Neighbors tried to block the demolition of these Nicholasville Road houses. They failed.
Three property owners on Nicholasville Road have filed for demolition permits ahead of a Thursday Lexington council vote to approve a six-month moratorium on demolitions and zone changes designed to protect an area that has applied for an historic designation.
The applications mean those demolitions can move forward even if the Lexington council votes to approve the moratorium in the Pensacola Park neighborhood.
The property owners at 1733, 1737 and 1855 Nicholasville Road, who have filed for demolition permits, had previously asked to be excluded from the moratorium that was pushed by the Pensacola Park neighborhood.
The neighborhood has applied for an historic district designation — called an H-1 overlay. The six-month moratorium was designed to protect the neighborhood during the H-1 application process, which can take more than six months to complete.
T.L. Wise, who owns 1855 Nicholasville Road, said he has applied to demolish a detached garage of the rental home on that property.
“I plan to demolish the detached garage only,” Wise said. “It is very far from the house and not much use. If the H-1 overlay and moratorium is passed, I will not be allowed to demolish, and there will be more unnecessary government regulations on how I choose to utilize my private property.”
A lawyer for Arcadia Rentals LLC, which owns 1733 and 1737 Nicholasville Road, said the properties are zoned high-density residential.
“My client did not originally intend to request demolition permits at this time; however, it cannot stand by while significant barriers are erected to completing infill development, particularly on parcels already zoned for that purpose,” said Jacob Walbourn, a lawyer for Arcadia Rentals. “My client is hopeful that the council will reconsider inclusion of these High Density Apartment (R-4) parcels in the moratorium, but must also protect its property rights if the council fails to do so.”
Walbourn did not say if Arcadia Rentals plans on building apartments or town houses on the lots that currently have single-family homes.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted Feb. 7 to exempt the property owners on Nicholasville Road from the proposed moratorium area. But after Pensacola Park homeowners complained, the council reversed its vote at a Feb. 21 meeting. The Nicholasville Road properties are now in the moratorium area.
During the Feb. 21 meeting, Vice Mayor Steve Kay made a motion for the council to give final approval to the moratorium but that effort ultimately failed. A final vote is scheduled for Thursday.
Councilman Jake Gibbs, whose district includes the Pensacola Park neighborhood, said the council was originally going to take a final vote at the Feb. 7 council meeting on the moratorium. But because of all the changes, a final vote was delayed, allowing the Nicholasville Road property owners time to apply for the demolition permits.
“I’m not surprised but I’m sick over it,” Gibbs said. “The council should not have delayed on this. One of the lawyers for the properties who were arguing against the moratorium said it was superfluous or unnecessary. The fact that they filed for a demolition permit just demonstrates that it was necessary.“
Not every neighborhood who applied for a historic designation has asked for a moratorium while the application was pending. But at least four neighborhoods have asked for moratoriums and the council granted those without exempting any properties within the moratorium area, Gibbs said.
Susan Straub, a spokeswoman for the city, said before a property owner tears down a structure, the owner must notify adjacent homeowners, get the appropriate insurance and complete asbestos abatement if needed.
“Historic preservation has placed a 30-day hold to document the buildings,” Straub said of the properties at 1733 and 1737 Nicholasville Road. It’s not clear if there is a similar hold for the detached garage at 1855 Nicholasville Road.
Some members of the Pensacola Park neighborhood said the council’s delays have caused irreparable harm to the historic nature of their neighborhood and their quest to become an H-1 district.
“We managed to get the vote overturned, but when asked for a final vote that night by Vice Mayor Kay, Council members Jennifer Mossotti, Jennifer Reynolds, Fred Brown, Bill Farmer Jr, and Richard Moloney, declined for a final vote to happen, and now we have lost two additional homes and we believe there will be more to come,” said Jesse Voigt, who lives in the Pensacola Park neighborhood. “We are being told that even though the moratorium is going into its final reading, which will now be the fifth council meeting we have had about this, that they will still be able to get their demo applications finalized, which is a three-day turn around. To hear that has just been so disheartening.”
Some Nicholasville Road property owners have argued the properties along Nicholasville Road are different than those in other areas of the proposed H-1 overlay area. Those properties are on a major commercial corridor. The newly-passed Comprehensive Plan encourages more dense development along major corridors. But Voigt and others who live on Nicholasville Road have asked to be included in the moratorium area.
This story was originally published March 5, 2019 at 10:27 AM.
