Newly approved plan will bring more transparency to Lexington growth boundary talks
Almost three years after a contentious vote to expand Lexington’s urban service boundary, the city finally has a new process to help guide future decisions around when to expand.
On Feb. 12, the Lexington Urban County Council unanimously approved the Lexington Preservation and Growth Management Program, or LPGMP.
The LPGMP lays out a multi-step process that aims to give Lexington officials a more objective and data-driven approach as they decide whether Lexington needs to add new land for urban development.
The urban service boundary restricts development to the center of Fayette County, preventing further suburban sprawl and preserving rural land for agriculture, horse farms and green space.
Lexington’s council voted to expand the boundary in 2023, the first time since 1996 the boundary has been changed. The council hoped expansion would help address the city’s housing shortage — but whether the boundary is a factor in Lexington’s housing crisis is a hot debate.
The LPGMP is the first and only formal process the city has adopted to inform how expansions should be handled in the future.
Under the program, Lexington Division of Planning staff would calculate — using figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Kentucky State Data Center and residential building permits — how much land, if any, is needed for housing to meet Lexington’s expected 20-year population growth.
The planning commission and council would hear those projections every five years. If the data indicates Lexington needs new land for housing, the city council would kickstart the new process to add the identified number of acres and potentially remove land that has remained undeveloped despite having been inside the boundary.
The LPGMP also allows for developers to request an expansion to accommodate proposals for economic development projects that would add jobs to the city. 10 of the 15 council members would have to vote for any such expansions.
This story was originally published February 13, 2026 at 12:23 PM.
