Moratorium on demolition, zone changes proposed for part of Lexington’s Nicholasville Road
A proposed six-month moratorium on any demolitions or zone changes for the Pensacola Park area that includes a section of Nicholasville Road has homeowners in that area at odds.
The Pensacola Park neighborhood is in the process of applying to make Pensacola Park a historic neighborhood, sometimes called an H-1 overlay zone. Historic districts traditionally have stricter rules and guidelines designed to keep historic qualities intact.
As part of that process, many in the neighborhood asked the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council to approve a six-month moratorium on demolitions or zone changes in the area to ensure that property owners would not try to drastically alter properties before the completion of the H-1 overlay designation. The long process can take between six and nine months to complete.
Councilman Jake Gibbs, who represents the Pensacola Park neighborhood, told the council during its Thursday meeting that he had received more than 67 emails from neighbors who support the moratorium and only four who opposed it. That moratorium received its first reading at Thursday night’s meeting.
But two landowners whose properties are on Nicholasville Road told the council Thursday they did not support the moratorium and said they were not given notice it was being considered by the council.
“The people who oppose the moratorium were not notified,” said T.L. Wise, who owns a large parcel on Nicholasville Road included in the moratorium area. Wise said an adjacent property is now owned by an estate. He said he doesn’t know if the estate knows of the moratorium.
The properties included in the moratorium are 1733-1915 Nicholasville Road, the odd addresses. It also includes parts of Chesapeake Drive, Goodrich Avenue, Lackawanna Road, Norfolk Drive, Penmoken Park, Pensacola Drive, Rosemont Garden, Suburban Court and Wabash Avenue.
Julie Butcher said she owns property directly adjacent to the moratorium area on Nicholasville Road. The city has decided not to expand its growth boundary that determines where property can be developed. That means growth must focus on major corridors to increase density. Nicholasville Road is one of those major corridors, she said.
“This moratorium is a backdoor” around the push to increase density on the corridors, she said.
But the vast majority of people who spoke Thursday night were in favor of the moratorium. Neighborhood officials said they have knocked on hundreds of doors and held numerous meetings about the H-1 overlay zone. Moreover, they said Wise does not live on the property on Nicholasville Road. His tenants were notified, they said.
Butcher’s property is not located in the moratorium area, neighbors said.
Candace Wallace, who has helped spearhead efforts to get the historic designation, said the neighborhood received signatures from 270 of the more than 420 property owners. Supporters worked on the issue for more than four months. More than 100 people attended a meeting about the historic designation in early November, she said.
“This moratorium will help us preserve what’s already there,” Wallace said Thursday.
Others said the inclusion of the Nicholasville Road properties in the moratorium is important because those properties are in the neighborhood.
“I’m one property away from the corridor,” said Scott Hutson, who lives on Wabash.
Tracy Jones, a lawyer for the city, said the city is not required to give landowners notice of the moratorium. Notice will be given to all landowners affected once the historic overlay application is filed. It has not yet been filed.
City officials have also said similar six-month moratoriums have been used before, most recently in the Versailles Road corridor.
A contentious zone change, which was approved by the Urban County Planning Commission in December, to allow for the building of eight townhouses at 1847 Nicholasville Road prompted the neighborhood to discuss pursuing the historic neighborhood designation. That property is not included in the moratorium. If that zone change is approved by the Lexington council, the townhouses can still be built. The moratorium also does not prohibit homeowners from doing renovations to their homes.
Lexington Planning Director Jim Duncan told the council during a Tuesday work session that no applications for a zone change or demolition have been filed for the area in question.
The council will take a final vote on the proposed six-month moratorium at its Feb. 7 meeting. Council member Chuck Ellinger Jr. lives in the Pensacola Park neighborhood and has recused himself from that vote. The H-1 overlay or historic neighborhood designation must be approved by the Board of Architectural Review.
