# Planning Commission Public Hearing WINBURN SMALL AREA PLAN - June 30, 2016 > Auto-transcribed civic record · June 30, 2016 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/4016 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/4016?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2016-06-30 - **Last revised**: July 15, 2026 - **Length**: 14,865 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Urban County Planning Commission met on June 30, 2016, at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber on the 2nd Floor of the LFUCG Government Center, located at 200 East Main Street in Lexington, Kentucky. Mike Owens presided over the meeting, which included three agenda items and resulted in one vote. The commission heard eight public comments during the meeting. The primary action taken was the approval of the Winburn Russell Cave Small Area Plan, which was the substantive focus of the session. ## Attendance The following 22 individuals were present at the meeting on June 30, 2016: - Mike Owens - Will Berkley - Mike Cravens - David Drake - Carolyn Plumlee - Carolyn Richardson - Frank Penn - Bill Wilson - Joe Smith - Karen Mundy - Patrick Brewer - James Duncan - Christopher Woodall - Bill Sallee - Chris Taylor - Megan Jennings - Denice Bullock - Brandi Peacher - Janice Westlund - Barbara Rackers - Tracy Jones - Andrea Brown No absences or late arrivals were recorded. ## Votes and Decisions **Adopt the Winburn Small Area Plan as an element of the 2013 Comprehensive Plan** [timestamp: 1:46:55] The body voted to adopt the Winburn Small Area Plan as an element of the 2013 Comprehensive Plan. The motion was made by Frank Penn and seconded by Joe Smith. The motion passed by voice vote. Eleven members voted in favor: - Mike Owens - Will Berkley - Mike Cravens - David Drake - Carolyn Plumlee - Carolyn Richardson - Frank Penn - Bill Wilson - Joe Smith - Karen Mundy - Patrick Brewer One member abstained from the vote. No members voted against the motion. ## Public Comment Eight speakers addressed the Commission during the public comment period, presenting perspectives on the proposed Citation Boulevard extension and its impacts on the UK Ecological Research and Educational Center (EREC) and the Winburn neighborhood. **EREC Preservation Concerns** Dave Westneat [timestamp: 1:00:28] expressed concern that the proposed road through EREC would destroy the field station and hinder community engagement and research activities. Megan Seifert [timestamp: 1:05:10] highlighted the educational and community outreach programs at EREC, including youth research and citizen science initiatives, and urged the Commission to consider alternatives to preserve the field station. James Shaffer [timestamp: 1:16:02] argued that compromising EREC would be an injustice to future generations and urged the Commission to uphold the land ethic by preserving the ecological and educational integrity of the site. Dr. James Wagner [timestamp: 1:27:01] warned that cutting through EREC would destroy a vital research and education facility and disrupt long-standing academic collaborations. **Winburn Connectivity and Community Needs** Richard Gaines [timestamp: 1:11:11] stressed the urgent need for full connectivity via Citation Boulevard to address inhumane conditions in the neighborhood and warned against displacing residents during redevelopment. Lewis Brown [timestamp: 1:28:04] emphasized that the neighborhood needs full connectivity now, not a temporary solution, and urged the Commission to act decisively to secure the future of the community. **Additional Perspectives** Amy Clark [timestamp: 1:19:56] called for the plan to include printer-friendly versions and sufficient affordability guidelines, and urged the Commission to ensure the plan provides clear direction for development decisions. Tom Harris [timestamp: 1:25:24], representing UK administration, affirmed support for the plan and the extension of Citation Boulevard, while emphasizing the need for safe access to the research station during construction. ## Appointments Christopher Woodall was appointed to the Division of Planning. ## Contested Items **Citation Boulevard Alignment Through EREC** A significant disagreement emerged regarding the proposed alignment of Citation Boulevard through the Ecological Research and Educational Center (EREC). University faculty and staff opposed the proposed route, arguing that it would destroy a vital research and community engagement facility. They expressed concern about the loss of this important institutional resource. In contrast, neighborhood advocates insisted that full connectivity along Citation Boulevard was essential for public safety and equity in the community. They prioritized the need for complete street access and connectivity to serve residents' transportation and safety needs. This dispute reflected a fundamental tension between preserving an existing educational and research facility and achieving broader community connectivity goals through infrastructure development. ## Introduction [timestamp: 00:05:37] The meeting opened with Chair Mike Owens introducing Christopher Woodall, the new Long Range Planning Manager. Woodall addressed the group and commended the community's engagement with the Winburn Small Area Plan, emphasizing its significance for neighborhood revitalization efforts. The introduction was informational in nature, serving to present the new staff member and highlight the importance of ongoing community participation in the planning process. No concerns were raised during this segment, and the outcome was to inform attendees of Woodall's role and the value placed on community involvement in the Winburn Small Area Plan initiative. ## Winburn Russell Cave Small Area Plan Chris Taylor and EHI Consultants presented the Winburn Small Area Plan to the council [timestamp: 0:07:44]. The presentation emphasized three core themes: connectivity, public input, and specific recommendations for infrastructure, housing, and park improvements in the area. A key infrastructure recommendation involved extending Citation Boulevard to Russell Cave Road. This extension was presented as a means to improve access and safety for the community. The plan incorporated public input gathered during the planning process and addressed multiple aspects of community development, including housing options and park enhancements alongside the proposed transportation improvements. Key speakers during the discussion included Chris Taylor, Rachel Phillips, and Ed Holmes. The Winburn Russell Cave Small Area Plan was approved by the council. ## Public Comment During the public comment period, residents and university representatives expressed strong support for improved connectivity while raising significant concerns about the proposed route of Citation Boulevard through the UK Ecological Research and Educational Center (EREC). **Speakers and Positions** The following individuals provided comments: Dave Westneat, Megan Seifert, Richard Gaines, James Shaffer, Amy Clark, Tom Harris, Dr. James Wagner, and Lewis Brown. **Key Concerns** Commenters argued that the proposed Citation Boulevard route would destroy the field station at EREC and hinder community engagement efforts. The ecological research center's role in the community was emphasized as a reason to reconsider the planned routing. **Outcome** This agenda item was informational in nature, with no formal action taken. The public comments were received and noted for consideration in ongoing discussions about the connectivity project and Citation Boulevard routing. [timestamp: 1:00:28] --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed: Adopt the Winburn Small Area Plan as an element of the 2013 Comprehensive Plan --- ## Full transcript And we just feel like that we never were given solid answers. You know, it's don't enable or, you know, they have to hit a bottom and, you know, it's, that's what's hard. If we just, we, I mean, my mom and I were just talking about this the other day, you know, how we all still, you know think what you know what if we had done this or you know what more could we have done and I don't know that that's ever going to go away Ultimately, and you're not going to hear this a whole lot, but the legal system saved me, and I have been to prison, and I've been every bad place a man can go. and my last run I was locked up and I was looking at a lot of time and I accepted that at the same time I knew it was over for the first time kind of a moment of clarity and through the process the legal system at this point in my life I had no family there and I had a public defender and the public defender was a really strong advocate for me for whatever reason. And I had a pre-sentence investigation and I was just openly and honest. I'd never been honest before. And the clinician at the time actually prayed with me and appreciated my honesty. Probably doesn't hear it a whole lot. And I go into the court and my PSI was... Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. The End Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome. We, being the fifth Thursday, this is normally a work session for us, We are going to start it with a public hearing to have the small area plan for Windburn, or officially the Windburn small area plan introduced to us. And so, you know, we'll get started with that. I would like to welcome everyone here. we'll go through the presentations, have any questions by the commission, and open it up for any public discussion, public comment section after that. So to begin, I'd like to welcome Chris Woodall, our newest member in planning, long-range planning. I believe a formal introduction will come later, but Chris, good afternoon. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission, it's a pleasure to speak with you today for the first of what I'm sure will be many times over the years. As you said, my name is Chris Woodall. I'm the new Long Range Planning Manager, a role which I've occupied now for going on about three weeks and it's an opportunity that I was happy to accept. One of the first items across my desk was the Windburn Russell Cave small area plan that was in the final stages of completion. This is a plan that was recommended as part of the 2013 comprehensive plan and explores the diverse area between Newtown Pike, Russell Cave, north of New Circle Road and south of the interstate. I recently had an opportunity to visit the site and within minutes was approached by a neighbor who was pleased the Division of Planning was taking an interest in her neighborhood. She told me that ever since she she'd lived there ever since Windburn was a dirt road, had many family members that live there. I was particularly interested in the nearby parks as she had grandkids that played there regularly. This brief interaction was affirmation for me that the community is interested and invested in their neighborhoods and put in perspective for me the value of these small area plans. I was pleased to be able to put an extra set of eyes on this plan throughout the past couple of weeks, but the majority of the heavy lifting has been done by the project manager Chris Taylor and the consultant team led by EHI consultants. They, along with the community, did an excellent job highlighting the opportunities and issues that affect this diverse area and have put forth a document which sets the framework for future neighborhood revitalization. At this point, I'd like to turn it over to Chris Taylor, senior planner who will go into detail about the public participation process. Thanks. It's good to see you guys again. I haven't been before you guys for a while, so thanks for having us today. This small area plan started back in November. We had our first steering committee meeting after getting with a number of constituents and folks in the area that, through Council Member James Brown's office, folks that they thought would be good to pull together a good cross-section of individuals. They pulled together some developer interests from the Rosenstein development, which is Newtown Springs, UK, Lexmark, Community Action Council, churches in the area. And we held about three or four steering committee meetings throughout this process. We started our public meetings with a sort of a party, so to speak, at the UK Field Research Station on Russell Cave. They let us use their facility. A lot of the neighbors, people coming there had never been to the facility before. I think we're excited to see what sort of work went on there. We had two neighborhood meetings where we broke the four big neighborhoods into two separate groups to get their specific issues over the time throughout the plan. then going back to them a second time to make some recommendations to them, talk to them about some ideas, and as well as had two other full public input meetings where we brought all the neighborhoods back together to discuss plan recommendations. The Winburn Middle School was great in hosting a number of those meetings for us in their library facilities after hours. We held a number of stakeholder meetings with, again, the very interested groups in the neighborhood. We had a meeting with the Rosenstein Development about the issues that they felt were unique to holding up development in their area. Issues mostly related to the completion of Citation Boulevard. We met twice with the University of Kentucky going over their long-range plans for their property, making sure that we were including what their plans for the property might be in the future. Same with Lexmark. Lexmark was tricky because they were in the middle of a lot of negotiations related to their future. we've got sort of two options in the plan related to the Lexmark property but they also, it is sensitive to their desires and their wishes in the plan for how they might want to develop in the future we met with Community Action Council who has a number of concerns in the Winburn area related to programming at their facility they have a shell building that they are in the process of trying to figure out how to program they wanted the small area plan to sort of inform their process for how they would utilize and spend money, depending upon what recommendations we were making in the plan. We also met with the Wesley United Methodist Church and their trustees. We met with them twice. They have an integral piece of property in this small area plan, as you'll see in a little bit. They've got a piece of property that, should they develop a portion of, will provide a connection of McCullough Drive from Winburn into Brookfield Chase that will provide vehicular access to the park. We'll put a lot of eyeballs on the park. We'll increase the safety around it. It's a very short section of road that they were interested in doing something, housing for senior housing on their property, something that could help them maintain their church property going forward, give them a source of income, and would also improve the neighborhood. So we've got some recommendations and some details about that that Rachel will be going over. But overall, we held about a dozen to 15 meetings with neighborhoods, steering committees, and the stakeholders on this study area. I'm going to turn the meeting over to Rachel Phillips with EHI, and she's going to go over the plan details with you guys. Obviously, I'm not Rachel. I'm Ed Holmes with the H.I. consultants, and Rachel will go into the details of the plan, but I want to give you some information on the purpose of the plan, and if we could pull it up. Why do we have small area plans, and the reason we do area plans are critical and important to the planning process. And when we look at the Windburn-Russell Cave neighborhood small area plan, it's addressing needs of housing, redevelopment, recreation, safety, those types of things. And this one posed some unique challenges considered to the past plans that we have done. And the critical thing, and you'll see it as Rachel goes through the processes, was connectivity. Anyone that's been into the Windburn neighborhood knows there's one way in and one way out. And that creates some safety issues, public safety concerns, and mobility and connectivity. So connectivity really drove the planning process. So with that, we put together a team of Lord X Sargent, Stan Harvey, and his staff, and Parson Brinkerhouse PB, their transportation experts. So we brought together a design, transportation, and planning team to address those issues. and a lot of it is driven by what we view as the connectivity piece. How do we extend Citation Boulevard to make some connection to that? There have been major issues when the road is closed at Windburn where there's been, I think, a fatality has occurred. You've got a school back there, and for whatever reason, there was no connectivity out of that Windburn neighborhood. Now, I like to call it this about social equity. How do we make this neighborhood as planned and connected as any other neighborhood in this community? We tend to spend lots of dollars for a lot of things, and I'm sure priorities are a big issue. But it's important to this neighborhood that we don't plan neighborhoods in the future that aren't connected, whether it's through a variety of internal and external. So the critical piece of this plan, as you'll see it, will be Citation Boulevard and an extension of Citation to Russell Cave. And that will then allow that neighborhood from Hollow Creek to Green Acres to Windburn and Brookfield Chase, all of them to be connected internally and also provide a major spying through Citation Boulevard that allows everyone to get out. If you don't have that connected, then you literally have to come down to Russell Cave, get on New Circle Road, go all the way around to get on Newtown Pike just to get connected to that side of town. And it's not good planning, and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to address that in this plan. And you'll see it as Rachel goes through the details of the presentation. Now we'll have Rachel. Good afternoon, Planning Commission. It's a pleasure to be here to present the Windburn and Russell Cave neighborhood small area plan. I'll walk through some of the details. Can you hear me? Is this good? Okay. So why are we looking at this particular area? Why are we involved in a planning process? Really, it's about guiding both public and private investment for the future, looking at ways for opportunities for infill and redevelopment and how to improve overall neighborhood livability and revitalize the neighborhoods within the small area plan. And how we did that was involving community stakeholders and residents that live in those neighborhoods, as well as understanding the context and the existing conditions from mobility issues to land use to social and economic issues. So all of those play a part in the planning principles that we developed as well as the recommendations that we are putting forth today. The small area plan is a diverse area. Mr. Woodall explained where this is located. It's on the south side of 75, the Interstate 7564. It is bound by Russell Cave to the east. It would bound by Newtown Pike to the east and New Circle Road to the south. It includes a mixture of developments, subdivisions, neighborhoods that were constructed from the late 60s into the 70s. So you have Winburn neighborhood, which is a mixture of different densities from single family to apartment buildings. It has a park, Winburn Park or Martin Luther King Park, and Winburn Middle School is also located in that neighborhood, as well as a few commercial nodes kind of scattered within. The Green Acres and Hollow Creek neighborhoods were also built in that time frame in the 60s into the 70s. And then we also have some newer neighborhoods, Brookfield Chase and Newtown Springs that started construction in the mid-2000s, 2008-2009 time frame. So you have some different types of development patterns. And some of the older neighborhoods have just those patterns of disconnect with cul-de-sacs and just the way that they developed over time. We did not include the Griffin Gate neighborhood. This neighborhood is located in the small area boundary, but we did not include it in our study. It doesn't have the same characteristics. It's kind of a self-contained, sustainable neighborhood. So we wanted to spend our focus and time on the neighborhoods that were in need of revitalization and connectivity. So just some general socioeconomic. As you know, this is a large plan. We have 122 pages of information. I'm giving you the broad strokes, the overview today. Just a little bit of the characteristics. We're talking about one census tract that involves those four neighborhoods. It is a largely minority neighborhood. It has a large Latino. A third of the population is Latino, as well as somewhat of a higher rental, lower homeownership, ownership, lower household income, and lower home values in general, and you have a lower educational attainment. So there's some challenges as far as socioeconomic conditions within the neighborhood, and that was really, as Ed mentioned, it is a lot of what we're presenting as a matter of social equity and making sure that as decisions and dollars are spent that these neighborhoods are included as well. So the primary issue is connectivity. The purple areas show where streets are either cul-de-sac or dead-end. This large area is the Windburn neighborhood. This is the neighborhood that has one entrance for about 1,500 residents, for a middle school that is 600 students and a public park. So at any point, if that entrance is cut off for any reason, you do have a serious public safety situation. And actually, during the planning process, there was a wreck that closed that entrance as we were going through the planning process, and the principal had to give 200 tardies for students that couldn't make it to school on time. So there is a serious and real issue with that entrance. You also have Brookfield Chase that has one entrance, one way in and one way out as well, which is the neighborhood that's in the middle. It's on the backside of Martin Luther King Park. This is the Green Acres subdivision and neighborhood, Green Acres, and then Hollow Creek. You do have two entrances, and then you have Newtown Springs, which is a subdivision that's developing off of Newtown Pike. Now, these do not connect. So the entrance for Newtown Springs, there's two entrances, and that is off of Newtown Pike. Just some examples of some of the streets that have dead ends. The Citation Boulevard at its current terminus is at Silver Springs, if you're familiar with Citation Boulevard. In the general area of Lexington, it runs from Alexandria Drive to this current dead end within the Newtown Springs development. Just a side note, Citation Boulevard has been, was the planning phase or the planning study began in 1996. It also included this to go all the way to Russell Cave. So over the years, all the phases have been constructed except for this last phase. And that was through the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet process. We also have Ward Drive that dead ends, doesn't quite make it to Russell Cave. You have Asbury Lane, which is part of the Green Acres, and that could be a future connection once Citation is constructed, as well as McCullough Drive. I was talking about land use and zoning. Primarily, the area actually has quite a bit of agricultural zoned land, not necessarily used for agricultural purposes. It's actually a lot of public use that's zoned for agriculture. So you have Martin Luther King Park, which is the large track located. This is the park, and then you have the school. They're side-by-side, and they're zoned for agriculture. You have the ERIC Facility, which is the Ecological Research and Educational Center, owned by UK. It's also a large track, and it is public use for research. We also have the Northside Library, located in this area. as well as a few churches. This is Shady Brook Park, which is part of the Lexmark property. Other land uses include Lexmark as light industrial, commercial along Newtown Pike, as well as New Circle Road. So we looked at the potential for infill redevelopment for areas that have, for instance, with Newtown Springs and with Brookfield Chase, they are residential areas that started to develop. They are not quite finished. We also looked at areas that the large track on Ward Drive, which if it is redeveloped, it would have the potential to extend Ward Drive all the way to Russell Cave. And then, as Chris mentioned, looking at a couple of options for Lexmark if that were to ever redevelop, as well as the UK property. Parks and Recreation. There are three parks, two public, one private, the Windburn MLK Park, which is located in the Windburn neighborhood. Lots of issues with just how people feel about the park and spending time in the park, having it to be accessible, having more eyes on the park, looking at lighting, security, public safety. Shady Brook Park is a Lex Marks Park. And then Green Acres, which is an established neighborhood park located in the Green Acres off of LaSalle Road. So we looked at seven principles for the planning recommendations. Number one, key connectivity. Number two was increasing mobility and accessibility for residents. and that would be access to jobs, access to facilities, services, social services, medical services, things of that nature. Promoting home ownership, looking at providing a mix of housing types where you can provide different affordability levels. We do encourage market development. We also want to look at encouraging the preservation of affordable housing units within the area. Also making sure that any infill development is sensitive to the adjacent neighborhoods, that there are provisions for incorporating and integrating into the existing fabric of the area. Improving the parks, trying to not only connect residents and the neighborhoods, but connect the parks. You have three opportunities there to make those connections. And then also improving public safety within public spaces. So when we look at road networks, again, the primary consideration is extending that Citation Boulevard from Silver Springs to Russell Cave. and also extending, part of that would be extending Windburn Drive and then making local connections. This is McCullough. How do you connect that and then create a street that goes along the park, which would allow for future development and more eyes on the park and more access to the park. And then looking at the Lexmark, and if that were to develop, how you would carry Nandino over and new collectors within this area. Just some kind of pragmatic concerns of access and safety. We looked at that. There's the issue of providing an access point on to Russell Cave at the Ward Drive areas. We looked at different ways to make that a safe intersection. Of course, any intersections or any access points on any of these roads will require KYTC approval as development occurs. Citation Boulevard, this is a representation of the cross section that will be built, but this is a representation that we would like to see. It allows for bicycle and pedestrian facilities as well as streetscape. It's more of the complete street type of profile, which is something that we encourage as planners and would like to see for Citation Boulevard. Citation Boulevard would be extending the collector, so there would be some limited access to the roadway itself. And this is actually, we worked with the neighborhood residents on basically how to build a right-of-way, build Citation Boulevard, and this is kind of a compilation of what people would like to see for that roadway. so as we talked about citation boulevard and extending that there's been a lot of discussion throughout the process and one one concern that we heard throughout was phasing of the of the of the roadway and how it might impact because if if you don't build it all the way then you could have the possibility of opening up collector traffic through local roads which is something we would not encourage. So we don't want Asbury Drive to be Citation Boulevard, nor do we want Burgess Avenue to be Citation Boulevard. We want Citation Boulevard to be Citation Boulevard. So this is something we outlined in the plan. Phase one would connect the existing where it ends currently to Winburn Drive. The right-of-way for this section has already been set aside. LFUCG owns this right-of-way. It would be a matter of having funds to construct the roadway. This would also allow for a second outlet for Winburn residents and for the school, as well as for opening up the ability to have more park access. So that would be our kind of critical first connection if nothing else happened. Phase two would be carrying it all the way to Russell Cave, and we're talking about carrying it to Russell Cave at the intersection of Radcliffe Drive, which would be between the ERIC facility and Northside Library. This is an alignment that is very similar to KYTC in that 1996 study that was originally addressed the Citation Boulevard. This would also, in this phase, would allow for other connections to be made. So it will impact the UK. A, this is a representation of the property, number five. It would come along the north side of the property and come out at that intersection. It would sever the building from the research grounds. But we're hoping that the grounds themselves would still be able to be used. It would require right-of-way to be acquired through the UK. That's kind of the major piece in the puzzle is this large tract of land that would require the right-of-way. And then it would also require funding for not only acquisition but for construction as well. So we do not have right-of-way set aside for this. Phase three would then start making those other connections. So you could actually at that point open up Asbury as well as if McCullough, hopefully McCullough could be extended as future development in Brookfield Chase and the Wesley Church property occurs. This would also provide a much needed bicycle and pedestrian network. networks so one thing I'm not sure I mentioned Legacy Trail runs along Newtown and through the Lexmark property the Legacy Trail and so this would open up a new trail that we connect you could connect the park through a series of trails down Citation Boulevard have some internal bicycle connections from Green Acres as well as the Shady Brook, which already has the Legacy Trail. So there's an opportunity to connect residents to the Legacy Trail as well as to connect the parks. Again, looking at park improvements, safety issues for MLK Park. Also, a need for football parks was a major concern for residents, is having the ability to be able to host their own football league within their neighborhood, and it would also open up looking at providing park access through that new road. There's already a lot of things planned for this park, and we just recognize that the Parks and Rec Department is providing some new planned facilities. Green Acres Park, some updated facilities for the basketball courts. Residents would like to see some more types of recreation. And then for the Shady Brook Park, when we asked residents, a lot of them, they didn't realize that Lexmark, that there was a park there and that at some point in the future that there would be access to that park. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in the Lexmark discussion. That was primarily the mobility issues, which is, again, probably the main issue for the small area plan, looking at connectivity. Speak about the land use recommendations. So as a lot of these connections can be made through public infrastructure investment, we would also like to see the ability for private investment to occur in the area. and start to make those connections as well. As I said, one of our primary principles was looking at infill but also making sure that that development is sensitive to those existing neighborhoods and providing provisions for site planning, design elements, and how you transition from different types of development, single family, to duplexes, triplexes, to apartments. So allowing for a range of those uses to occur, but to do it in an appropriate and well-designed way. And that we put forth the residential design guidelines that would be required for residential development to occur and would be reviewed and would have to comply with those design guidelines at the time of the zone change. And it would also be used in conjunction with other development standards. Design framework, we looked at eight different sites. So the yellow represents residential and allowing for a multitude of uses as long as they complied with the residential guidelines. The U.K. property, we are recommending that it stay basically the use that it is, but we did provide an alternative if the property were ever to leave U.K.'s ownership. If it was a private developer, we did provide some land use recommendations for that. And then looked at Newtown Springs, the commercial area, and Lex Mart. And then design alternatives, which is basically the Lexmark. So we're looking at providing mixed use as well as green space along a new collector, which would be this roadway here. So there's the two options. Basically, you have this option has more green space, and then option two has more residential. So in this case, this is part of Shady Brook Park, an existing park that that would remain, and then that would buffer the Hollow Creek area, and then you would have residential in the fronting Newtown Pike, as well as providing some mixed-use development. And that kind of transitions into this commercial area here. The UK property, again, we are recommending that no change as far as the use. We are supporting the Citation Boulevard that would impact the property. Again, looking at any future alternative uses would reflect residential with interconnections. that would of course be at the for the property owner to make that decision if they were ever to transfer the property i want to talk a little bit about the residential design guidelines this would the residential design guidelines were established to be used at the time of the rezoning and would impact all residential development so that would include from apartments to the single family. Looking at site planning, there's 17 design principles, and it really talks more about how it is integrated in the existing neighborhoods, promotes walkability, looking at internal circulation, how the buildings are oriented, incorporating green design features, as well as accessory types of uses. Again, those are 17 design principles, and they are outlined in the design guidelines are actually located in the appendix of the plan. Open space, so wanted to make sure that there was guidance on how open space is incorporated into these developments, that it's not just a 10% set-aside, but it's actually design, it's well thought out, it serves a purpose. and that it encourages a sense of community and social interaction. Architectural standards or architectural design, looking at providing interest as far as design aesthetics and visual interest, character. Also looking at incorporating environmental sustainable features and just ensuring that design is a main principle for future development within this small area plan. And there's nine design principles that are outlined in the plan. The plan itself does talk about other plan elements. I'll talk briefly about that. Housing, we have a chapter dedicated to housing and looking at different kind of funding mechanisms and strategies for preserving affordable housing stock, encouraging home ownership. We are encouraging a variety of housing. For instance, for long-time residents that live in the neighborhood, we would like to see if there's ability to have senior housing that they could transition into the neighborhood. or if there's an ability to age in place, that there's funding and assistance for seniors in adapting their homes and things of that nature. Public safety, maximizing visibility within the public spaces, the streetscape, the streets and the parks are probably the main consideration for public safety, as well as improving the relationship with the police, looking at community policing and things like that. Sense of place, looking at placemaking strategies where neighborhoods, a lot of these could be neighborhood driven, where they can look at providing banners and things like that, neighborhood celebrations, and ways to get the neighborhoods involved and strengthening the existing neighborhood relationships. Also, healthy foods was also looked at providing, maybe the major component here is providing that connection from Russell Cave to Newtown where the existing commercial would support that to be actually developed and that there might be an option for a future food shopping opportunity located at that location. And then implementation is an element that looks at these recommendations and puts together how those can be accomplished within the future. That's a lot of information, and thank you for letting me present to you, and I will open it up for any questions you all might have. Thank you, Rachel. Questions with what she covered as far as, yes? Where are these design guidelines? Are they in this? Appendix 10, or Chapter 10, Appendix, starts on page 109. Okay, I didn't go back far enough. It's the very end, yeah. Will, did you have something? Yes. The funding for citation, I just was looking at the KYTC six-year plan, and I don't see it on there, but I do see where they earmarked LPA money for each year. Where does that stand? So a portion, there has been some money set aside for design. There's not been money set aside for funding the road construction for that first section. Basically, you would just need the money to construct. Carrying it all the way out to Russell Cave would require construction as well as acquisition. You'd have to acquire money to acquire the property. Right now, in the six-year plan, it's pretty low priority, and we're hoping that this planning process will elevate that. for funding to start to become a priority for this project. So it would require future funding. And one of the recommendations is that having a coalition, a group of residents and stakeholders to be the project champion for this, to kind of carry it and be the, you know, it has to go through the process of getting on the elevated into a higher priority in the plan and then getting funding. And that's what we're hoping that this plan will also help that. Ms. Plumlee? Thank you. Did the residents feel that increased bus routes would improve their transportation situation? Yes, and that is a consideration that that could provide some crosstown connections. Right now, there are three routes in the area, so that would help in public transportation. Mrs. Mundy. Something I always wrestle with, even in my profession, and that is affordable housing. What is your baseline for that area for affordable housing? We didn't go into, I guess, affordable price points. You have different, of course, different definitions of affordability based on if you're getting assistance through HUD and through the housing authority. We didn't go specifically into those different price stratas. Okay. Because I always struggle with that in all these presentations, whether it be there or when we did the one on Versailles Road or wherever. The term affordable housing is used a lot. And I never know, I mean, because every area has a different price, a base point. Right. And so I always wrestle with that of how you come up with affordable housing. Well, I will say this. You have areas where there's very low income and very low, so the affordability is lower. I mean, that's why you have some of the lower housing values is because it's affordable for people that are low income. We would encourage that those, when we say preservation of affordable housing units, is that people, what we don't, we want to encourage market housing or market priced housing, but we also don't want to displace existing residents. So there is a balance. It's not necessarily determined by this plan or in this plan what those prices will be. I mean it's going to be open as far as the market the developer will present the housing type that he or she thinks will sell in that area what we want to make sure is that providing a mix of housing allows for a variety of affordability so if you have someone that's making $100,000 or wants to buy a $100,000 house they might have an opportunity, or if you have $150,000 or $200,000, that there's a variety, that it just doesn't serve one type or one product, that it provides a variety. So it would be a mixture, a mixed income and a mixture of housing types. But it's not specifically calling out what those are and what the price points are. Thank you. Mr. Penn. Can you all put up the map on 59 that shows the citation connection? There you go. This one? Yes. If you come off Newtown Pike and come down to that first intersection where you go across toward Winburn Middle School, do you have the – We're here? Well, yeah, let's bring that line back to citation. And then right there, that corner where citation picks up right there, is the easement access available to that point? So wouldn't it stand to believe that sooner or later than later, if you could make that connection, you would give Winburn another way out? Yes, and that's why we say that's phase one. That's the easiest one because the right-of-way setup, It serves the purpose of providing a critical second connection. And, I mean, it still requires funding for the road construction, but the right-of-way is there. So it's a matter of getting the money to build it. The reason I'm asking that is that I think the access to food is a very important part. And when you think about the reason we don't have groceries on Citation at Georgetown Road or wherever you want to talk about it is because there's not enough houses and not enough rooftops. Right, right. And if you could make that connection, you would put a lot of rooftops that are already there in that mix. And so it looks to me like that I know that's phase one. I appreciate it being phase one, but I'd like to look at it from the standpoint that not only would it help Winburn, but it would help the people from Georgetown Road all the way there. Right, and we would like to see phase one and phase two to construct at the same time. I mean, we call out the different phases because the first part is there's the right-of-way. We met with Rosenstein Development, who's the property owner and developer for Newtown Springs. The phase two connection all the way to Russell Cave is critical because of the number of rooftops in the Radcliffe-Marlboro neighborhood that currently can't get over there, too. That's a significant development residential. It also has a different income demographic than a lot of the Wimbledon-Russell Cave area. But that's another reason the plan speaks to encouraging market rate housing, is that it's not just the need for rooftops, it's the need for market rate rooftops in that area that will spur the development of the commercial area along Newtown Pike and Newtown Springs. So your assumption is that most of the traffic would be going toward Newtown Pike? Most of the residents going out to the commuting corridor out to the interstate, to do to citation. That makes sense. Thank you. Other questions? Mr. Wilson, you're reaching? Yeah, just a couple things. First of all, I applaud the report. I think it's well done, and you've got a lot of, like you said, a lot of information in here. The one enigma for me is this Lexmark property. When you involved all the stakeholders, were you involved in the previous owners, or is it the present and previous? For Lexmark? For Lexmark. We involved Lexmark. We had a representative on the steering committee, and we met with Lexmark. They still own the property. Okay, well, to get to the heart of my question is, usually when you have private property, for the most part, they can do whatever they want to with it as such. And yet I saw in your report where you recommended, I think, bike and pedestrian trails, especially along the floodplain. which obviously, but sometimes in private situations, they could close those parks off anytime they wanted to. So is there kind of an agreement to keep it open if they were willing to allow that bike path? With a Lexmark, yes. I mean, they were involved in the, not necessarily the planning, they are aware of what we presented, and if they were to sell the property, the plan would give guidance for that future. We don't know who the developer might be for this property at this point, but this is the plan that we would like for a future developer to follow. If Lexmark, I mean, in some of these private parks, they can have amenities just like you can in the other parks, are they open to having the people in that area to use that facility, or is that strictly for their own? Currently, no, they use it for their employee benefit. I think what the plan was trying to speak to is if the plan, if the developer chooses to develop the property, there's some consideration to be given to keeping those facilities and giving the city an opportunity to say if they are interested in acquiring some of that property and keeping it as a park. It's not saying we expect you, the developer, to suddenly open your park to the public, because there are other public parks in the area. It's just that there is already facilities. There's baseball fields. There's restrooms, concession stands. There's playground facilities. So there's sort of already a park there. It is a private park, but the ability to convert it to a public space is readily available Should the developer be interested in doing so some of that is environmentally sensitive that'd be difficult to develop Some of it is areas that could be developed So that's why there's two options one that in the option a that shows some more green space up near Newtown Springs Because that's where those baseball fields are located An option B shows additional development. The plan isn't saying the developer has to keep that as a park space and make it public. It's stating that there's some interest on the city's behalf in sort of keeping that amenity open should the developer or the property owner be willing to do so. Okay. Thank you. And the Legacy Trail does go through that property, which is open to everyone. Other questions? Mr. Smith. Yes. Go back to affordable housing. Yes. What can they do about the structure of Woodburn? Because it's different from other neighborhoods within that vicinity. You have single family dwellings, you have the convenience stores, you have the apartments, you have duplexes, you have full clubs, you go all into the back, you have the school, the apartments, and the single family dwellings. Right. I say the structure of that is what causes the weakening of the valley. If you look at other cell figures, if you take green acres, for example, go to every, like, all single family building, look at the valley of the state. If you look at, go across the Red Cliff Road, would you have a string of blue flags? The president, if you go all the way to it, it's all single family building. So long. Well, I think you could have a mixed, I mean, essentially, Winburn is a mixed development. I think the primary concern is it's isolation with not an access. I think that has probably hindered some of the revitalization efforts or some of the issues within the neighborhood is this sure isolation. I think you could have mixed housing and keep values at different levels. I think we have a number of examples in the community where we have a mixture of housing types in very similar situations to Winburn that aren't socially isolated from commercial and from other amenities that would prove that the mixture is not the issue, it's the isolation is the problem. I think a great example, and I point to it all the time internally, is Kirk Levington Park. There's a very similar setup for infrastructure to outline Martin Luther King Park the way Kirk Levington Park is outlined. There's a mixture of townhouses, apartments, condos, and some single family in that area. It's a very different neighborhood than what Wimberton is because it's connected in a multitude of different ways, from Armstrong Mill to Lansdowne. So there's some evidence that if we connect this park and this neighborhood, it would be a radically different place. So it sounds like you connect it with the entire area. Yes. Yeah, I think we think that's the cornerstone of the plan itself. is opening up these connections and opening up. I mean, it's not going to be the panacea and fix all the problems, but it will provide access and providing more ability for more things to develop that haven't been able to develop opens up other support amenities and other land uses and commercial for healthy foods to better public transportation. So that's what we think is a very critical part. Anyone else? Let me say real quick, I know the area real well. I've lived over on the north end for better than half my lifetime. I'll put it that way. knowing Wimburn as well and I do believe connectivity getting citation pushed on through I guess everything always has a one remaining piece that has to be done and someone always has to be last but that is a critical thing. Let me ask this Bill, Jim in a meeting I can't remember if it was workshop or a public hearing, but we had someone from MPO that made an estimation, I'm going to say, that that citation could go through by like 2020, which at the time I thought sounded like it was 10 years away, but really it's not that far. But do you remember anything like that as far as MPO saying 2020? and it sounds like really there's nothing on the books with Kentucky Department of Transportation at this time. Mr. Chair, you're correct. I believe that those statements have been made. I believe our own transportation manager may have indicated something like that. And you'll look at a variety of different plans and see different phases or different levels of support for the citation connection. and as Mr. Berkeley pointed out, the most recent one is this design money that's been set aside, but we're still talking $15 million kind of thing to do something like this, and so this is a major project, and as Rachel said, this would need some loving from someone probably outside of us to champion this and to ensure that this was made a priority in future transportation plans and in allocations from the legislature so that we could proceed with this. Okay. Thank you. I'm going to at this point move on just a little bit. Thank you, Rachel, for the presentation and answering your questions. Please stay tuned because I'm going to open it up for public comment at this time, and there may be some questions coming from that that you could help us with. So anyone in the audience wish to speak on this small area plan? Yes, please come forward. Anyone else? Yes? Okay. If you would, just come on over and get behind him. Typically, we allow three minutes for this. Just try and be brief. Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Dave Westneat, and I'm a faculty member of biology at UK. So I'm not a resident of this area, but I do much of my work at the Ecological Research and Education Center, which you've seen on the maps. So I speak today on behalf of the director of the ERIC facility, Dr. Phil Crowley, who has been involved in this process to some degree, who's out of town. and I also speak for other faculty, staff, and students at UK, at Transylvania University, and at several local schools that have used the facility. So we've been paying attention to the planning process, and overall, as many people have said, the plan is pretty impressive. The neighborhood clearly benefits from many aspects of this plan, but the proposed placement of Citation Boulevard right through the middle of the ARIC facility is a major problem. It cuts directly through the main infrastructure for research and teaching at the facility. So when you see the maps of it, it looks like it cuts off very little of the property, but that's the developed part of the property. So we have a number of research facilities that would be completely wiped out by the road, and a lot of the connection, electrical, wire, Ethernet cables, water would have to be relocated because of the road construction. And, of course, it put place as a big divider between the only public accessible space, which is the old library building that we now call the UK Lexmark building, which is on Russell Cave Road from the main research facility. And so why you should care? Well, clearly there's a big element of this It's an internal UK matter, and I don't speak officially for UK. I'm just here as one of the users. But we, the users of the Eric facility, feel that that facility is of great benefit to the community in that neighborhood. So the recent acquisition by UK of the old Northside Library building and its renovation has led to the generation of the field station called ERIC there. And this is enabling us to build ERIC around a vision of community connections, particularly involving students from nearby schools in science and math activities. and citizens in an array of community engagement opportunities. So my colleague, Megan, who's behind me here, will speak a bit more about the details of those so you get an understanding of how this facility might be a benefit to the neighborhood. But the road cutting through there will likely greatly diminish our ability to do those and probably will lead to the dissolving of the field station eventually. So we are committed to expanding these initiatives. We've just started because the building just came online a couple of years ago. And all of this hinges on solving the problem of linkages between Russell Cave and Newtown Pike without bisecting the ARIC property. So we ask that you consider alternatives that will allow the field station to survive. And we have a number of ideas, but one simple alternative, and I don't know if we can get the map up here, which was what, on page 59? That's good enough, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. so well what that would leave that this one yeah so one alternative is simply to not do this extension from the LaSalle extension there not do it all the way to Russell cave and all the other connections that are here would create three routes connecting Russell Cave with Newtown and phase one obviously makes a single connection through Windburn and so all the traffic's gonna basically go through Windburn until phase two can happen and and if we just skipped phase two and went on to the other phases there would eventually be three connections without going through the Eric property so that's one possibility and we're happy to talk about others that would that would reduce the impact on the field station and so I'm happy to talk more about that if you're interested if there are any questions I can answer them but I can turn it over to my colleague Megan Seifert. Any questions for Mr. Wesley at this point? We may reserve our questions for later. Okay. Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am. Hi. I'll try to keep this brief as we're duly sort of representing the users and students and community members that are interested in maintaining the integrity of the Research and Education Center. So my name is... Megan, if I may, let me interrupt you for a second. Mr. Wesley gave you a brief introduction, but if you could give us your name and who you're connected with. My name is Megan Seifert, and I work at the University of Kentucky. I work at the Research Center as the Community Engagement Coordinator. I've been out there for a short time and as Dr. Westmeat alluded to some of these activities and initiatives that we're doing are really just getting off the ground and it made me very excited to start working out there because there's a lot of forward momentum and these initiatives and I just want to give you an idea of what some of these activities are because I don't think most people are familiar with them so first of all the field stations typically are not within an urban environment right they are usually outside but this is a really unique field station and it is within the urban area and given the fact that most of the human population now lives within cities and are more removed from natural environments this presents a really unique opportunity from a research perspective but also from an education and connectivity perspective with the community because we're nested within this residential area it makes connections between community groups, the public school system, and the neighborhoods surrounding there are much more tangible and achievable. So a couple of the avenues and how we interact with the community involve engaging citizens and students in active research programs. So one such program is called the SPARK program, for example. This is school-powered academic research in Kentucky. Our program coordinator, Dr. Lou Hirsch, is having this program. He couldn't make it today. The goal of this is to interact with local schools and actually have students involved in research projects. So this is not them just learning about biological research and scientific research, but also actively collecting data or analyzing data. So it's giving them this invaluable hands-on real world experience in the STEM fields. and we've had a lot of positive feedback from local schools as well as grant agencies on this and so this is something that we really are hoping to move forward. Additionally, we connect with citizens in research. One of the grad students that's leading a project on a citizen science project, essentially citizens are involved in data collection or analysis and their project is working on a pollinator restoration project which is applicable to all of us in the room as pollinator interactions are certainly supporting most of our food systems. So in that way, we're actually engaging people in active research, and that is a really invaluable connection there. We also are a venue for continuing education opportunities. We have birding courses, beekeeping courses. We have gardening courses. We're organizing stormwater workshops as well as a recent grant, which we got from the city, in collaboration with forestry to do urban tree assessment, which is really important in green areas and people's yards and informing them of that. We also connect with local schools, again, but not necessarily for research purposes, but for helping to design and help with curricular development that have to do mostly with the biological sciences. And we do this in partnership with a neighbor in our UK building, PIMSR, the very large acronym, but they are very experienced teaching professionals that provide very important teacher training throughout Kentucky, and so it's a very useful partnership for us. So we've been involved at numerous high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools in providing infrastructure as well as curriculum development for those teachers and schools, and those have all been very successful. And we are continuing to apply for grants in partnership with schools and with groups, We'd like very much to continue doing that, and we believe that the community does as well, and there could be some really great benefits. The main reason to outline some of these is that they are outlined in the plan as things the community wants, so youth activities, education program, and placemaking. For example, we have a lot of unfenced area at ERIC, And we are really actually excited to have these open areas as a way to bring people on to that green space, as a way to create sort of living laboratory experiential learning for the communities. We just started a community garden this spring, which has been very successful and has gotten community support, and we would like to expand on that. We've also talked about alternative landscape areas, particularly on the north side. So there's a lot of opportunities. We have momentum. We're moving forward, and it just is concerning that if this road happens, it would cut off all of this forward momentum and these resources that, not just myself, that grad students, undergraduates, researchers are very excited to do and to be involved in. So I hope that you'll consider potentially having an alternative, at least in the plan, that doesn't bisect the property. I know it's just a line on a page, but it could essentially mean the demise of the field station. And I think that there are a lot of things that come along with that that could be detrimental. So thank you for your time and listening. Thank you. You never know, there may be questions later. Later. Any right now? No. We'll wait till later. Okay. Thank you, Megan. Yes, sir. Next. My name is Richard Gaines. I serve as pastor of Consolidated Baptist Church located at 1625 Russell Cave Road, where I've served there for the past 20 years. First of all, I want to commend you all for taking up this effort. When I moved here 20 years ago, this was a conversation that seemed to have gone away but has come back again, and I'm glad that it has come back as it has. Whatever decisions are made by this group in the city, that's going to be some pain one way or the other. But the question is, are we going to be better after the pain, or do we avoid the pain? It's going to be a tough decision, but at the end of the day, I think one question we must ask ourselves is, what's the value of the people we're talking about here? If you've ever been in the wind burn, and I pray, I assume that many of you, if not most, have driven in there at least once, if not many times, it's one way in and one way out. Where I'm from, that's called a graveyard. Not to be dramatic, but to make a point. You're aware, more so than I, of the economics of the community, the policing issues of the community, and all that goes on. Unfortunately, much of Lexington visits Winburn, often for the wrong reasons. But it does visit. And to look at that community as it is and the connectivity you're talking about today, I'm glad to hear about that. But to partially fix the problem, to keep it smooth, is not going far enough. This baby's on the table. A Band-Aid won't fix it. It's going to take some radical surgery. And I'm glad to see Citation has come as far as it has. but to stop short of all the way over to Russell Cave Row, in my opinion, would be a mistake. I understand the concerns of UK and others, but when you think about the persons in that community and what they're dealing with and have been dealing with for over 20 years, I say over because I've only been there 20 years, it's long past. The conditions literally are inhumane, and I don't think any of us would want that for ourselves or persons we're concerned about. the question of affordable housing came up. I believe Ms. Mundy you mentioned that. As part of the bill, we spent years working with the city on affordable housing. The residents of that community, I can tell you, and you know the ethnic makeup, over a third is Latino, most are low income. The battle for low income housing for a large portion of the city was right there in the north end, in Winburn. So whatever is put in, in infield or in rehab, the concern of present residents is, will I be able to afford what comes in? This isn't the first time Lexington has gone through a transition where many people were moved, and we simply moved the problem. We didn't fix the problem. We moved the problem. And I think this commission must be aware of that as we seek to move forward in this area, not just to transport a problem somewhere else, but what does it take to fix the problem? We've been stated clearly that most of the persons are lower income. So when you talk a $200,000 house, a $150,000 house, I'm not sure many, if any, could afford that kind of house. So I think we need to be sensitive to that and real as we deal with this issue of what is the real concern. The highways in and out, that's going to help. as Frank Penn mentioned access into and out of that community is critical but it's going to take much more than some additional lighting and improving the park and some safety measures and it's going to be painful for some persons but I want to encourage you to press your way through to hear the community even if it means listening a time or two before and press forward in seeking funding for this as soon as possible It's 2016, halfway through. 2020 probably seems impossible at this point, but the sooner the better. And so the sooner we get started, the sooner this will be done. And so I just want to encourage you again. Thank you for allowing me to share a few minutes here. Hopefully it's been heard. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Hello. I wish to thank the committee for allowing me to voice my opinions today. My name is James Schaefer, and I've been a resident of Lexington since 2008. I'm also a graduate student in the UK Department of Biology, and have been a researcher at the UK Ecological Research and Education Center since 2010. I'm also an avid supporter of the Reforest the Bluegrass Initiative by the Urban Forestry Division of the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government. Lastly, I am well-versed in the conservation and ecological issues of central Kentucky, most importantly the Kentucky bluegrass-savanna woodland ecosystem, of which Lexington is located at the geographical center. It is recognized that redevelopment and improvements are sorely needed for the Windburn-Russell Cave area of Lexington. Unfortunately, the proposed plan will compromise the ecological research and educational opportunities that Eric provides. To compromise this asset would be an injustice to the UK community and future generations of wildcats, Lexingtonians, and Kentuckians, of which the University of Kentucky is here to support and serve. Eric provides researchers with the ability to investigate central Kentucky ecology in the globally imperiled Kentucky bluegrass savanna woodland plant community. Eric also typifies the urban-suburban interface which enables research into humanized landscapes. An important goal is our society must deal with urbanization, climate change, and global population increases. The intrinsic biodiversity and habitat value of Eric for the various birds, mammals, insects, and plant species that occupy this space makes it a unique refuge compared to the larger urbanized area of Lexington and the low habitat value of the surrounding agricultural lands, primarily horse pastures. Finally, the opportunities to expose both UK undergraduate researchers, the local community citizens and local elementary students to these issues of concern and hands-on interactions with these organisms is essential and it is important for these educational opportunities to continue in an increasingly urbanized and populated city, state, country and planet. Other municipality-university relationships have considered similar land development decisions and attracted undue negative attention because of that, such as North Carolina State University's Hoffman Forest and the University of Texas Austin Breckenridge Tract, both of which represent unique university land holdings potentially compromised by development plans. Instead, I wish that the University of Kentucky and the City of Lexington should embody the famed ecologist Aldo Leopold's land ethic, which states, a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. One cannot adhere to the land ethic always. That is obvious. But in our current situation, we have the ability to choose. Let us decide to do that which is best not only for the biotic community, but more importantly that which will continue to benefit the local community for years to come through the various community engagement and educational opportunities the field station provides. In summation, ERIC acts as a living library of organisms native to the bluegrass region of Kentucky, which make it an invaluable education and research opportunity. As detailed in the development proposal, having a diversity of environments and green spaces for citizens to utilize and enjoy is a stated goal of the development plan. Many cities are embracing developments that are embedded within nature, and we believe Lexington, Kentucky should embrace this concept as well. It is my hope that alternative proposals for the Citation Boulevard extension will be considered, and the dialogue continues to evaluate options that can accommodate both the development of city infrastructure while preserving the integrity of the UK Ecological and Education Center. I must thank you very much for listening to my concerns today. Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am. My name is Amy Clark, and I live at 628 Castle Road, and I want to thank all of you and everyone preparing the plan for thinking about one of the tougher areas in our community and addressing its needs and also keeping the larger picture of the whole of the urban county in mind. I would like to urge you not to adopt this quite fine plan with excellent ideas and proposals in it until you have confidence that it is in some way amended or is sufficient in itself to cite Citation Boulevard and its continuance in a way that will not be the demise of ERIC and its important contributions. The goals and objectives of our comprehensive plan talk about partnership with the university, and this is a stellar example. They also talk about the EPA consent decree and supporting environmental welfare. Please don't adopt a plan that can't give the best and critically needed guidance on where this road should go and how far it should go. I totally agree that connectivity is very important and needs to happen. Everybody understands that. The other key issue, please don't adopt the plan until you're confident that you have sufficient guidance within the plan as planning commission members to support affordability in housing. I want to thank Mr. Gaines for really being able to speak to what the needs of the actual residents there are and what their opportunities are. And I want to thank Ms. Mundy in particular for saying what is affordable. Can we define affordable for this neighborhood in this context? If the plan doesn't yet give you guidance sufficient to make decisions and guide the development of this area to the outcomes you want, please ask your staff, ask the fine consultants who are working with this plan, and ask the neighbors to bring you something with enough guidance to make these decisions. In particular, I notice there's a set of guidelines that are not standards. Mr. Cravens is right to say, where are they? Let's have a hard look at them. Do guidelines give you enough to say yes and no? this development plan is all it needs to be for this community or not? This zone change ought or ought not take place in this form? Those are the considerations that I hear from those who are much closer to this community, and I thank you all for your consideration. I want to close with three numbers. $100,000. $80.05 $17.64 This is a public hearing on an amendment to the comprehensive plan. It's had some wonderful support from within the neighborhood and from throughout the community. The public hearing, the agenda announcing this public hearing, I had no link to the plan. I couldn't find the plan on the planning division website. I had to make a phone call, and the wonderful staff in planning were able to direct me to a link to this plan. Once you have a link to that plan, I think it's 128 pages in all, color printing it, because it is a color plan, and many of its elements are color coded, color printing it at the Kinkos will cost you $80.05. If it were available in a printer-friendly version in black and white, it would be $17.64. Please think hard about accessibility of these planning instruments. Think about the last of your goals and objectives in the comp plan, not the least. which is to increase citizen engagement. This is tiny, a tiny matter to consider, and it's tiny to correct. But please, in future plans, ask your staff for the deliverables of the plan to include a printer-friendly version. And ask how many copies have been available to the citizens. Is it really getting where it needs to be? is a digital copy, manipulable by a computer, and so on, going to help the citizens of this community and of the larger community be involved in the planning process, which is the last of the goals and objectives, but not the least. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Clark. Yes, sir. Good afternoon. I'm Tom Harris, Vice President of University Relations, and I represent the President and the administration of the university. As you can imagine, with 15,000 employees, we're not always going to agree on everything on our property and on our campus. We have been involved with the planning and the work team for this for some time. And understandably, the faculty and staff and researchers that are involved with the research station and the biology department have legitimate concerns. They do valuable work out there, and they've invested a lot. And we want to protect that as well. We think they are talented, creative people that can adapt and adjust. And we think that the extension of Citation is in the best interest of this community. You know, the improvements and the extension of Citation the other way has been valuable for Bluegrass, Industrial Park, Coal Stream, all through there has been valuable. And this just will enhance accessibility to those neighborhoods. You know, as of the planning and design, there is some design money. As that goes forward, obviously, we want to be involved with that process and look at ideas and creative ways to make sure our staff and faculty can safely get to the rest of the farm. That's obviously going to be important as we move forward with that. As Mr. Berkeley points out, funding is not available at this time or not budgeted at this time, so we do have some planning time to adapt and figure out how we're going to continue to utilize the station and do it safely but still do what we think as a university is in the best interest of this community, and that is support this small area plan and extension of citation. Thank you. Yes, sir. Hi, my name is Dr. James Wagner. I'm a biology professor at Transylvania University. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm a little nervous. I just wanted to speak really quickly to say that in terms of this plan, I only want to speak against Phase 2 and 3, the final connectivity part, and you've heard lots of arguments about its impact on ERIC, the Ecological Research and Education Center. And I just wanted to point out that the impact goes beyond just the University of Kentucky. I've had great collaborations with the University of Kentucky on that field site for 21 years, training students, teaching students, having students publish research based on work there. And I think the proposal to basically cut the head off of that research facility will greatly impact, if not destroy, that facility. So I just wanted to express my views of that. Thank you. Thank you, sir. others that would like to speak? Yes, sir. Our name is Lewis Brown. I live in that neighborhood that we're talking about, the small area plan, right smack dab in the middle. And today I don't need all the things that they've talked about, the bus, how to get the food. I'm healthy. But in the next 20 years, Me and my wife may need that bus. We may need that walk. We may need that park. And this is our future that you're talking about. I've been to the first meeting, the last meeting, all the public comments in between, every time something happened because we live there. We need this plan just the way it is. And the research, I hope they get that. But not at the expense of me living there. We live there. Our neighborhood needs these things. Instead of us keep planning, putting it off, putting a Band-Aid on it, by the time I need it, it'll only be a Band-Aid. It won't be a solution. And then I'll be back for something else. Let's fix it today. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else that'd like to speak? If not, questions from the commission? I did have a letter that was submitted to the email. Okay. Any questions from the commission before I ask Mr. Holmes or Rachel if they have anything that they would like to address after hearing public comment? No, unless you have some specific questions. Okay. Mr. Ben, you're reaching. Yeah, being as the access has not been acquired for that last phase, I would encourage those of you that have been in this thing up to your eyeballs that you see if there is an alternative, because phase three is obviously not imminent. And if that makes the plan better, none of us have ownership to the point it's our plan and we can't change it. And you've heard the discussion today. You've heard both sides of that university situation. And so I would suggest and urge that regardless of what we do with this plan, that Phase III is still a work in progress and that you look and see if there's a way to mitigate this because I think all of us here would like to mitigate it if it was possible. And always remember, we've got to acquire it from the University of Kentucky, and we need their cooperation too. I want to point out that the original preliminary design study for Citation Boulevard went from Alexandria to Russell Cave. That was the original design document that sort of set a preliminary location for it. The start points and end points were always Alexandria Drive and Radcliffe. Radcliffe has a traffic signal already in place. If you were to go and sit at that intersection right now, you would see a space between those two facilities that's ready to accommodate a road to go through there rather than a driveway to the Northside Library. The start point and end point has always been, since 1996, defined. It's the space in between. The alignment in between any number of factors. The final design study is going to determine that there are some topographical issues out there next to the field station and Brookville Chase neighborhood that might cause the alignment to shift. But the start-up point and end point for over 20 years has been pretty well set. It's not that this plan is making a new recommendation in terms of the terminus of the road. We can explore other opportunities. What we started with was an end point that had been recommended for a number of years. and then trying to fill in the gap and get an alignment down, again, pending a final design. But I just want to make it clear, we are not, this isn't the first time a location for the terminus of Citation Boulevard has been brought up. It has been on the record for quite some time. I'd like to remind you that there was a start point and end point for Manowar, and it changed a lot. It did. Because it was a matter of access and getting the easements. And if the Transportation Cabinet is interested in putting another traffic signal somewhere between Radcliffe and Winburn Drive, we can certainly entertain that. But Burgess Avenue, as it's set now, is a few hundred feet from Radcliffe and another intersection at that point. It's probably not something the Transportation Cabinet would support, and I'm not sure it's something the Division of Planning would support. Well, I just always believe there's a will, there's a way. Mr. Holmes? I would just add the points. Conceptually, the road shows a connection to Radcliffe. Once you get into final design, if and when that happens, it might shift some or we'll get into more detail when you go to final design. But the connection to Russell Cave is critical. So where it actually ends up will be determined as you get through the planning and design phase of it. But I think as we show it right now conceptually, we show a connection, and that's where we're at at this point. Ms. Mundy? Ed, you kind of took my thunder a little bit, but what I was going to say is a plan like a budget is a plan. If we don't have a plan, we don't have anywhere to go. So we've got to have a plan to get at least some improvement to get to where we need to get to. And like a budget, it also can be changed as it needs to be changed. I would submit that when the state gets involved, because the state obviously, if UK owns the property, the state is going to look at that very carefully. And I would submit that when you get involved in all of this design, that the UK property is going to be considered. But there are other ways the plan can be changed to get that last little bit to get it over to Russell Cave. So you kind of said that. Thank you. Mr. Drake. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I get the impression from some of the discussion today that this is an either-or circumstance. and I'd like to know if my impression is correct that there is no possibility of accommodating both interests. Well, I'm not sure. That's why I say conceptually we show a connection to Russell Cave. Now that, I think, is needed, that connection to Russell Cave and how you get there is based on previous planning studies. So as transportation gets to the final design, we'll see what impact it would have on Eric's property as it connects to Russell Cave. So I'm sure all that will be looked into in the planning phase of the road itself. I appreciate your response. My question was really more directed to the academic interest at UK. If they thought, I'm talking about the proprietors of Eric, if they see this as either or, or is there some compromise room here? Come to the microphone, sir. We actually have documents here if you want to look up our proposed alternatives. I can pass those out. But we're interested in compromise. I mean, these plans are full of compromises, right? and so the critical piece unfortunately happens to be this citation connection right to Radcliffe because there's no other way to connect to Radcliffe without going right through the critical part of the field station so in that case if that's the only option then it's an either or thing. If the critical issue is connectivity because Citation Boulevard in the plan is designed as a single lane in each direction, relatively low traffic design. At least our naive impression from looking at the plan is that there are three other ways to connect in the plan already. So Citation would be the fourth connection between Russell Cave and Newtown. And those other three connections probably could handle the traffic that would be involved here because it would be split up. Again, those studies have to be done. And I'm a biologist, so I don't know anything about traffic flow. But our request is that people look at those options and see whether the tradition of having citation go to Radcliffe really is necessary to accomplish the key goal of the plan, which is this connectivity idea, and therefore preserve the key part of the field station. and we're willing to give up other parts of the property which are not so critical to the activities at the station including, for example, the west part which would be the LaSalle connection to the end of phase one of Citation Boulevard which would provide a connection with Asbury Lane and therefore you would have the three connections one through Burgess, the Windburn connection, Burgess Avenue, I think is the other one, and then Asbury Lane. You've answered my question. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else, commission members? Chris? In our discussions with the neighbors in their public meetings, we've, from a planning perspective, made it very clear that the Division of Planning would not support Asbury becoming a de facto Citation Boulevard. That is a local street. Driveways on it. No traffic control measures. We delayed the connection of Asbury to Citation up by the senior living facility that was built in Newtown Springs because we didn't want that to become a straight shot through to Russell Cave. Planning would not support, if you're asking about either or situations, it would be very difficult for planning to support a connection of Asbury as the Citation Boulevard connection. And Winburn Drive, at least, is a collector street. There's some wiggle there. But Asbury, Hollow Creek, and Burgess Avenue, those are local streets that are not designed to handle that sort of traffic that would carry through from other neighborhoods across Russell Cave to Newtown Pike. Really, what I was thinking about was the location of Citation itself. Is there a compromised location that accommodates both interests? That's what a final design study would tell us. I kind of think what Chris just said kind of sums it up. I don't want to, you know, we've kind of gotten off track a little bit. The property that the university has is a key part of education for them. That's easy to understand. I've been educated somewhat here today with that because for 40 years, all I heard that was out there was a frog pond. So, you know, there's a whole lot more out there than just that, and I think it is integral. I do remember with Legacy Trail that there was a key set part of that that took some negotiating. However, they did get around the problem physically, no pun intended. It did happen. But as Chris said, one, yes, this is a plan. However, until we get to that point, I think there's negotiating, there's compromises, there are alternatives that can occur. A couple of us have been sitting back here, and we've done some engineering ourselves and drawing on maps and so forth. So there are possibilities. and on the much larger focus it was said by a couple of gentlemen that was here, we've got to look at this big picture this is way overdue for the entire area and we need to push on with this one way or another it's not just about saltation, I think saltation is going to help but it's not just about citation. We need to get into the neighborhood. I was very pleased to hear the participation of the neighborhood and the citizens that took place. When Chris says they divided up into four different groups, that's kind of telling me there was a few people there. And that is very appreciative from this end. So this is something that I think needs to go forward. I appreciate Rachel and Ed Holmes being here. I was going to offer Ed, if he felt awkward sitting out there, that we'd find him a seat back here. But you're okay out there. Okay. All right, then. So I'll stop rambling, I guess. Any other comments, questions from the commission members? If not, I think we can move forward one way or another. We need a motion. Depending on the motion, I do have a resolution here that needs to be read into the motion. Mike, just because of my employment, I'm going to have to abstain. You're going to abstain? Okay. All right. Anyone else? Interested in motion? Here's a resolution that will need to be read with the motion. Depending on your motion. Mr. Chair, I'm going to move for approval of the Windburn-Russell Cave Neighborhood Small Area Plan. And to that, read the whole thing. Yes, sir. A resolution of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Planning Commission adopting the Windburn Small Area Plan as an element of the 2013 conference plan. whereas KRS 100.183-100.197 set forth the procedures for periodic update and review of comprehensive plan elements, and whereas the comprehensive plan goals and objectives statement element for the 2013 comprehensive plan was adopted by the Planning Commission on September 22, 2011, and subsequently adopted by the Urban County Council on May 17, 2012 by Resolution 260-2012 as required by KRS 100.193. And whereas the Statement of Goals and Objectives acts as a guide for the preparation of the remaining elements to aid in implementing the comprehensive plan. and whereas the Planning Commission and the Urban County Council have adopted the said statement of goals and objectives, the Planning Commission may adopt other elements of the conference plan pursuant to KRS Chapter 100 and whereas the Planning Commission finds that the Winburn-Smiley Air plan is consistent with the statement of goals and objectives and whereas the Planning Commission finds that the research undertaken is part of the update and adoption of the 2013 conference plan and in addition, the research performed specifically in preparation for the Winburn Small Area Plan fully support the Winburn Small Area Plan as an element of the 2013 comprehensive plan. And whereas in compliance with KRS Chapter 100, the Planning Commission has conducted a duly advertised public hearing on June 30, 2016 to receive comments and information from all interested parties. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Planning Commission, Section 1, that the Planning Commission hereby adopts the Wimber and Small Area Plan as an element of the 2013 Conference of Plan for Lexington-Fayette County. The Wimber and Small Area Plan includes the texts and the maps presented to the Commission. Section 2, that the resolution with the attached text and the maps adopted herein shall be referred to as the Winburn-Smile Area Plan element of the 2013 comprehensive plan for Lexington-Fayette Urban County. Section 3, that the Winburn-Small Area Plan element of the 2013 Comprehensive Plan shall supersede all Comprehensive Plan recommendations previously adopted by the Planning Commission for the land area within the Winburn-Small Area Plan, which are inconsistent with any maps, texts, or recommendations contained in the Winburn-Small Area Plan. Section 4, it is the intent of this Planning Commission that the Zoning Ordinance Plan Subdivision Regulations and the Zoning Map Atlas, currently in effect on the date of adoption of the resolution, shall remain in full force in effect unless and until duly amended by the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council after a receipt of a recommendation by the Planning Commission. Section 5, the Director of the Division of Planning is directed to forward this resolution and the documents mentioned herein to the Lexington Fayette-Urban County Council for its information and use. Section 6, this resolution shall become effective on the date of its adoption. We have a motion for approval. Do we have a second? Seconded. Sorry, it did not show up on the screen. There it is. It does show up on the screen. Thank you, Mr. Smith. So we do have a motion for approval, Winburn Small Area Plan, and it was seconded by Mr. Joe Smith. Please vote when it comes up on the screen. Motion passes. Thank you, folks. Thank you all for coming. I think, aside with the rest of the staff, we may take just a very brief recess and then continue. I love you. I never thought I would get caught. It seemed like the perfect crime. Baby, you left me fast, babe. I've only got one plea. Lock me away, the sight of your love. Throw away the key. I'm guilty Of loving the first degree I thought it would be so simple Like a thousand times before I'd take what I wanted And just walk away But I never made it to the door Now, babe, I'm not begging for mercy Go ahead and throw the book at me If loving years are crying I know that I'm as guilty as a man can be But, baby, you love me defensively I've only got one plea Lock me away inside of your love And throw away the key I'm guilty of love in the first degree Love in the first degree Oh yeah, oh yeah Baby, you love me personally I've only got one plea Lock me away inside of your love And throw away the keys I'm guilty of love in the first degree Love in the first degree Love in the first degree Love in the first degree Love in the first degree Love in the first degree Love in the first degree Love in the first degree Tonight's the night we'll make history, honey you and I Cause I'll take any risk to tie back the hands of time And stay with you here tonight I know you feel these are the worst of times. 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