Lawson officials have argued that some city permits were issued out of order and the conditions on the property were due to delays in getting Federal Emergency Management Agency permits to fill in the property, which have taken years to obtain.
They have tried to follow all the rules but have been stymied in developing the property -- which they want to sell - by various efforts by Lexington-Frankfort Scenic Corridor to interfere with those plans.
During Monday’s Board of Adjustment hearing, FRM Lawson officials argued a tenant that was using the property for storage of vehicles had a temporary office on the property, and the storing of the vehicles was allowed. They urged the Board of Adjustment to overturn the November zoning violation.
However, city ordinances say the storing of the construction and other vehicles on property zoned industrial can only occur if there is a principal or permanent building on the property, city officials said.
Josh Cairns of FRM Lawson said they have found other industrial-zoned property that also had construction vehicles on the site but did not have a permanent building.
“I don’t think city code addresses this issue,” Carins said Monday.
Tom Miller, a lawyer for the commission, said city rules are clear. If there is not a permanent structure on the site, the landowner can’t use it for storing construction vehicles.
“They have ignored the rules,” Miller said. “They are totally non-complaint.”
City officials said at Monday’s hearing that FRM Lawson can either apply to build a permanent structure or remove the vehicles stored after the Board of Adjustment upheld the violation.
Prior violations and a lawsuit
The city cited Lawson eight times from for flouting city ordinances from November 2018 to June 2019 after it allowed a third party to use the property to dump construction debris from the renovations of Central Bank Center.
Eventually, the corridors commission sued the city and FRM Lawson. The lawsuit was settled. FRM Lawson agreed to seed the property and removed much of the debris from the site. FRM Lawson officials said they spent thousands of dollars cleaning up on the site and on attorney fees.
After the issues surrounding the site were settled in 2019 and 2020, a new roundabout and entrance was erected at that intersection.
A combination of city, state, federal and private money was used to erect a Secretariat statue at the roundabout directly across from 404 Alexandria Drive. More than $900,000 in federal, state and city money was used on the project, records show.
The roundabout and Secretariat statue acts as a gateway to horse country along Old Frankfort Pike, which became a National Scenic Byway in 2021. Famed thoroughbred farms such as Darby Dan, Donamire and Windhaven stretch along both sides of the road.
The roundabout at Old Frankfort and Alexandria is the gateway into horse country, members of the corridor commission said.
The corridor also has its own rules and regulations along the corridor.
“Everyone else has complied with the guidelines,” said John Phillips, a Lexington-Frankfort Scenic Corridor Commission member.
Construction materials, trucks return to the property
FRM Lawson filed a development plan with the city in 2023 that included a new building toward the front of the property.
Last year, the Frankfort Pike Scenic Corridor Committee noticed more construction vehicles being stored on the site as well as what looked like construction debris.
Members of the commission met with Mayor Linda Gorton and city officials to ask why FRM Lawson was allowed to store vehicles on the site when it appeared city planning rules did not allow it.
Susan Straub, a spokeswoman for the city, said the city gave verbal approval to allow vehicles to be stored at the site because the landowner told the city it was a temporary use.
“A verbal exchange regarding the use of the property was held when the inappropriate use was initially realized,” Straub said. “At that time, the property owner or the tenant using the property indicated that the use was short term and would be removed at the end of a specific project.:
She added: “The decision at that time was to allow that use to conclude, and then return the property to its prior setup. When that didn’t happen, Building Inspection reached back out to the property owner to let them know that they needed to get the use of the property into compliance with the zoning requirements.”
Straub said the city has issued multiple violations to FRM Lawson since 2023. In March 2023, it issued a code violation for rubbish and debris on the site.
City officials cited FRM Lawson in February for filling in part of that floodplain without proper permits.
City officials also issued an additional code enforcement violation in March 2025 for storing vehicles on the site and a third citation on April 4 elated to cars on the property, according to city records.
The issue of filling in that flood plain is no small issue, said member of the Old Frankfort Pike corridors group.
The property backs up to the Town Branch. What’s already been placed on that property without proper sign offs is concerning for farmers and property owners downstream.
“I live on the Town Branch. I help clean up the Town Branch,” said Helen Alexander, a member of the commission. “It worries me what’s already been buried on that site and what is leeching out.”
Fred Lawson of FRM Lawson said during Monday’s hearing most of the cars have since been removed or will be removed by the end of the week. What cars remain appear to be on city property that abuts FRM Lawson’s property, he said.
Cairns said they have been trying to develop the property since 2019 but have run into problems. The city admitted it gave FRM Lawson a land disturbance permit in 2019 before it received a final development plan. That was a mistake.
Cairns also said the group has been waiting for years for FEMA approval to fill in the site. It recently received that approval and hopes to move forward with developing the property according to the 2023 development plan.
Still, FRM Lawson officials said they hope to sell the property and have offered to sell it to the Old Frankfort Pike corridor group.
“If they want to buy it, it’s for sale,” said Lawson during Monday’s hearing.
