Boone, Walker vie for council seat in Lexington’s massive 12th District
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Two lifelong Lexington residents are vying for the 12th District seat on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, a huge district representing much of Fayette County’s horse country.
Hilary “Hil” Boone IV and Chad Walker are the candidates running in the general election for the seat Kathy Plomin has held for four terms. She is not running for reelection.
The 12th District covers 70% of Fayette County’s land area and includes horse farms as well as suburban neighborhoods. Several of Lexington’s largest parks are included in the district, including Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, Veterans Park and Hisle Farm Park. It also includes Blue Grass Airport, Keeneland and the Kentucky Horse Park.
Both candidates have spent their lives in the 12th District and say they will make the preservation of Lexington’s farmland a top priority.
All Lexington council races are non-partisan.
Hil Boone
Boone, 32, describes himself as a farmer, business owner and entrepreneur who “was born and raised here in the 12th District.”
“I love Lexington,” he said. “This place means a lot to me.”
He and his wife Charlotte have two children, ages 3 and 2, and he said they are his inspiration for running for office. He said he wants them to be able to grow up seeing the same Lexington in which he grew up. But without careful planning, Boone said the city could lose what makes it unique.
“Our horse farms and our agricultural business have a huge economic impact,” he said.
He said the city is “not necessarily doing enough or fast enough” to make sure it doesn’t lose that.
“With the retirement of Kathy Plomin, the 12th District needs a firm commitment to stopping uncontrolled growth. You have my assurance that her legacy on this topic is a priority,” his website states.
Boone said he’ll bring fresh eyes and “new, innovative approaches for our growth processes.”
“I don’t think... there’s been a good open dialogue between all the stakeholders,” Boone said. “If we can get the builders and the farmers and the residents all with an open dialogue.”
“Without the communication ... it’s easier for them to say they need more land,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like a whole lot of cooperation.”
He said streamlining the building process is also something that needs to be addressed.
“It takes too long and it’s too expensive,” he said.
On the affordable housing front, Boone said people often use the term to mean government-assisted housing.
“I think we need that,” he said. “We also need housing that’s affordable” for people like young college graduates.
“It’s a tricky thing,” he said. “You can’t officially build affordable housing. It’s too expensive. How do we redevelop some properties for that specific use?”
He said streamlining the building process could “lower the cost of housing that’s affordable.” He also said it’s important to make sure the money the city has earmarked for affordable housing “is going to the right projects.”
Boone said he opposes industrial solar farms in Fayette County’s rural areas.
“I don’t see the benefit of this private company coming in from out of state to try to change our zoning laws,” he said. “That doesn’t sit well with me.”
While “solar is not a bad idea,” he said, “rooftops and already built-out places” should be used.
“On new construction, I think it should be intertwined,” he said. “Anything helps there, but taking up our prime soils and farmland does not make a lot of sense to me.”
What does make sense to him is having short-term rentals hosted in rural areas.
“Agritourism has taken off here lately,” he said. “We definitely need to support that and help promote it in a reasonable, safe fashion for everybody.”
He said he thinks the proposed changes to the city’s regulations for short-term rentals are “going to help kind of keep some of the bad players out of it.”
“We’ve got to have some sort of control on how many are out there,” he said.
On the issue of gun violence, Boone said his take is that “gun violence is going to be everywhere. We’ve got to make sure that our policemen are adequately equipped and there’s enough of them.
“It’s going to happen no matter what. It’s how can we monitor it? A lot of it comes back to gangs and drugs and these kind of things.”
While privacy is a concern with cameras like the city’s Flock system, Boone said he supports their use “as long as it’s used properly and in the right locations.”
“If it’s going to help catch a criminal, I think it’s doing its job as long as that’s what it’s used for,” he said.
Boone holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Louisiana State University.
He owns Boonedogs Restaurant and Bar and Wimbledon Farm, which was founded by his grandfather, Hilary J. Boone Jr., a horseman and philanthropist for whom a faculty club and tennis center at the University of Kentucky were named.
Boone said one of his biggest assets is that he’s “not part of the status quo.”
“I’m not necessarily a polished politician,” he said, “but I care.”
Chad Walker
Walker, 50, is a real estate developer focused on infill and redevelopment.
He’s been a licensed real estate broker for 24 years and has two farms in the city’s Purchase of Development Rights program. One of those farms is used by the non-profit organization SeedLeaf.
Walker is no stranger to the workings of Lexington’s real estate regulatory machine.
Besides developing properties such as the Warehouse Block, he was appointed by former Mayor Jim Gray to the Vacant Property Review Commission and currently serves as chair. He’s a member of the Board of Adjustments appointed by Mayor Linda Gorton.
He said he’s interested in serving on the city council because “I love Lexington,” and, he said, “I feel like I’ve accrued a certain amount of knowledge. ...I want to give back.”
Preserving farmland, streamlining the process for redeveloping properties and partnering with cities in neighboring counties are his top priorities.
Walker said he opposed the airport expansion plan at Bluegrass Station that was quickly shut down after public outcry earlier this year, and he said he opposes the idea of industrial solar farming in rural Fayette County.
“It seems like bad utilization,” he said recently. “At least consider it for housing.”
But, he added, “I’m always going to default to preservation.”
Walker said “There’s a level of development and housing that could and should occur,” but his district’s rural areas are “under fire.”
“The farmlands are being threatened,” he said. “Quit chipping away at it.”
“Overall, Lexington needs to decide where it’s going to go and what it’s going to be,” Walker said. “It’s going to be some hard conversations of really outlining where the city’s going to go for the next 10 years.”
Walker said the lack of affordable housing in Lexington “is just pushing everybody out,” and it’s easier to build new than to do infill and redevelopment.
“Red tape” is a problem, he said, and if the city wants more affordable housing, he said, “We’ve got to streamline it a little bit.”
Walker said he’s interested in transportation issues, too.
He said connectivity between Lexington and surrounding communities could be better, and public transportation is underused.
With affordable housing increasingly difficult to find in Fayette County, Walker said the city could consider public transportation to other communities a means of aiding that.
“We can only do so much infill,” he said.
When it comes to public safety, Walker said he was disappointed in the city’s response to the recent shooting at El Cid, where six people were shot.
Walker, who owns the property, said he feels communication and support from City Hall when violent events occur could be much improved.
“I think that’s massively lacking,” he said. “Nobody came out to say, ‘Hey, man, I’ve got you.’
“If something happens gun violence-wise, I’m going to go there the next day,” he said.
Walker said he sees the need for cameras like the city’s Flock system, but he isn’t sure he would support the system’s expansion.
“I see the need for it, but I’m always a little twitchy when it comes to public cameras,” he said. “I would just, personally, want to know how it’s utilized and where the information’s actually going.”
Walker recently served on the committee led by council members James Brown and Liz Sheehan that proposed changes to the city’s regulations for short-term rental properties.
What was proposed “ended up being massively altered,” he said. “It just keeps getting forced through. ...There’s no continuity.”
He said he’d like to see a balanced approach.
“There’ll have to compromise on either side,” he said..
He said the city could put a moratorium on new rentals, and the same could also be done with the urban service boundary, university expansion and other growth issues.
“I’d like to see the dust settle for a little bit,” Walker said. “Let’s hit the brakes and do some intensive conversations with public input.”
Walker, who is a former president of Main Street Winchester, also owns a Winchester restaurant, the Engine House Pub and Pizza Parlour, with his wife Jill. He said she worked there during her high school days, and the couple bought it in 2020 as a preservation project. He said the restaurant is inside the city’s original firehouse.
Walker said he’s “very accessible” and if elected hopes to “step up our communication for the 12th District” with regular newsletters and a weekly podcast.
“I really want to unify the 12th District,” he said.
This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
