# Urban County Council - Zone Change Public Hearing (Athens Boonesboro) - April 25, 2023 > Auto-transcribed civic record · April 25, 2023 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/5805 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/5805?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2023-04-25 - **Last revised**: April 25, 2023 - **Length**: 37,127 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 Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government held a meeting on April 25, 2023, at 5:00 PM in the Council Chambers in Lexington, Kentucky, with Councilmember J. Brown presiding. The meeting addressed one agenda item, Ordinance 0249-23, which was approved by the council. During the session, the council heard from 10 members of the public who provided comments on matters before the body. The meeting included one formal vote on the ordinance under consideration. ## Attendance The following members were present at the April 25, 2023 meeting: **Present:** • J. Brown • Ellinger • Elliott Baxter • Fogle • Gray • LeGris • Lynch • Monarrez • Plomin • Sevigny • Sheehan • F. Brown **Absent:** • Reynolds • Worley • Vice Mayor Wu **Late:** • None Twelve members attended the meeting, with three members absent. No members arrived late to the proceedings. ## Votes and Decisions The meeting included one recorded vote on a zoning ordinance. **Ordinance 0249-23** [timestamp: 09:31] The council voted on an ordinance to change the zoning classification for two properties located at 5380 Athens Boonesboro Rd. and 5354 Athens Boonesboro Rd. The proposed change would rezone the properties from an Interchange Service Business (B-5P) zone to a Highway Service Business (B-3) zone. Elliott Baxter made the motion, which was seconded by F. Brown. The ordinance included a condition stating that "A restricted Highway Service Business (B-3) zone is in agreement with the 2018 Comprehensive Plan's Goals, Objectives, and Policies." The motion passed by a roll call vote of 10-2-0. **Voting in favor (10):** - Ellinger - Elliott Baxter - Gray - LeGris - Lynch - Monarrez - Sevigny - Sheehan - F. Brown - J. Brown **Voting against (2):** - Fogle - Plomin No council members abstained from the vote. ## Public Comment The meeting included public comment from ten community members, all addressing concerns related to a proposed stadium development and associated zoning changes [timestamp: 07:07]. **Accessibility and Transportation Concerns:** - Whit Whitaker raised concerns about the stadium's location being inaccessible to marginalized communities and criticized the lack of an equity plan - Zachary Skubiz discussed inadequate public transportation options to the stadium site and suggested implementing a dedicated bus route on game nights **Traffic and Safety Issues:** Multiple speakers expressed concerns about traffic impacts: - Dennis Yulkut highlighted potential traffic congestion, particularly during school hours - Philip Goodman warned about the impact on emergency vehicle access due to increased traffic - Edward Hastie raised concerns about traffic congestion and noted the lack of a confirmed traffic light at the stadium entrance **Zoning and Development Process:** - Lyle Hanna voiced concerns about the broad range of uses permitted under B-3 zoning and existing traffic problems - Mary Diane Hanna criticized the planning process and expressed concerns about the stadium's community impact - Jan Meyer expressed regret over the planning commission's decision and questioned the necessity of a zone change without a confirmed stadium **Additional Concerns:** - Andrew Pearson expressed skepticism about whether the stadium would actually be built and raised concerns about the developer's intentions - John Tucker discussed potential negative impacts on agricultural land and emphasized the need for protective measures All public comments occurred during the same portion of the meeting, indicating a concentrated period for community input on what appears to be a controversial stadium development proposal. ## Contested Items The meeting featured one major contested item that generated significant community debate. **Zone Change for Soccer Stadium** The primary point of contention involved a proposed zone change to accommodate a soccer stadium development. Community members voiced substantial opposition to the proposal during the public comment period, raising multiple concerns about the project's potential impact. Residents expressed worries about increased traffic congestion that would result from stadium events, questioning whether the existing road infrastructure could handle the anticipated volume of vehicles. Accessibility issues were also highlighted, with community members concerned about how the development would affect pedestrian and vehicular access to surrounding areas. Perhaps most significantly, opponents raised concerns about what they characterized as a potential "bait-and-switch" regarding the stadium's ultimate location. Community members appeared skeptical about whether the proposed site would actually house the final stadium or if it might be relocated after the zone change approval, suggesting a lack of trust in the development process. The opposition appeared to be grassroots in nature, with multiple community members participating in the discussion. The specific outcome of this contested item was not clearly documented in the available materials, though the level of community engagement suggests this was a significant local issue that required careful consideration by the governing body. The debate highlighted typical tensions that arise in municipal planning decisions, where development proposals must balance economic opportunities with community concerns about quality of life, infrastructure capacity, and transparency in the planning process. ## Ordinance 0249-23 [timestamp: 05:04] The council considered Ordinance 0249-23, which proposed changing the zoning classification for two properties on Athens Boonesboro Road from Interchange Service Business (B-5P) to Highway Service Business (B-3). The affected properties are located at 5380 Athens Boonesboro Road and 5354 Athens Boonesboro Road. Key speakers during the discussion included Traci Wade, Hal Baillie, Steve Ruschell, Joshua Lewis, Sam Stockley, and Vince Gabbert. The speakers addressed various aspects of the proposed zoning change, though the specific details of their presentations and any concerns raised during the discussion were not captured in the available meeting data. The ordinance represents a shift from the more restrictive Interchange Service Business zoning to Highway Service Business zoning, which typically allows for different types of commercial activities and development standards along highway corridors. Following the discussion and consideration of input from the speakers, the council approved Ordinance 0249-23. The approval means the zoning change for both Athens Boonesboro Road properties will take effect, allowing development under the new B-3 Highway Service Business classification rather than the previous B-5P Interchange Service Business designation. --- ## Decisions - **0249-23** — passed (10-2): An Ordinance changing the zone from an Interchange Service Business (B-5P) zone to a Highway Service Business (B-3) zone for property located at 5380 Athens Boonesboro Rd. and 5354 Athens Boonesboro Rd. --- ## Full transcript The Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Thank you all. Excuse me. Thank you all for joining us. I'm council member at large, James Brown, and I will be chairing this council meeting, zone change tonight. So we can consider this public hearing now and open and clerk, may I please get a roll call? Mr. Ellinger? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Baxter? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Fogle? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Gray? Present. Ms. Legree? Yes. Ms. Lynch? Present. Ms. Menares? Here. Ms. Plowman? Yes. Ms. Reynolds? Mr. Savigny? Yes. Ms. Sheehan? Yes. Mr. Worley? Vice Mayor Wu? She's got Maro. Fred Brown? Here. And Mr. James Brown? Here. Thank you. Thank you, clerk. So like I said earlier, I'm Council Member James Brown, I'm going to be chairing tonight's meeting. I'll start by swearing in those who plan or wish to speak during tonight's hearing. So if you would all either stand and raise your right hand. And please repeat after me. Don't repeat after me. Do you swear or affirm that any testimony that you give in this hearing will be true to the best of your knowledge? I do. Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you. When you come to the podium, please state your name or your council district when you're asked to speak. And with that, my job as the presiding officer is to facilitate this hearing. and it is within my purview to make judgments about whether the evidence being introduced is relevant or repetitive. We will begin with the presentation from our planning staff on behalf of the Planning Commission, and they are subject to cross-examination, followed by a presentation by the petitioner. Similarly, subject to cross-examination, then presentation by the opposition, if any, and also subject to cross-examination. Then followed by public comment, each public comment will be limited to three minutes, and we ask again that you state your name and your council district for the record. Then there will be an opportunity for rebuttal and then an opportunity for summation. Then there will be an opportunity for council members to question all who have spoken and an opportunity if there is new information that's introduced to rebuttal. At that point, the hearing will be declared closed, and then us as council members will deliberate. Then a vote will be taken to adopt finding of facts, and that will be taken by a roll call vote. After that, a vote will be taken to approve the ordinance, also taken by a roll call vote. I believe that's it. Are there any questions or comments from the council or staff at this point? If not, we will go ahead and get started with the presentation from our planning staff. Good evening, Council Member Brown, members of the Council. This evening we're here to discuss a zone change application, and I'm glad to be here to share with you a recommendation of the Planning Commission for PLN MAR22-23, a request by IVCP 8th and South LLC. The petitioner has requested a zone change from an interchange service business zone to a highway service business zone for 30.24 net acres and 37.36 gross acres. And this is for property located at 5380 as well as 5354 Athens Boonesboro Road. For that second address, it's a portion of the application. For the record, I am Tracy Wade, Planning Services Manager with the Division of Planning. And Mr. Hal Bailey is also with me tonight. He's a senior planner in the Division of Planning. And he will be presenting the core of the recommendation from the Planning Commission this evening. I do have a number of items to enter in the record for our hearing, and so we'll go through those, and then I'll turn it over to Mr. Bailey. Tracy, can I stop you right there? Yes, sir. I'm sorry. I apologize, and please be patient with me tonight. I think we were supposed to start with the second reading of the ordinance. So, yeah, if we can go back and do that, then we'll continue your presentation. Yes, sir. And just for the public and for council members, our staff has asked for 40 minutes to present, So we're going to allow them 40 minutes. We're going to allow 40 minutes for the petitioner, and we were contacted by four parties representing organized groups to present tonight as well. So we're going to allow them each 10 minutes, and then we'll go to public comment. So with that clarity, we'll back up and give second reading, and then we'll go from there. Okay. Ordinance number one, an ordinance changing the zone from an interchange service business B5P zone to a highway service B3 zone for 30.24 net, 37.36 gross acres for property located at 5380 Athens Boonesboro Road and 5354 Athens Boonesboro Road, a portion of IVCP Athens South LLC, Council Logistic 12. Thank you, sir. The first item for the record is a copy of the legal advertisement that was placed in the newspaper as required by KRS 100. The second item is an affidavit stating that the Division of Planning reviewed the notice required for this particular application. And it was sent out in late March to the 12 property owners within the 500-foot notice area and then also 28 property owners within a 2,400 supplemental notification area. And in addition, two neighborhood associations were also notified of tonight's hearing. Our third item for the record, which the council also will find at their place tonight, is a copy of the final report sent to the council. And I will note that on page two, it indicates that per KRS 100.2117, the council should take action by May 26th. That was a typo. Your deadline is a 90-day deadline. So because the commission acted January 26, you actually have until tomorrow, April 26, to make a decision. Item number four for the record is the 2018 comprehensive plan called Imagine Lexington. Exhibit five is the rural land management plan, which is also in effect for this area of the county. Exhibit 6 is a copy of the current zoning ordinance. And I've also printed for the council members a printout of just the two zones that we're speaking of tonight. So that would be the B3 zone comes on top. It's part of Article 8. And then attached on page 7 of this small packet is Article 11 for the B5P zone. So you have access to the existing or the two zones that we're speaking of tonight. I've also got the entire ordinance. Exhibit 7 is our land subdivision regulations for the community. Exhibit 8 is a traffic impact study that was prepared by Palmer Engineering and presented to the Planning Commission in January. Exhibit 9 is a parking demand mitigation study. This is a new requirement from the zoning ordinance for zone changes that indicate they want to build more than 5,000 square feet of business zoning or business development. And so the developer identified how many parking spaces they believed were necessary for their proposed uses. Exhibit 10 is an updated development snapshot. These get included with our mailing to neighbors, property owners within the area to provide more information about an application. I believe they're available at the back of the room as well. Exhibit 11 is a copy of all the items that were entered into the record from the Planning Commission's January 26th public hearing, including a packet that also we brought with us, a board that was presented by one of the members of the audience, so we'll have that available as well. And then just two more things. The last item before I leave the microphone is a PowerPoint presentation that we're going to cover tonight, Mr. Bailey and I, and that is from the Division of Planning and it summarizes the Planning Commission's recommendation. And again, you should have a copy of that available to you at your seat. And then the last item, before I turn it over, we did receive two emails related to the case. And I would note I believe all the council members received these same emails, but I want to make sure that they're part of the record and available for you to review tonight as well. And I'll turn it over to Mr. Bailey. Hey Tracy, just for clarity, is that our poster board right here in the front? That's in front of the podium? Yes sir, that was an exhibit that was presented at the Planning Commission hearing. And the individual who brought it to the hearing asked that I bring it back tonight. And again, we normally bring the exhibits from the Planning Commission's hearing so that they can be reentered into tonight's hearing as well. And so that individual, I'm sure, refer to it when he speaks. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Wade. Good evening. My name is Hal Bailey. I'm a senior planner with the Division of Planning. and there we go as miss wade indicated that this is a rezoning from the proposed rezoning from the highway or the interstate service business zone b5p zone to the highway service business zone b3 zone for approximately 30 net and 37 gross acres for the properties located at 5380 eighths boonesboro Road and a portion of the property at 5354 Athens Boonesboro Road. Typically when we describe our zone changes within our community we are talking about a place type development type and then a zone in our discussions with zone changes. However as this is outside of our urban service area is actually located within the Blue Sky Rural Activity Center. We'll be discussing that a little bit more as we go along, but it does change the justification that an applicant can submit as to how they are in agreement with the comprehensive plan. With this proposed application, the applicant is seeking to rezone the property in hopes of building a soccer stadium, which would include 6,500 seats, a medical facility, training facility, and then associated outlots, which would include a bank, offices, and restaurants. Just an idea of where we are located. We are at the intersection of I-75 and Athens-Boonesboro Road. The area in white here is the area proposed for rezoning. Just looking at the map, you can see there are a few different zones in this area. There is primarily B5P zoning associated with the two properties in question. agricultural rural zoning adjacent to the subject properties and a small portion of light industrial zoning across Athens Boonesboro Road. Jumping into the site itself you get an idea of the land use or the lack thereof on this site. While this property was rezoned in 1968 to allow for a resort development which included a hotel pool area golf course riding trails that never came to fruition following that project since that time there have been several different development plans that have been submitted for this under the b5p zone including greater restaurant facilities and what has been established on the front of the property along doe run trail the access point into the site are two gas stations. Just jumping into the property itself, we get a better view of the topography and how the site has been developed. The top left photo here, you can see this is along the frontage of 5380 Athens Boonesboro Road as you are going towards the on-ramp to I-75 South. Here, we're looking into the property, the portion of the property being rezoned for 5354 Athens Boonesboro Road. As you can see, there is quite a bit of topography as it drops back into the site itself. And then on the bottom photo we have here, that is located at the end of Doe Run Trail, the road that leads into the site. And there is a fair amount of construction that is occurring at this site. The construction that is occurring right now is associated with soccer fields that were permitted in the AR zone just south of the proposed rezoning that was approved by the Board of Adjustment at the end of last year. Looking at these photos, we get a little bit more of what is going on on the roadways as well as the opposing development. The top left photo, we have a photo of Athens-Boonesboro Road looking into town, going towards downtown Lexington. The center, we have opposing development, which includes a fast casual restaurant and another gas station. And then the top right photo, that is looking down or out Athens-Boonesboro Road as we are heading towards the Athens-Rural settlement, as well as the on-ramp onto I-75 south. The bottom photo is a picture of Dover on Trail, which includes the two gas stations that are on either side and are the only part of this area that has been developed since that 1968 rezoning to the B5P zone. With any zone change, we look to the comprehensive plan as our primary guidance for a zone change application. It is important to recognize the findings that are required within KRS 100-213 for a zone change. It states that before any MAP amendment is granted, the Planning Commission or the legislative body or fiscal court must find that the MAP amendment is in agreement with the adopted comprehensive plan or in the absence of such a finding that one or more of the following apply, such as a finding shall be recorded in the minutes, and records of the Planning Commission or legislative body or fiscal court. The two other findings were not requested with this as the applicant has only made a justification as to that they are in agreement with the comprehensive plan. That is how staff reviewed their application and that has how the Planning Commission has made their recommendation to you today. With any zone change, we do look at that comprehensive plan and any adopted elements that would be part of the comprehensive plan that would impact an area of rezoning. In this case, as this is located in the rural service area, the staff looks to the rural land management plan. This is an adopted element of the comprehensive plan. It was adopted in 2017, which was an update from the 1999 rural land plan. Within the comprehensive plan, the 2018 comprehensive plan, and the place builder element of the comprehensive plan, there's a specific focus on rural developments. Within this focus, it does refer back for the applicant to the rural land management plan and provides guidance or policies specifically to the development that would occur in our rural service area. In this case, there is one specific policy that is important to review. This is stewardship policy number five, which states that to fully realize the development potential within Lexington's rural activity centers, including the Blue Sky Rural Activity Center, while avoiding negative impacts to the surrounding agriculture, rural settlement, and viewshed. So there is a focus on trying to maximize the potential of our rural activity centers. Again, I'll get into those rural activity centers in just one second. So within Lexington, we do have four rural activity centers. They were first identified in the 1980 Comprehensive Plan. These were areas of existing employment that were located outside our urban service area. So they include the Blue Sky Industrial Park or the Blue Sky Rural Activity Center. We'll jump between those names off and on. the Avon Bluegrass Station, Spindletop Research Park, and then the Bluegrass Airport. Each of these sites have received specific facilities or public facilities that are meant to serve the developments specifically for the planned amount of non-residential development. That non-residential land use call-out for each of these areas was very important for staff's review and the Planning Commission's review of this application, in that we only have five zones within our zoning ordinance that do not allow residential as a by right. The B3 zone, the B5P zone, the B4 zone, I1 and I2 zones. Now, there is an asterisk with the B4, I1 and I2 zones, which are our wholesale warehousing zone, light industrial zone and heavy industrial zone. Those have asterisks because there is a provision for a night watchman or someone that is working there to watch over some of these more industrial style uses, as well as for adaptive reuse projects. An adaptive reuse project would not be applicable at this location as it is outside the urban service area. specifically the area that we are discussing is that blue sky rural activity center located in the southeast portion of town right at the intersection of 75 and 8th and spoonsboro road this area or the blue sky rural activity center includes five different zoning categories the agricultural rural the professional office highway service business interstate service business and the light industrial zones. This area is connected to municipal sanitary sewer systems and is recommended primarily for employment drivers as well as warehousing. So that correlates with the zoning that is at this location. However, there are some remnants of past zoning. This is that historical development of Lexington in which we had a county and the city. And then as we came together. This is outside, so we're trying to allow for greater utilization of these sites. Many of these parcels are zoned I-1 primarily located on the eastern portion of the site. Many of those I-1 parcels are underutilized by our current metrics. They are surface parking lots used for the auction of vehicles. Within the rural land management plan, There are specific policies that get at different elements of our rural service area. The policy that specifically focuses in on rural activity centers states that we should be looking to maximize their potential for jobs while maintaining their boundaries and minimizing impacts to the rural area. From that policy, there are four recommendations for our rural activity centers. The first is to ensure that there is no inappropriate growth of our rural activity centers that might affect the agriculture or rural settlements and view sheds around our rural activity centers. Next, there is a focus on maximizing job employment and trying to get the greatest amount of economic availability out of our rural activity centers. you can see that that is almost word for word the stewardship policy from five from the comprehensive plan. The third is to conduct a small area plan for the Blue Sky Rural Activity Center to evaluate potential job growth in these areas in the future. And then the fourth element or recommendation is that there should be no modification of the rural activity centers without in-depth review and study of our rural activity centers to make sure that we are not inappropriately growing them and impacting the surrounding areas. To understand the change that we are going into or that is being proposed today, it is helpful to review the intents of the two zones, the B5P and the B3, as well as the uses. The intent of the B5P, and I will say that this is the intent as of last year. We recently updated many of our intent statements. However, the applicant applied under the previous zoning ordinance. so we will be continuing to utilize the information that we had when they made that application. The intent of the B5P zone is to permit the establishment of limited commercial facilities at limited access highway interchange areas so that the traveling public is conveniently provided with transient type services without endangering the movement along as well as access to and from the limited access highway. The standards contained in this article are intended to provide adequate protection for and consideration of the traveling public. So as you heard there, this is very focused on the individuals utilizing I-75. It is meant to provide services, and that is represented by the principal uses within this zone, which are automobile service stations, restaurants, cocktail lounges, brew pubs, and then hotels and motels. There are five accessory uses associated with those principal primary uses that are really focused on the hotel industry as well as the restaurant or service industry. There are four conditional uses, again, really tied to providing services for the traveling public. The Highway Service Business Zone, or the B3 Zone, has a slightly more involved intent in this case. The zone is intended to provide for retail and other uses which are necessary to the economic vitality of the community, but might be inappropriate in other zones. The comprehensive plan should be utilized or used to determine the location for this zone. Special consideration should be given to the relationship of the uses in the zone to the surrounding land uses and the adjacency of the street system to serve the traffic needs. As you can see, there is an increase in principal uses within this zone that are meant to not only serve the traveling public, individuals getting to and from places, but also to provide some economic viability along our corridor or highway systems. The 31 principal uses include restaurants, offices, banks, medical clinics, and then indoor amusements. All the rest of the uses are relatively similar. It does include 13 conditional uses. It includes all of the land uses that are allowable within the B5P zone. And then it also does include the adult uses, which have been determined to be inappropriate for other areas. This is a view of what they have submitted with the development plan. This is really to show how they're developing it. We will go through this with another exhibit as we go along. But when reviewing the uses, in red is the only use that is currently allowable within the B5P zone. So the use of the stadium, the training facilities, medical offices, bank, and offices are all elements of the B3 zone that would not be allowable without a zone change. within their application it was a major component of their justification that the applicant is seeking to increase jobs in this area while also providing an economic impact the applicant provided information specifically related to the stadium training facility and then the medical office and out parcels when we talk about out parcels we are looking at the bank offices and and then the restaurants that they are proposing. For the total economic impact for this proposed project, they are seeking to provide 300 jobs with an annual salary projection of approximately $16 million. The total annual economic impact from this proposed project would be $30 million per the applicant's justification. There are also short-term construction costs that the applicant provided information regarding, including the construction, jobs creation in the construction design implementation, and the overall project estimate is approximately $40 million. They are seeking to situate their proposed stadium along the easternmost edge of the property, which would be located just up against I-75, which is typically where we see the greatest light and air and sound impact. But it is also quite important to talk about this in not just from a professional standpoint, but from a local, state, and regional potential for sports tourism. Throughout the applicant's justification and in staff's review and planning commission's review of the application, there is a tremendous amount of conversation about not just professional sports, but overall sports tourism. That plays into some of the applicant's justification in association with the goals and objectives of the comprehensive plan. The applicant indicates that this proposed project would be in association with theme C, goal one, and theme C, goal one, objective one C, specifically focusing on showcasing local assets and to further the creation of a variety of jobs. The applicant has provided information as to how they are trying to provide jobs across the economic spectrum, not only from the service industry, but including medical and office facilities as well as the potential for the inclusion of the offices. Next the applicant has focused in a bit more on the amenity, the soccer stadium itself. They reference theme C, goal two, and objective 2D, which is focused on attracting members of our community and outside our community to attract and attain different job levels and encourage entrepreneurial spirit that might enhance the ability to recruit talented employees and a workforce into our community. Finally, the applicant is looking at theme C, livability policy number three, which is focused on creating a large regional athletic field complex for economic development and enhance Lexington's existing facilities. So the applicant does have the Board of Adjustment approval and is going through the current construction of athletic fields south of the area of rezoning. They are proposing to utilize the proposed stadium as part of that in a way to entice regional competitions and that more sports oriented tourism that is really focused in on individuals under the age of 18. Within staff's review of the sports tourism industry, it is a billion dollar industry that can bring quite a lot of economic impact in both our accommodation and service industries, but also support of our other tourism industries within our community. Within the rural land management plan, there is that focus on maximizing jobs and maintaining the boundaries. The applicant is not seeking to move outside of the boundaries of the rural activity centers. However, it does push us to talk about some of the other recommendations, which is to limit impacts on our agricultural industry, surrounding properties, as well as limit impacts on some of the view sheds. Athens-Boonesboro Road is an identified gateway into our community. It links the interstate with our downtown community, bringing people in, and we wanna make sure that we are protecting those things. Specifically in the Rural Land Management Plan, it talks about making sure that we have plantings to buffer against development, as well as landscaping, grass medians, other focal points that we might have. In this location, you can see that there is quite a bit of tree stand along this area. However, there is also a great amount of topographic change, which would shield much of the proposed development from the view shed of Athens-Boonesboro Road and I-75. There is also the importance of maintaining a buffer from adjacent agricultural land uses that are active in this area. I will point out that we do have one PDR farm located right here. It is just impacting that tip of the area that is not being proposed for rezoning. The other uses along here are primarily residential land uses. You can see that they are smaller lot sizes that were subdivided before the 40-acre rule was required for our agricultural rural areas. So within staff's review, the applicant is seeking to have their most intense land use, the stadium or the proposed stadium land use against the most intense corridor, specifically along that I-75, which has the greatest amount of light pollution from the very tall lights that are associated with our interstate system, as well as the noise and air pollution that would be generating off of our interstate. They are stepping down the intensity of the land uses as they go towards the B5P zone, and this will become a little bit more apparent as we look at the development plan as we go along. Within staff's review of this, there are also significant topographic grade changes across the site that allows for some variation across the area as well as some greater tree canopy to develop to buffer against the residential land uses as well as the agricultural land uses. With all zone changes, Lexington has the unique opportunity to apply conditional zoning restrictions. Conditional zoning restrictions allow for the urban county council to go ahead and limit or further limit the uses allowable within a zone. So essentially what staff and the planning commission is recommending with this is the application of restrictions on the site. So to eliminate certain uses from being able to be done on this property. Staff and the planning commission are both recommending that establishments and lots for the display rental sales service and minor repair of farm equipment, contractor equipment, motorcycles, trucks, boats, travel trailers, mobile homes, or supplies of the such be prohibited at this area. This is largely due to the fact that we have a large concentration of those types of use. Use is already established in the Blue Sky Rural Activity Center. The applicant has talked about how they are trying to produce jobs. Based off of what we are seeing currently within the Blue Sky Rural Activity Center, this is not a jobs-producing use that we would like to promote on this side. It would also impact the view shed along Athens-Boonesboro Road, specifically having a fair amount of impervious surface and potentially causing some major issues on the view shed into the site. Whereas the proposed area is being buffered, has a fair amount of tree canopy with our new parking regulations, and would be buffered from some of the other land uses surrounding it. Additionally, minor or major automobile and truck repair, similar type use to what we're seeing across the street that we're trying to limit at this site to gain the greatest amount of workforce opportunity. Pawn shops, this is not a particularly great location for something along that kind of use. All adult entertainment uses, staff found that, and the planning commission found that this is not a particularly great site for those types of use. and we want to continue the beauty view shed as we're coming along our gateway area. And then finally, the retail sales of automobile parts. This gets into some of our previous conversation. So just as an illustrative view of the site itself, the applicant is proposing just their stadium, again, up against I-75 in this location, with parking to be in the north and west of the property, four outlots located here, including two restaurants, an office building, and a bank, and then your medical facility located here. The applicant is also proposing their training facilities located at this location, which would allow individuals that are utilizing the soccer fields to the south to take advantage of some of the offerings at that location. The applicant is proposing a secondary access point approximately 1,000 feet to the northwest of the current access point along Doe Run Trail. And this access point actually has been in the works for some time associated with previous development plans. However, over the past several months, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the Division of Traffic Engineering, the Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Division of Planning have been working with the applicant to make sure that we are getting all of the appropriate facilities along Athens-Boonesboro Road in association with some of the safety projects that have been put into place by KYTC and are going through the process currently. Just to zoom in on the development plan on their specific area of development, in the blue would be a regional detention basin that would take care of some of the water runoff. This is required per the stormwater manuals as well as our engineering documents. And then this brings us into the specific hearing that was held on January 26th. There were nine opponents to the zone change and conditional use for this site. The hearing took approximately three and a half hours, including the staff presentation, and which we gave the staff recommendation to the Planning Commission on all three elements of this application, the zone change, development plan, and conditional use. The applicant presented their justification and reviewed their submitted materials, and then citizens presented their concerns with the proposed zone change and conditional use, which included the inappropriateness of the B3 zone in the rural activity center, the application not being in compliance with law or the comprehensive plan, concerns with increased traffic along Athens-Boonesboro Road, existing zoning being appropriate and the proposed being inappropriate, concerns regarding a bait-and-switch, and just on the bait-and-switch aspect, I made this statement during our staff presentation with the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission has a unique ability to make sure that a bait and switch does not occur. Under Article 21-7E, it specifically calls out that if there is a significant change from a preliminary development plan to a final development plan, the Planning Commission can disapprove an application. There were also concerns regarding the local environment and the need for an environmental impact study. concerns as to whether the applicant has met the burden of proof with the zone change. Ultimately, the Planning Commission found that a restricted highway service business zone was in agreement with the 2018 Comprehensive Plan and the 2017 Rural Land Management Plan. The Planning Commission voted 8-0 to approve the zone change request. And that is based off of the findings that you see both in your packet as well as on the screen. This is specifically focused in on a restricted highway service business zone or the B3 zone being in agreement with the goals, objectives, and policies of the comprehensive plan as the proposed development will create jobs and prosperity by showcasing local assets, which will be specifically focused on the promotion and enhancement of sports tourism, entertainment and other quality of life opportunities that attract young and culturally diverse professionals, and a workforce of all ages and talents. Theme C, Goal 1, Theme C, Goal 1C, Theme C, Goal 2, and Theme C, Goal 2D. The proposed development will enhance Lexington's ability to host regional athletic tournaments through the inclusion of the soccer stadium and the training facility, Theme C, Livability Policy 3 of the Comprehensive Plan. Additionally, the Justification and Corollary Development Plan are in agreement with the 2017 Rural Land Management Plan for the following reasons. The proposed rezoning will allow for greater utilization of the property within the Blue Sky Rural Activity Center that support highway and interstate service commerce, while also allowing for greater flexibility for job production, which would target the production of employment at higher wages. The proposed development is situated along the portion of the property that is most heavily impacted by light air and sound impacts that are caused by Interstate 75 and is adequately buffered from the western most agricultural AR zoning that abuts 5354 Athens-Boonesboro Road. The proposed development does not negatively impact the viewshed along Athens-Boonesboro Road, as the area is buffered by topographic variations and the established development along the roadway. As stated before, the staff and the Planning Commission both recommend the use or the restriction using conditional zoning restrictions at this site, specifically for those specific uses that we discussed earlier. These restrictions are necessary and appropriate in order to restrict those land uses that could have a negative impact on the surrounding agricultural zones. And Athens-Boonesboro Road, a major gateway into Lexington-Fayette Urban County. These restrictions will protect the aesthetic character of the Athens-Boonesboro Road gateway as recommended by the 2017 Rural Land Management Plan. And with all zone changes, it is incumbent upon the approval of the development plan, which the Planning Commission did approve during their meeting. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them at this point in time or at any other time. Ms. Wade is also available. Thank you, Hal. Thank you, Tracy. You came in under time like you said you would. Does the petitioner or opposition want to cross examine the staff's presentation at this time? All right, I don't see anybody else speaking up, so we'll move on now to the petitioner's presentation. Thank you. Thank you, Hal. Mr. Rochelle, the floor is yours. You have 40 minutes. Thank you, Mr. Brown. My name is Steve Rochelle, and I, along with Charlotte McCoy, represent the applicant in this case. I want to thank Hal and Tracy for their presentation. they are just outstanding and they're a hard act to follow because they were so precise in recollecting exactly what happened at the planning commission. And I don't plan on going over every detail again. It's in the record. The record has been perfected. We are handing out our additional exhibits, many of which are included in the exhibits from the recommendation for the planning staff. Just a little housekeeping. We need to introduce an affidavit certifying that the required signs have been posted, and we're giving those to the clerk. Have you given the affidavit to the clerk, Charlotte? Okay, thank you. And we have given to the chairman pro tem a list of our expected witnesses. And we have given a thumb drive of our exhibits this evening, likewise to the technology officer and also to the council clerk. we would ask that all of those be accepted into the evidence as they have been properly tendered to you. It is highly unusual that we be before you tonight on a recommendation from your planning commission and your staff. I might add a unanimous recommendation from the Planning Commission for approval of this zone change application. The same people that appear today in objection had the same opportunity to object at the Planning Commission. Their arguments simply didn't hold water. They presented no hard evidence to controvert what we had. the evidence that you have in front, much of which you have in front of you. And so, but here we are on a Tuesday night. First of all, I want to say that the applicant is in agreement with the findings and recommendations of the Planning Commission and the recommendations of the Planning Staff, and that this zone change is in compliance with the 2018 comprehensive plan for purposes, for reasons stated by the staff, and we present it at the planning commission hearing. And it's in agreement with the 2017 rural land management plan and its recommendations. And I think as Hal noted, or maybe it's Tracy, the rural land management plan has been incorporated in the comprehensive plan. We'll say now and at the end of our presentation, at the end of our rebuttal, we respectfully request your approval of this song change application. I was going to show you various on the screen exhibits. I don't think I need to because although Sorry about that. Staff and the applicant don't always we didn't know exactly what they were going to present But my first exhibit is a simplified plan, development plan, which they have been over. But please continue to note, we're at the corner of the interstate in Athens, Minneapolis. we are located next to the 10 soccer fields that we're currently constructing those are expected to be online this fall and they're not going to be grass fields there will be turf fields will be a great enhancement for soccer in lexington central Kentucky and the region. This is a copy of our formal development plan that has been certified and you can see why I wanted to simplify it for you because of the various notes. Let me go through my notes here so I can cover some new ground. The staff has articulately set forth why this application is conformance with the comprehensive plan and the rural land management plan. This zone change is a lot more than about the stadium. I think we need to discuss the status of the stadium. It will be, it's been in the newspaper the last couple days. It certainly has been in emails to you all direct from members of the community who may or may not appear here tonight. And we have been accused of baiting and switching. And the furthest, that's furthest from the truth. We have tried every way we can, and this is our last chance to have the possibility of a stadium in Fayette County. The zones that allow stadiums are very limited. Industrial, downtown, and the B3 zone is a condition of use. And we need 20 acres for a stadium. And it's hard to find 20 acres in the urban service area or in the rural areas within the Blue Sky Parkway with that much acreage. And so this is our last chance. Let's talk about the history of what we've done over the last couple years. We filed to have the stadium downtown pursuant to your all's RFP as to what to do for the big parking lot in front of Ruppering on High Street. We failed. That was awarded to the webs. We then went on to the Newtown Pike trying to locate the stadium and the fields there. although we were successful before the governing bodies we were sued and my client and this is before I represented him said we don't want to be tied up in litigation for several years and so we found this site fortuitously my client which is related to the soccer club owned this property but it was their third choice it's interesting that although we've had so much pushback to have a stadium downtown and our new town pike and to a certain extent here although the planning commission made it pretty simple It's unanimous that it should be here. During that particular time, there were articles saying how much trouble we had on Newtown Pike. And other communities jumped at the chance. They, although I've not spoken to any of them directly, at least five surrounding counties in one additional county, one county away, said, come on, please wing the stadium here. Think of the tourism, sports tourism. Think of the excitement it would give to our community. Think of it for the soccer community. Think for the youth community, what it would do for them. And we listened. They listened. And they got a pretty good, they started to listen a lot to Jessamine County. and Jessamine County said, come here, we'll help you get a TIF, which is tax incentive financing, which is not allowed in Fayette County at this, excuse me, in our urban county at this time, although it was in previous times. So they, out of desperation, because they don't know what our neighbors, or excuse me, what the objectors will do today, although they threatened early on that there would be litigation regardless of what happens, I was not at that meeting. So we had to listen, and those are just the facts. These same questions I'm anticipating from you all and from the objectors were asked at the planning commission, And we were able to convince them, as shown by the unanimous vote, that we were sincere to have the Lexington Sporting Club in Lexington. So I think it could be said, my client would say, that all things being equal, they want to have the soccer stadium in Fayette County in Lexington. I don't know where the term you'll probably hear tonight, and I think all of you all have gotten emails. How unprofessional for the emails to be just thoning you all all the time. I hope you don't read them. This is supposed to be a quasi-judicial proceeding. The evidence presented today is the only basis upon which you should conduct or make your decision. But this is not a bait and switch. We've been above board. We wish that it wasn't the way that it was. We wish that we were on Newtown Pike. We wish we were well in the construction, but we're not. And here we are. But we're hopeful that you all recommend approval of this zone change. Excuse me, that you will approve this zone change. It is interesting. So that's all I'm going to say about the stadium. I'm sure you all have some questions. But the stadium is just a part of this zone change. Let's back up a minute. This is commercial property. We can go out and build 37 acres of hotels, restaurants, and so forth and so on. Those things are allowed in the B5P zone. That's a fact. Those could start tomorrow if we had a development plan. But we have chosen not to do that. There are two reasons. Number one, we couldn't get a conditional use permit for the stadium. And number two, this land is underutilized. And for the reasons that Hal showed you that why it is in conformance to the comprehensive plan, it's why we want B3. We need to maximize employment, and not just any employment. employment, high paying employment, which was presented by Hal in our letters of justification, which are before you, and are backed up by the report of Commonwealth Economics, which is in your packet. I don't need to say again and go over the livability policy and the various parts of the comprehensive plan that makes this application in conformance with the comprehensive plan. But most interesting, the Rural Land Management Plan of 2017 specifically says we need to have, we need to fill in the areas within the rural service area, Blue Sky in particular. And that is twofold. We're not going to expand. I wouldn't think. We wouldn't ask for an expansion in the rural service area. So we are doing what they want, which is staying within the rural service area. We own the land. It's currently zoned. And the staff has made sure that any negative impact that we might have in the rural area, this is restricted zoning. Hal's been over the restrictions. We didn't go to them with those ideas. they came to us and they said, we don't think these would be appropriate. We studied. We agreed. So we are going to not expand the rural service area, develop commercial land, have more choices, have better jobs, and have better employment. That's pretty simple. The planning commission saw it that way. Again, excuse me for the distorted nature of my presentation, but I'm trying not to go over too much what Hal and Tracy have already done. Excuse me. Now, look down the permitted uses, if you would, for B3, which is in tab number six of what we've handed out. There is nothing offensive there. There is nothing offensive there. You will see that we have marked out those things that we have agreed that will be conditions which will not allow us to have those uses. But that's very important. And at the end of the day, when you compare the B3, the B5P, when you take out those requirements, excuse me, those potential uses, they're awful close. They're awful close. Except you have an opportunity to have a bank. You have an opportunity to have health care, which we're currently in negotiation with, in addition to hotels and restaurants. I do want to make comment that Hal showed that we abutted, that the zone change application abutted some agricultural property. we own that property that the uh the the portion was shown in green we own that is where the 10 soccer fields are we are not impacting or we are not contiguous to any farms uh and for anyone to say any different i would expect you i expect i'll have to cross-examine There will be much discussion tonight about traffic. You have our traffic study. We have worked diligently with the Transportation Department of the Urban County Government and with the Kentucky Department of Highways to make sure that this road is going to be safe for everybody. Lexington wants to be a vibrant community. When you're a vibrant community, you grow. And when you grow, you have increased traffic. Simple as that. The question is, will the traffic decrease the level of service? And our report shows that this development will not decrease the level of service. The level of service will continue to be the way it is now. There will be more cars. There are more cars every day without this development. And in a breakthrough, and as you'll see in tab 12, the Kentucky Highway Department approved us having a traffic light on the street that Hal showed, the new street. and we are going to comply with that. We're going to build a safe entrance and we're going to build it in conformance with the urban counties, traffic departments, rules and regulations, and also the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Well, as I said, it's hard to follow Hal and Tracy. They're so good at their jobs. I want to save my remaining time for rebuttal because there are apparently four groups who want to speak tonight. But before I do that, I'm sure you all get tired of attorneys hearing attorneys speak. So I want to introduce four, excuse me, three witnesses. The first, Josh Lewis, who is the manager of the applicant, and then Sam Stockley. who is a sporting director and head coach of the lexington sporting club and then vince gabbard who is the president of the lexington sporting club so with that i would invite josh up to the podium introduce yourself sir good evening everyone my name is joshua lewis i'm the managing director for our visionary capital partners and i've got some prepared remarks that i'll read and then of course i'm available for any questions that you may have. Our Visionary Capital Partners is a private equity and real estate development company. We're located here in Lexington and the company's owned by Bill Shively and Stephen Dahlhaer, also the same owners of the Lexington Sporting Club. Our Visionary Capital Partners has been actively developing commercial real estate since 2018 and the founders have over 50 years of development experience between them. Our team has a broad range of experience in developing and managing retail, office, hospitality, and industrial assets, and is excited to be developing such an important project in our hometown. IBCP is respectfully requesting that the City Council, respectfully requesting the City Council's approval of the rezoning application, referred to you with unanimous support and approval of the LFUC Planning Commission. We sincerely believe that the rezoning of the property is supported by the comprehensive plan and it's necessary to maximize the property's commercial viability in the market. If approved, we are committed to delivering a planned unit development that's a credit to our community and our home. The challenge with B5P zoning is that B5P users, such as gas stations and hotels themselves are not economic drivers. And it's not surprising that this property has remained undeveloped for all these years. With the correct mix of demand generating users and job creating users like medical offices, banks, retail and recreational facilities, which are found in the B3 zone, development of this property can become economically viable and a source of numerous jobs and tax revenue benefiting the entire community. To further validate our assumptions, we've engaged Commonwealth economics to analyze and project the impact of the proposed zone change and some of the potential uses that the zone change would allow. The report has been included in our submission, but at a high level, the economic impact projected is to be significant and will create new and higher paying jobs in Fayette County. Since the announcement of this project, iVisionary Capital Partners has received multiple requests from potential users that want to be located in this development. Only a small number of those requests have been or inquiries have been from users that would work in the B5P or would fit in the B5P. As an example, we've had inquiries from a potential aquatic center, an ice center, entertainment focused businesses, retailers, fitness facility, multiple fuel and convenience stores over 3,000 square feet, which is a limitation in the B5P. No gas station can be more than 3,000 square feet. Storage users and one storage user and multiple medical users, including regional medical headquarters and clinic. With the city council's approval, land that has been commercially zoned and undeveloped since 1968, as you heard, will begin to produce desirable jobs and provide a return to our community. Again, we sincerely believe that the rezoning of this property is necessary and is the right thing for Lexington. We appreciate your support and I look forward to your questions. Oh, excuse me. Good evening, Council. My name's Sam Stockley. I'm the sporting director and head coach for Lexington Sporting Club. I apologise for being a little bit underdressed for this. I didn't realise I came straight from training, so I should have put a polo and a shirt, a collar and tie in there. I've been very fortunate. A little bit about myself, I've been a professional, I was a professional footballer for 22 years. I played for 10 different clubs in three different countries, over 625 professional football games. I was captain of five of my 10 teams. After I finished playing in the US, in the current league that we're playing in, I then went on to educate myself in coaching. I went back to college and I tried to get myself a degree. What I'm not sure about is zoning and planning, and I'll be honest with you there, but what I do know is about player development and football and what this means to the community. As I said, I landed here 14 months ago. My wife and kids are still in England. They'll be moving over in three months. So we're fully committed to what we're doing. And the reason why we're fully committed here is purely because of this project and the people behind this project and what this means for this community and this city. To be able to build a football club from scratch is unheard of. I come from a place in Europe where we've had clubs for 100, 120, 130 years. We're now building a club from scratch. And everything that we've been doing and everything that we're trying to do is being underlined by one thing, and that is the community. And it's been a real big piece of it. 14 months ago when I arrived here, my task was to unite a youth soccer community that was a little bit fragmented, that has done very well, great history here, fantastic people, great coaches, but it was my job to bring a club together, and now Lexington Sporting Club has 1,300 young players under 18 years old, down from U7 to U18. We have about 120 coaches in that. Since then, we've also built an academy where in November last year we paid full expenses for 22 players. Most of these players were African immigrants, Mexican immigrants, all different types of cultures and people that have come here because ultimately we have a lovely gold mine here in Lexington with unbelievable talent that's never been tapped. You can see what's happening over at Loo City with what they're doing there. An established club being one of the most successful clubs in the USL. and now they've recently got a player that can potentially be playing for the national team that's come through their system. So we were tasked to build a youth club, which was an amazing feat. We brought it together and, as I mentioned, we now have 1,300 kids. Then we had an academy program now that we've brought together and that's now been running for six months. And just recently in February, we started pre-season for our professional football club. We've brought in 23 players. We've got Senegalese, we've got Mexican, we've got Canadian, we've got English, we've got South Korean, we've got a whole variety of players and cultures. And that was a big piece of the player recruitment to try and put the squad together because of the diverse community that we have and how we wanted to relate to the families, to the players, to become role models, to be able to look up to. I'm not here to talk about the stadium, although hands up, we definitely 100% need a stadium. It's huge and important for us. I'm here to talk about how important it is to have a training facility and what we need. Next year, we're bringing on a USL Super League, which is a female professional football club. So we'll have another 25 to 26 female athletes from all over the world coming to be professional footballers. We also have the GA, which is the female academy program, and then a whole pathway inside our youth club for our female players. So we have male and female, boys and girls pathway from grassroots U7s up to now being a professional soccer player or football player. But the one thing that we are missing is a training facility. And the training facility for me is more important than anything. And the reason why it's so important is because it's the house, it's the hub, it's the culture, it's the place where we come every single day and work. and that will be for our pro players, that will be for our U23s, our USLW team starts in August. So that's 28 female collegiate players that are coming over to play for three months for our USLW league. Next year, roll on a year, we'll have a USL2 league, which will be 26 to 27 collegiate male players coming in. But we didn't want to start the male program first because we've already started the men's professional program this year. But the female collegiate program is coming in in August. And the reason why the facility for us is so important, we've invested an unbelievable amount of finance, it's something that I can't possibly imagine, into a state-of-the-art training facility with seven top, top fields. Turf, the best there is, the underpad, concussions, everything has been thought of to be able to provide an unbelievable facility. and it will be the best facility in Kentucky, and if not in the country, once it's fully built. But the one thing that we're missing is a training facility, as I mentioned, where we will have locker rooms, we will have video analysis rooms, we will have a performance room, we will have a gym for rehab, for medicals, we'll have mental wellness suites where we'll bring our players in to help. We need classrooms because some of our players will come out of school to be able to be with us for part-time, so we need to be able to find educational opportunities for them. We need a restaurant where we can all come together because the culture of a football club, as you can imagine, is critical. We also need a place then in the evening for when our youth club, because the same fields that the professional players will be training on are the same field that our youth club and academy teams will be training on in the evenings. So it's really important that we have a facility to be able to house our families. As I said, rooms to be able to bring parents in, talk about college world because not all of them are going to be professionals. So we need to put a pathway in for the collegiate world. So we can have seminars, we can bring in coaching education from around the country, but we need a facility to be able to house all of that, and we don't have that at the minute. We're at temporary facilities up at Georgetown. It's fantastic, it's great, but it's not our home, and we need a place for our home, for us to be able to train, to be able to produce our players, to be able to provide a pathway, which we're all invested to for our players from age U7, 8, 9, 10s, all the way up to the professional league of where we are. We spoke a little bit about the tournaments and now we have a state-of-the-art facility as in a surface to be able to play on, seven fields of them. We now, with our contacts, and as I mentioned, I played for 10 clubs, so I have great relationships with them all over Europe and have a fantastic network after being in the game for 35 years to be able to bring in other professional clubs from around the world, which is what we're planning on doing. to be able to provide youth tournaments for our youth players and our academy players, to intermix with culture, to be able to bring in families, to be able to bring in players, obviously to be able to talent ID as well. That alone will generate a huge income for tourism and the city of Lexington 100% with how we bring in and the teams and the players that we will bring in. I recently worked down in another club down in North Carolina where they have 15,000 kids at their club and their economic financial structure within their city is over 2 million just off tournaments. So it's something that is really, really huge and it will give us a huge benefit to be able to have a training facility at the same location. It's critical that it's at the same location and take away all of the political side of it and this, that and the other, just the culture of being able to train on a field as a U7, 8, 9, 10, 11 girl or boy and look across at the field and see the pros training male and female and then go into a stadium and a building or a training facility where they can sit there and get the same medical treatment as the professionals, where they can go in the classroom and get the same analysis as the pro team, where they can sit in a restaurant and maybe talk to a mentor or a pro or somebody like that is a game changer for this community. So I'm here just to really ask and try and plead with you guys to be able to get this opportunity to build this facility. Everything that's been done has been done right. It's been done at the highest possible standard, and it's always been done. It's always been done with the community in mind, and how can we better leave this community, this soccer community, this community in a better place? And I'm an outsider. I'm not from here. But since I've come here, I've been more welcome. I've lived in six different states in the U.S., but since I've come to Lexington, there's a real special vibe and a real special place, hence my family coming over. And what we now have, which is really exciting, is a professional football club with a professional team, male at the minute and female will be coming. And I can tell you hand on heart because I'm in the community every single day, whether it's at the youth club walk in the fields, whether it's on a match day where we've now had the attendance of the top three attendances within the league. I think our last one was 2,400. Our first opening game was 3,400. So it shows the hunger and thirst for the community to want to get behind a football club. and we have that football club now. We've partly got the facilities to be able to do it, but we need that training facility to be able to put the icing on the cake and have it be a true development system and a proper football club. Any questions on that? Thank you very much. Easy to see why our guys like playing for him, isn't it? My name is Vince Gabbard. I'm fortunate to be president of the Lexington Sporting Club. I just want to give you a little bit of context and background. When this whole project started for us was a little over five years ago. Sam and I actually got introduced by the league, and he and I did 14 months' worth of Zooms during the pandemic while we were trying to ferret out the plans and what was needed to put together a successful football club, in Sam's words. And it really started, as he said, with the community. But when I went and talked to Bill and Stephen Dahlher, Bill Shavlin and Stephen Dahlher are principal owners. It was really about the facilities and the fact that we didn't have enough of high-quality facilities in this market to service the youth club and provide the opportunities that Bill wanted to see and that Sam just articulated to you. So as part of that and a part of these facilities, along comes the stadium and the ability to put those at one site is an extraordinary opportunity for the city at this point in time. And with that, we formed the youth club and was able to join the two local youth clubs under one banner. As Sam mentioned to you, we've got over 1,300 families as a part of that youth club. And really, in creating those access points and those opportunities for everybody across the community, Bill and Stephen have made the investment and we've provided over $100,000 in scholarships just in the last 10 months for kids that normally would not have had the opportunity to play. and another $35,000 in direct expenses for travel and hotels and those sorts of things so that we can send teams to Raleigh and Indianapolis and to Scottsdale, Arizona, things that we want to track back here. So I just want to leave you with the fact that the facilities are really the benchmark of what we're trying to do to be able to create that campus, to have those aspirational moments, as Sam so eloquently mentioned to you, for the opportunity for the kids to mix and mingle with our pro athletes, both male and female and the opportunities that exist beyond that. So we greatly appreciate you making the time tonight and appreciate your support and hopeful approval of this request. And happy to answer any questions. Before we sit down and answer, does your franchise agreement require you to build a stadium and when is it supposed to be built? Yeah, so we, great point, Steve. So the league that we're in is the USL, United Soccer League. our franchise agreement to provide for our men's first team does have requirement for a permanent stadium. Because when we signed that agreement and the plans that we had in place and the hopes at that time, the goal was to have that completed by our 2024 season. So we have to go each year that we don't have that stadium completed, we have to go back to the league for a waiver for that. And so our hope is that we'll only have to go for that waiver one time with the plans and the things that we've done that by the 2025 season we'll be in a home. And happy to answer any other questions as well. Thank you, Josh, Vance, and Sam. I'm going to close now and reserve any possible time for rebuttal, which I'm entitled to. We hope that we have proven to you why we need to have not only, excuse me, why we need this zoning. We have dead zoning out there. And we need the new zoning, the B3 zoning, none of which is offensive. In any portion that was offensive, this has been taken out by the staff. And we would appreciate you all to continue to think about approving this zone change. And with that, I'll yield my time. Thank you, Mr. Rochelle. Does the opposition or does the planning staff want to cross-examine the petitioner at this time? All right. Hearing none. And next up I'll introduce opposition. So we have four people reach out, four entities or individuals reach out with representation to speak today in opposition. And first up I have Mr. Miller. Thank you Mr. Brown, council members. You have ten minutes. Thank you. Thank you. I have some handouts to the council. Did I get some help from somebody? Here you go, sir. Thank you. Mr. Miller, will you speak into the microphone and introduce yourself? Yes, sir. My name is Tom Miller. I'm an attorney. I went to all of the committee meetings of the Planning Commission and the planning meeting itself. And I'm speaking for a number of objectors. I agree with Mr. Rochelle that we believe this is a bait and switch. And there is no better evidence than Mr. Spivey himself. I'm going to show you quotes from him in the newspaper. And we recently received, and so did you, a development plan for LSC Stadium Development Area, City of Nicholasville, March 1, 2023. This is where they're building the stadium. They're getting, as I read it, over $300 million in tax credits. And they're having a 5,000-seat stadium. That is where they're going. And they've never been honest with the staff or with the planning commission. i'm going to go through some minutes of the uh uh where did i hit uh do you want to go forward in your presentation or do you want to point something out all right so right there and then that is to point something out okay so this is the uh i'm just going to go through what has been uh put into the record by the staff this is their summary And I'll point out that this is the point. The applicant is seeking to rezone the subject property to the Highway Service Business 3 zone to allow for the construction of a 6,500-seat soccer stadium. That is the selling point. That's the goal that the planning staff and Mr. Rochelle are trying to create a fallacy, as we now know. These are the staff recommendations that we heard about. If you look at the highlighted sections, these are all referenced in my presentation. You will see that they are focused on economic development. The proposed development will create jobs and prosperity by showcasing local assets, specifically focused on the promotion and enhancement of sports tourism, entertainment, and other quality of life opportunities. enhanced Lexington's ability to host regional athletic tournaments through the inclusion of the soccer stadium. That has always been what has been represented to us and to the planning commission and to the staff. Today, you hardly hear a mention. It's all about some facility to provide medical care. But I submit to you this plan, this development plan in Nicholasville is where that facility is going to be built. Lots of talks about great athletic fields and about people playing on there. That's not this property. That's the adjacent property where they're building the stadium, where they're building the fields for the young people. Here, you will see where it's hard to read, but Mr. Rochelle, quote, reiterated their plans for a stadium, soccer fields, would use the stadium for their professional matches. He goes on to say this stadium is important for the young people of Lexington. Those are his words. Those are the applicants' words. And by the way, when the applicants bought this property, they knew what the zone was. So it's difficult to feel sorry for them about the zone that they inherited. And there's a, here's the article that I'm referring to. And Mr. Spivey is quoted at length. And it's very telling. This was in the paper, in Sunday's paper. Mr. Spivey said specifically that Lexington Sporting Club is looking at a possible tax increment financing district in northern Jessamyn County near Brandon Crossing across Fayette County. They've already had a public hearing on it. And they're supposed to have a 5,000 square foot seat stadium. He then goes on to say he couldn't commit to building a stadium as previously proposed on Athens-Boonesboro Road. It's going to be difficult to build in Athens. It's not a commitment right now that we can make. So here's what I would ask the council. Have Mr. Rochelle make a commitment to build the stadium, and if the stadium is not built, the zone reverts back to the existing zoning. They've also said that they are looking in Jessamine County. They've made a specific proposal. They've been offered, looks like $300 million in TIF financing over 30 years. And they have a stadium that they're using now in Georgetown. So this property is not used for a stadium and we believe it is a bait and switch and as I said before the planning commission, we believe that it is a Trojan horse. There is a specific legal requirement for the applicant to establish this zone change, which we've got there under KRS 100.213. And we disagree that this is permitted by the comprehensive land use plan. It has a zone, it's had the zone for decades. And this zone, if you look at the BSRAC, they are looking to empower the agricultural industry in these rural areas and to protect economically sensitive areas. And there's a noted economic reliance on the equine industry, direct and indirect income in 2017 was in excess of $150 million. I represented a horse farm owner that's immediately adjacent to the soccer fields that are being built. We objected. There is a horse farm that is going to be dramatically impacted by these lights. If you know anything about horses, it changes the reproductive patterns of mares, and they are very concerned about that. They have to establish that either the current zone is inappropriate, which they can't. There are gas stations, restaurants, and hotels up and down the road. It's appropriate, or there's been a major change of an economic, physical, or social nature within the area. That has not occurred. The staff has referred to some goals that are very important. none of these goals are actually going to be satisfied by the absence of a soccer stadium. They are promoting the soccer stadium to satisfy the goals. Mr. Bailey, throughout his presentation, has referred to economic impact of this area with the assumption that the stadium is going to be built. There is also the second goal of the theme three is to attract the world's finest jobs, encourage an entrepreneurial spirit, enhance our ability to recruit and retain, I'm almost finished, talented and diverse employment within the community. and they want to prioritize the success and growth of strategically, almost finished, targeted employment sectors, health care, education, high tech, advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, agriterrorism, and the like. By the way, this is not infill. Infill occurs within the- Mr. Miller, you're out of time. Thank you. I hate to cut you off, but I want to be consistent tonight. Thank you. He took 37 minutes, so as long as you're consistent. We just, yes, I timed it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Next up is Mr. Dantot. Mr. Chairman, thank you for giving me the opportunity and I'll be quick because I know we have time limits. I would ask if those that are in opposition to this proposal, please stand so you can get an idea of the number of people that are in opposition to it. Thank you. My name is Don Todd, I'm an attorney and I used to represent the 12th district at one time, so I had a lot of these issues that confronted us. I want to make a few comments just generally to help you open your eyes and see the real question here. When you approach a zone change, typically the staff and the law department will ask you the four questions that we all know when we have zone changes. Has there been a major change not anticipated by the comprehensive plan? Not in this case. Number two, the existing zoning is inappropriate as B5P being inappropriate. No, it's not. It's obviously appropriate. It's been there forever. Is there a compelling need for the proposed change? Well, maybe an economic propulsion by the administration is the compelling need, but from a pure zoning standpoint, the answer is no. So then you say, well, if there's not really a legal basis for this, why are we doing it? Well, we're trying to give people an opportunity to enjoy life, to expand, and so forth. And that draws me to the next issue. If you look at the development plan that was filed in Jesmond County, none of you have seen this, I assume. Have you? Okay, we're going to enter this in the record as an exhibit. and the applicants filed a 45 maybe page application for exactly the same thing in Jasmine County. Okay? Page 13 of their proposal says that the LSC Stadium project will be constructed near the intersection of US 27 Nicholasville Road, and Brandon Road in Nicholasville. The project plans include the development of multifunctional stadium, 6,500 person capacity, a hotel of 160 rooms, restaurant space for 24,235 square feet, retail space 101,000 square feet, office space 4,000, multifamily residential development. and all this of course requires some participation with the local government state government for tax purposes to support the project. They've gone through a lengthy summary of what revenue will be generated by the project tax income of $356 million over a period of time. Actually that's physical impact. They're talking about the same aspects of how this stadium will provide youth soccer opportunities, provide kids in sports in college and high school, and then some other activities as well, recreational, social, concerts. They even have pictures of the same soccer stadium. So it's the same proposal, and they're going along two tracks. And I don't necessarily object to that. I mean, they're trying to hedge their bets, if you will. My question to you is, what if you give this zone change? And then they decide to go to Jesmond County. You can't take, according to her, you can't take that B3 back. So how are you going to protect us? Ask them that question to your satisfaction before you leave tonight. How can we protect this community if they build in Jesmond County? What will you do for us? Okay? There's a water already out of the dam, under the bridge, whatever. What protections are there? They can say, well, we can do restrictive zoning. I'm not sure about that. I don't think so. So let me ask you one other question. We have four rural activity centers, right? Four. This is the only one that's private. All the other three are public. airport, right? Avon, Spindletop. This is private. They're asking you to change the zone outside the urban service area in a private area. We don't do that. That's against our common sense. That's against our planning. That's the principle since we first adopted them in 1958. That's when we started this process. So you're embarking in some unusual areas. You're embarking in a zone change situation that we heretofore have never done. You're embarking in a situation where you may grant a zone change to B3 that you can't take back unless Steve will guarantee us that if that project doesn't go through in Jasmine County, that my gosh, he'll go back to B5P. And he's not going to do that. He will not answer that question. If you ask him tonight, will you do that, he won't answer it. So you are the only party, you're the only entity that grants zone changes. The planning commission doesn't grant zone changes. They just approve development plans or other uses. You are the only entity that gives zone changes. You're the only protection we have. Do your job. I'll reserve the rest of my time for Hodge or anyone else that wants to talk. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Ms. Julie Goodman. I know you're Judge Goodman, but tonight I call you Ms. Goodman. Yes. Thank you, Chairman Brown, and this situation, and members of the council for letting me speak in opposition, and also for being kind enough to give me additional time. Most of you do know me as Judge Goodman, but I'm not here tonight as a judge. I'm here as a citizen and a neighbor who is going to be adversely affected by this property project. I am not representing anyone else. I'm only representing myself. It would be unethical for anyone to represent me, especially these attorneys, since they're in my court all the time. But what I will tell you is I have three issues that affect me, or I think cause me to oppose this. The first is, as you've heard from Mr. Miller and also from Mr. Todd, that this does not comply with the comprehensive plan. I have given you all a handout that sets out every single page in every area that establishes where it does not comply with the comprehensive plan. You can't pick and choose. You can't say, oh, it complies with three areas. You have to look to the totality of all the goals, all the areas. And the majority of the plan is not complied with in this situation. It is not infill. It does not provide housing. All of these issues are the priority. That is one of the reasons. But that's not the most important reason I oppose it. The second is, and I've sat here and listened to this for quite some time, I've heard over and over again that we've made up this bait and switch, that we're the bad guys, that the people in opposition have accused us of doing something illegal, that we never meant that. Well, what I will tell you, back in November of 2022, we called the developers, the people of Ashley Woods, the people who live on Nathan Spoonsboro Road, and I apologize. I live on Nathan Spoonsboro Road. I am two driveways away from this proposed facility, and I, of course, my district is District 12. We called them because they wouldn't approach us. They didn't want to talk to us. We convinced them to talk to us and tell us what they were doing. They came to the home of Dr. Pearson. A group of at least 10, maybe 12 of us met. We all heard the same thing. When we began to ask questions, they volunteered. In fact, Mr. Gabbard, Mr. Dahl-Hair said, Don't worry about it. We don't intend to put the stadium there. It's going to Jessamine County. That was in November of 2022 before it went to the Planning Commission. They sat there and told every single neighbor that. They acknowledged they'd already retained an attorney in Jessamine County. Mr. Gabbard even had a close friend of his, who is also a friend of mine, call me to say, don't let Judge Goodman get too worked up about this meeting, because wink, wink, it's not going in Fayette County. We didn't make up the term bait and switch. We've lived it now, knowing that what was told to the Planning Commission, what is being told to you all, was never what they intended to do. And the Planning Commission was asked to do one thing. They are limited in their authority. They may only approve a development plan. And yes, the development plan looks great. But they can't approve his own change. you all can do that. And they keep sitting here and saying, oh, you have to prove this zone change because the Planning Commission loved it. They all unanimously voted for it. They all thought it was great. Yeah, but they believed it was going to go here. And I believe one of the Planning Commission members is here, and I think she may even want to speak to that later as public comment. That's the other reason I am vehemently opposed to this. you're being asked to change a zone that will affect all of 8th and Spoonsboro Road. It will affect adversely our traffic, which is already so bad. We're the second worst for fatalities in Fayette County. DOT is trying to figure out how to fix it, and they want you to bring 6,500-person stadium there when we can't even figure out how to fix it now. They don't even know if they can do our cuts. That's still speculative. All of these issues are still there. They say to us, oh, it's not going to adversely affect our property. There will be no runoff. I've got a very quick video. If you watch, this is before the stadium's even been built. This is what's going on now just with the soccer fields. This is on our property. These are our streams. That's where it's flowing off, and you go, did you not turn the sound on? There should have been. That was clear land, and there should be sound on this as well. They told us there'll be no light problems. You won't see anything from where you live. So what we already have, just with putting in the youth soccer fields, Our streams are already full of muddy water from runoff. We have, as that one picture showed, those were lights just from trucks on the property. And this is the backyard of a person's home. That's not what the stadium light's on. That's not what any of these big fluorescent lights are going. And that's not what the noise that we will hear once they finally put in the stadium. and all of that did have noise when I gave it to you. But anyway, you can actually hear the trucks, just trucks. You can see the lights from just vehicles. And that's not all this. People that will come, that's not everything that will be lit up. But here's my last biggest concern, and the one that bothers me more than any. You all are public servants. You're here because you care about this community. You don't get paid great salaries. I'm a judge because I care about this community. For 15 years, I have fought what I've often seen as systemic racism in our court system. I fight it every day. And I think what I've watched for the last 15 years is our society become a society, especially in Fayette County, of the haves and the have-nots. What we're doing is you are being asked to put a soccer stadium in an area of town that has no access for the poor or the underprivileged. There's no mass transit. There's no pedestrian walkway to get there. There's no bike trails. The majority of our community lives on the other side of Lexington. The largest population, the largest subdivision is Masterson Station. Our children who are poor can't get there. Their parents work. They can't take a bus. A bus doesn't go there. We're creating a soccer stadium for the privileged and the elite. We're not caring about the young men and women who don't have rides out there, don't have parents who can take off work to take them to a game or to take them to the youth soccer field. We put youth soccer fields where none of the poor or the underprivileged can even get to them. to practice. Remember, I have two minutes. No, that was me. I got your audio. Oh, you got my audio? Okay, you got my audio. Sorry. Clear water. Clear, clear, clear, clear. And then muddy. This is from a patio of one of the homeowners. That's just the truck doing some work. That's not a stadium. Those are truck lights. But yet they promised us no noise pollution, no light pollution, no muddy waters in our streams. And those are blue line streams that are protected, environmentally protected. But finally, this is my biggest concern, having watched our community. One of the council persons, I watched you speak very eloquently about that your grandchildren play in the fountain in front of the courthouses. Because your children and grandchildren can't afford country clubs. But yet we have a private development here by a multimillionaire who is from Florida, wanting us to give him a for-profit soccer stadium. And he's asking for the million dollar from the ARP, or the money left over from COVID. So you're going to give a million dollars to 8th and Spoonsboro, Boonesboro, if that's where the soccer stadium goes, to a millionaire, rather than take that million dollars and give it to one of our public parks. Or maybe build a park closer to the children who don't have mass transit. I mean, don't have the ability to get to them. That's what they're asking you to do. As a judge who has watched what is happening into our community for 15 years and knowing how much you all care about this community, I ask you to please not grant this zone change, one that is not appropriate, doesn't comply with the law, and clearly doesn't serve all the members of this community, all who deserve to be treated equally and fairly and have the same benefits. Thank you. Thank you. We have one more opposition, but before we get to that, let's take a 10-minute, a 12-minute break. Let's be back at 7.05. Thank you. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ guitar solo ¶¶ Thank you. 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We'll go ahead and continue this public hearing. And the next organized opposition was Mr. Jim Hodge. Sir, you have- Yeah. Please state your name and district, and you have 10 minutes. My name is James Hodge. Together with my spouse, Mary Ann Delaney, I live at 6050 Old Richmond Road, which is in Council District 12. I'm here speaking on behalf of the Old Richmond Road Neighborhood Association, and frankly, everyone else who's here in opposition to this. As the former Commissioner of Law of the Urban County Government, I've been given the task of drafting the findings. So I hope they've been finding out to you about two and a half pages of findings, which would support a decision of disapproval. I'm not going to go through these with you. Mr. Miller's covered everything in there and everything that's in the findings has been proved by the opposition speakers. What I do want to talk about here is something that's very simple, and that is all of my colleagues think that the soccer stadium is going to go in Jasmine County. applicants seem to say the soccer stadium is going to go in Fayette County. And, you know, to be candid, these folks are good business people. They got to cover their bases. But Mr. Todd has raised an important question. What's going to happen if the soccer stadium doesn't go in Fayette County? And so I would draw your attention to the item that's up on the screen, which to me is a simple solution to this dilemma. And that is, assuming you give the applicant credit for everything they say, it's fully their intention to put the Stocker Stadium in Fayette County. But for some reason, it doesn't work out, no matter how good their intentions are. It doesn't work out. So as Mr. Todd asked you, where does that leave you? Well here's a simple solution, and bear with me if I read this to you. But since the stated justification for the proposed zone change to B3 was that the subject property would be used as a soccer stadium and training facility, and now that the soccer Stadium and training facility will be located elsewhere, and I'm not asking you to adopt this, you could change that to say now that the Zoccher Stadium may be located elsewhere, then the council should either one, deny the requested zone change, or two, approve the requested zone change but revise the first paragraph of numerical paragraph three of the findings. Now, what I'm referring to are the findings that the staff showed you earlier. And if you go down to those findings, they had a numerical paragraph 3, and it said exactly what this says. Under the provisions of Article 6-7 of the zoning ordinance, the following use restrictions are imposed on the subject property via conditional zoning. And then they listed some things that were going to be prohibited. prohibited, we would ask you to take a slightly different type, and that is what we're submitting would say the following uses shall be prohibited. And we basically say everything that's permitted in the B3 zone except for the uses that are currently allowed in the B5P zone, in other words, the existing zoning, all the stuff and B5P, and a soccer stadium and training facility in their permitted accessory uses. And then the last paragraph of, paragraph three of the findings would be the same. So in other words, you give everybody the benefit of the doubt, you treat everybody as being honorable, but you say, okay guys, we're gonna grant this zone change and if you build a soccer stadium, you're hunky-dory. But if you don't build the soccer stadium, then you can do what's allowed in the B5P under the existing zoning. But you can't do all this other stuff in the B3 zone that you guys have no idea what they might want to do. Nor does anybody else for that matter. So this would, and this is the same mechanism used and proposed by the staff, that is conditional zoning under Article 6-7 of the zoning ordinance. So this solves the problem for everybody. If these guys can make it work economically and can put the Stocker Stadium out there and the training facility out there, and that's the only thing anybody's talked about, then they can do it. But if they decide to go to Jessamine County or Istanbul or anywhere else, then they're back to what they've got right now. They own a prime piece of B5P, and if you look at the zoning ordinance, B5P is designed specifically for interchange exchanges, interstate exchanges like this one, I-75. B3 is for places like New Circle Road, Nicholasville Road, those kind of places. So this gives everybody a win-win if you want to approve this. Now, we submit to you that Mr. Miller and everyone else that has spoken and has submitted evidence has proved they have not met the requirements on this board that's down here in front of you. that everybody agrees they're required by law to prove. And they've only tried to prove the first item. That is, it's in accordance with the plan. They haven't even tried to prove any of the rest of them. And this board's been there for a long time. I think if you look at the very bottom, I probably created this in 2012. But so they technically, I submit to you, they have not proved their case. But if like the Planning Commission apparently was, you decide, God, we got to have a soccer stadium in Fayette County, Kentucky. We cannot let this go somewhere else. Then I submit to you what I've got up on the board. You just substitute what I've got under three for what the staff's got under three in those existing findings. And it's a win-win for everybody. I'd like to reserve the rest of my time to see what Mr. Rochelle has to say about me. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for that. Mr. Chairman, Don Todd, I had reserved some minutes, and I just want to comment on two items that I forgot to mention. I'm sorry, Mr. Todd. Let me stick to my script. All right. All right. Remember, I've got five minutes. Thank you. Does the opposition or does the planning staff want to cross-examine the opposition? Or does the petitioner or the staff want to cross-examine the opposition that's been presented? None of them? I would like to cross-examine. Jim, excuse me, Jim Hodge invited me to ask him some questions on his time, which I'm happy to do so. Sir, I'm going to let you use the remainder of your time that was left from earlier. Is that going to be enough for you to cross-examine? And, Clerk, do you remember the amount? 257. I'm trying to set it up. So I'm not sure he had time remaining that he wanted to reserve for rebuttal. I'm not sure you can apply that time to cross-examination. What is our general practice in zone change for allowable rebuttal time? It's generally about five minutes, but it's within your discretion. I had written a letter to the vice mayor asking for 20 minutes for rebuttal, and that was never rejected. Yes, sir. Do you think you can, and this isn't rebuttal, this is cross-examination of the opposition. So you're going to have an opportunity to rebuttal. But I haven't established the amount of time yet. but right now it's just cross-examination of the opposition. That's correct. And I'll give you five minutes to do that. Okay. You want to come up, sir? You want to project an animal? Yeah. Oh, all right. Remember, you're under a robot. You're always real nice to me anyways. As a preamble, we were just given his proposed findings of fact, and I would like to question you whether or not this is an equine horse hearing. The answer is no. I would concur that this is not an equine horse hearing, yes. Okay. and that theme A regarding housing choices that you've cited as a comprehensive plan, that housing plans are prohibited both in the B5P and the B3 zone. Would you agree with that? Would you agree with that? I wouldn't agree or disagree. So you don't know. That's been put in evidence. You don't know. That's been put in evidence. Well, it was put in evidence that housing was not. No, everything's in there is what's in the plan. It's in the plan, but it's not applicable. Well, it's in the plan. It's in the plan, and it's not being met by this proposal. Now, you can argue all day about how it all fits together, but all this stuff is in the plan. I verified what Tom had in his presentation. That language is straight out of the comprehensive plan or the rural land management plan, and it's not being met by this proposal. Now, let me answer what, let me get something off my chest, and this is off Mr. Todd's chest more. What we've got going on in this community now, in all zone changes, is that everybody, Steve, me, Don Todd, when they did away with the comprehensive plan map, which had colors, which designated what general categories land should be used for in the future, that went away. So now everybody, and you can read this in the zoning treatises, Mr. Rochelle has to go through the comp plan and he cherry picks the language out of there that supports his case. Mr. Miller goes through the comp plan and he cherry picks out of there what supports his argument. And that's the world we're in today. That's why these findings are so long. And that's just where we are. and Steve and I can argue about it until the cows come home but that's the reality of what we face and what you have to do as a lawyer irrespective of which side you're on in a zone change now because that's the only way you can decide whether something's in accordance with the plan you got to read the whole blasted thing and you pick out and say okay this is contrary to what they're proposing so you've used that they go through there and say okay, this is in accordance with what we're trying to do. So they use that. And that's where we are, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Rochelle, this is your time. Yeah, I know. I marveled by that. I marveled by that. You're not marveled by me. I marveled by that. I would submit to you that. Is there anything that we submitted that is incorrect or the staff or the Planning Commission approval, which does not properly state our position for the comprehensive plan? I haven't. I couldn't answer that. Honestly, I could not be a smart aleck. I haven't looked at all the stuff you submitted. I got no clue about that. Well, I can't digest these proposed findings. In fact, as you know, they take a while. They're straight. The proposed findings, in fact, to be candid with everybody, are a paraphrase of Mr. Tom Miller's presentation. But they are accurate. I will attest to that. And that is, you know, you guys have got to decide which way you want to go. If you want to approve it, you use the staff's findings. If you want to disapprove it, you use my findings. And if you don't do that, then you get in trouble. As a few of you will recall, for 25 years or more, my love and pride sat over there in the corner during these hearings and scribbled out findings for each side. So that whichever way you guys went, there were findings to support what you did. And that's all that's happened here. Mr. Rochelle. I don't know what to say. Jim has just given me a history lesson. I've practiced area law for 45 years. And what happened then is not what happens now. And his findings of fact are inappropriate. He has picked and chosen, and they have nothing to do with the application in front of you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. That's the only thing you said that's blatantly incorrect. Gentlemen, gentlemen. So moving on, so there's some folks that had time left. Do you want to use that time now with a cross-examination, or do you want to save it for a rebuttal? Because next I'm going to open it up for public comment, and then we're going to go to staff rebuttal if needed, and then petition a rebuttal and opposition rebuttal. So if there's no cross-examination, then next I'm going to open it up to public comment. All right. Hearing none, we're going to move. We do have public comment. Oh, yeah. Well, that's what I'm going to next is public comment. Yeah. And hopefully you've signed in. And going to public comment, you'll have three minutes. Please step to the podium. State your name, restate your name in the council district. And the clerk will start the clock. I think everybody on this list has been sworn in. There's one person that came in after the beginning of the meeting and elsewhere that person in right before they speak. All right, so next on the list is, or first on the list is Whit Whitaker. Whitaker, District 2. Thank you, Council, for allowing me to speak. I'm the president of the NAACP. I am also the co-chair for the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington's Commission for Racial Reconciliation. I serve on the Mayor's Commission for Racial Justice and Inquality. What does that mean? There are just titles. I'm not important and probably not important to most of you. And that is the point. When you have projects like these that exclude our marginalized people, they don't feel important. I am not against capitalism. Lord knows this country was built on capitalism. And most of the time it's on the backs of those who are disenfranchised or weren't considered human beings. I'm not saying that the soccer field was not important, is not good for election. What I am saying is that when you put it so far out on 8th and Boonesboro Road, it directly impacts the use and accessibility of people, the marginalized community, East End, North Side, who can't get there. In 2012, when they built the stadium for the Timberwolves, they had an equity plan that lined out how they were going to do equitable hiring, how they were going to have all types of accessibility. That hasn't been discussed. us. You talked about community and you talked about hiring. Is someone with a GED going to be able to get those high paying jobs that you're talking about? If they get those jobs, are they going to be able to get to there because there is no bus line that was mentioned? There is no equitable access. There is no bike trails, no walking trails that go to the city. You say you talk about students. You want the students to, the kids to have something that keeps them off the street. We already have a crime problem. We already have a gun violence problem, but you're putting something out of the reach that could greatly impact their lives to keep them off of crime. And if people get jobs in these cities, like I said, they can't get to these places. Again, I am not against this institution. But if it's good enough to be on Athens-Borne's Borough Road and bring great financial impact to the city, it is as good to be in a central place in the city where there are several roads of access that everyone can participate in this project. putting it out so far, our marginalized African-Americans, Hispanic community, poor people, they are not afforded the opportunities and benefits of usage for this. We're already talking about cheerleaders and athletes and programs in high school who are struggling to pay fees just to be on cheer teams and things like this. Again, the community is crying out that they want to be involved. If this city wants to continue to say that they are a city that supports marginalized people, supports everybody, wants everybody to have access, I implore and I beg you all to be that change, to listen to the people. Again, I'm not against the facility. I'm not against. Sorry, Mr. Whitaker, but your time is up. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next on the list for public comment is Melissa Brown. It's been repetitive. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Next on the list is Dennis Yocutt. Yes, sir. I apologize if I mispronounced that. Good enough. Hello. Thank you. Thank you, Council Members, for giving me some time. I'm a resident there at 4998th and Spoonsboro. I'm sorry, please state your name. Yeah, Dennis Yalk at 4998th and Spoonsboro Road, District 12. I just wanted to make a few comments about the traffic that we'll be seeing at the stadium. I have three children, nine, three, and one. And as they grow up, my oldest is across the street at Brenda Cowan. And so we have an example of a light amount of traffic, what it does on Athens Boonesboro. And when school lets in and goes out, it's already a big problem. And you can imagine with a stadium with 6,000 people what that's going to do. So, you know, the traffic is a real problem and a real concern for us in the future. And I think, you know, having a plan for that is something that we need to think a lot about. So for that and all the reasons said before, I'm against this. Thank you. Thank you. Next on the list is Zach Skubitz. Did I get that right? You did, yes. Thank you. Please state your name in council district and you have three minutes. My name is Zach Skubitz and I live in district eight. One thing that I neglected to mention the last time I spoke at a zoning hearing was that I biked here. I bike almost everywhere as much as 15 miles a day. I do this because I choose to. I'm not a huge fan of driving. However, my preferences are many people's necessities. Not everyone can drive for legal or medical or financial reasons. I bike because I like to. But I also worry about too many cars. Personally, I think fears about traffic are a bit overplayed. I think it's more appropriate to worry about the other externalities that come from cars. More cars mean more pollution. More cars also increase the odds of a car wreck. And yes, I will begrudgingly admit that traffic worsens as well, which only exacerbates the pollution as more cars sit still on the road. I loved the original downtown plan. It was centralized and near public transit. It allowed for plenty of non-drivers to access the area. This site, as proposed, does not. The proposed development is some five miles outside Manowar and accessible only by highway. I'm crazy enough to bike that, but I'm sure most people won't be willing to do the same. I want this stadium built, and I'd like it in Lexington, but I want it accessible for people who don't drive. My dream is a dedicated multi-use path that is fully separate from any roads along the way. Recognizing that this is far beyond the scope of this hearing, but you could definitely expand the Richmond Road bike lane, I want to ask that the council consider something as simple as a dedicated bus route on game nights. If Lexington SC expects to fill a 6,500-seat stadium, I'm sure that there will be enough demand to fill a bus or two on game nights, and I'm sure plenty of those fans would rather not have to drive all the way if there's a bus that'll take them and drive for them. I also want to say a small piece on the opposition's concerns. I trust the planning department that will act accordingly if the facility does not get built, and I'm not personally worried about any kind of bait-and-switch. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next for public comment is Andrew Pearson. Hi, my name is Andy Pearson. I live at 111 Ashley Woods. I'm in District 12. I'm probably one of the only few homes that based on the geography can actually see the light posts at the new soccer fields. I am a soccer fan. I'm not a big fan of soccer. I chased my kids all over this part of the world playing soccer. I had the joy of watching my son play, start on the team at Henry Clay that won the state championship. So I'm a big fan of soccer. What I'm not a big fan of is deceit and subterfuge. I think that when you play soccer, you play by the rules. And I think in this body, people should play by the rules. I had the group that met on Ashley Woods was at my home, where they did say that we should relax. They had no intent of actually building the stadium at that location. So again, I urge you to consider that. And I'm reminded that never ask a question you don't want an answer to. And in this case, the question has been asked, is the stadium going there? And you need an answer to that. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Pearson. Next is Phillip Goodman. Hello, I'm Philip Goodman. I live at 4998 8th and Spoonsboro Road and am a lifelong resident of Lexington and Fayette County and live right next door to Ashley Woods. My presentation is going to be a little different. I'm going to talk about traffic, but specific medical needs. I witnessed on a daily basis in all times of different day, all times of the day. Traffic backups and gridlocks at times. I was at the meeting on November 2022 with the Ashley Woods neighborhood at Dr. Pearson's house and that's where Stephen Dahlhaer and Vince Gabbard said plainly, the soccer stadium will not be built in Lexington. then it's going to Nicholasville, so everybody relax. And they stated definitely that there would be other entertainment, music venue, you know, music type things or entertainment. They wouldn't say specifically what it would be. So, but the thing I want to stress is that Athens-Berrond is a vital access to all the hospitals in Lexington, Kentucky. and specifically emergency vehicles and ambulances going to downtown Lexington, drive down 8th and Spoonsboro Road, and I've witnessed them struggle to navigate the traffic. I've witnessed emergency vehicles and ambulances try to navigate bumper-to-bumper traffic on a weekly basis and at varied times of the day. At times, they are limited to a crawl or an actual standstill. It is heart-stopping to see children's ambulances and other ambulances fighting to get through heavy traffic to possibly save the life of a patient. In balancing the need for other medical care, emergency or other medical care, for the citizens of Lexington, Fayette County, and the surrounding counties, versus a private-owned, profit-driven, speculative, low-level soccer team, The choice should always be for public safety. And I hope that you all will deny their proposal for a zone change. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Lyle Hanna. Hey, I'm Lyle Hanna. I live in Lexington at 6398 Old Richmond Road. I'm quite a few miles from that intersection that we're talking about building up, but I can see the lights already from some of the stations and from the highway. So it's, you know, it definitely is going to impact us. My wife's family's lived there since 1880. She's not quite that old, but she's been there a lot of that time, and it's going to be a big, big impact to have that thing. But here's the thing that really bugs me. We're talking about the B5P and the B3. You all know what the difference is? Yeah, the B5P is six pages, six pages of things that you're allowed to build there. The B3, 155 pages. That's a big paperweight, man. That's a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff. You and I don't even know what all that stuff is, right? So we don't want to have all that stuff all of a sudden surprise us. It's bad what's coming, but that would be even worse. That's why they want to have that thing that our attorney put up there, because we don't want to say yes. it's okay to do this and then they'll do it and they've got access to all those 155 pages of stuff so that's my first second point is traffic is unbelievable i actually live out there so i know every day between five four and seven good luck because you're going to take a long time get out that stretch from man o' war even closer almost new circle road all the way out to the highway it really gets bad also it's really bad in the morning so it used to not take me much time at all to get to work now it takes me a long time if i'm going any time in those time frames so you know we got a lot of challenges now i know we're supposed to be redoing that road great but the communication about that road has been terrible just terrible the state we've talked to them about it they know it but they still haven't had any meetings to fix it so guys help us out here this thing really should not have been approved by the planning commission it was kind of bogus all the stuff they went through but we know it was passed now it's on you all we're going to count on you guys to make the stop. Thanks. Thank you. Next is Miss Mary Diane Hanna and it looks like you're getting time yielded to you from John Tucker. Is John Tucker here? Yes. Okay. And you're yielding your time to? He can come up with his wife. I'm Mary Diane McCord Hanna, 6398 Old Richmond Road, District 12, President of the Old Richmond Road Neighborhood Association, It's like Dolly Parton, here she comes again. But in talking to planning commission members before this was established, they said, oh, surely they're not trying to pull the wool over our eyes. We trust them. We think it's okay. I think at this point they're going, hmm, I believe we should have listened to you. They said that they, several of them thought that they had gotten approval that if this didn't, if they didn't build the stadium, that it would revert back. But that is not true. Tracy Jones said at that meeting, no, that it doesn't work that way. So the way that it works is you all either say no or you say yes. And then if they build it without the stadium, it goes back, I think, as a new development plan to the planning commission. And then they can say no then. And then it comes back maybe to you again, like Dolly Parton coming again. So we think you should say no to it, first of all, because of the reasons that Spivey talked about. He's at Georgetown College for two years with a three-year extension, kind of maybe waiting to see how many people come to the soccer games. They had 3,000-something the first one, 2,000-something the next one. And that may be like, well, shoot, nobody's going to come, but it is new, so we'll see. And then Jessamine County, as you see, Don Todd presented the entire plan that was presented, or he referenced the plan that was presented to Jessamine County. And that's been entered into the record. And they had a hearing, a public hearing about it. Bless you. And he needs to, we need to enter those pieces into the record. I kind of did. But they have 77 acres reserved in a development plan that they did last night entering the Dale property from the county to the city of Nicholasville. And 77 acres are reserved for this. And I've talked to planning commission members there. I've talked to the county planning and zoning. I've talked to the city planning and zoning. And, you know, it's heading that way. Maybe it's heading our way, too. and like you said, kind of hedge your bets, but it doesn't have to say, you don't have to say yes today. They could resubmit some other time if you say no. And if Mr. Tucker would like to come up here now, that would be great. All right. Thank you. Please vote no. Okay. So, Mr. Tucker, you were, you did want to give comment. I thought I had it. Okay. My name is John Tucker. I live at 57, 51, 8th and Zwollin Hill Pike. I'm here speaking out on behalf of my neighbors tonight as part of the agricultural community, which will be impacted by this development. I deal with two parks. I've got Jackson Park on one farm that I own, and I have 8th and Softball Complex on another one. It's not the kids that come to play soccer or ball that's the problem. We're dealing with a situation where those who come and have no interest in it, and their parents say, oh, well, you can go out here and play in the field. There's a grassy field out here. They don't know where the property line stops. And that's where it begins. I've dealt with this for years. Since 1970, we were promised a six-foot chain link fence all the way across Jacobson Park. I've had three arrested for criminal mischief. I've dealt with people coming and waking me up in the middle of the night from the softball field when they're closing down. Oh, my dog is back on your property and they've been chasing somebody's cattle. I meet them in the driveway with a shotgun. I'm at the point now they're wanting to build a soccer field. There's people coming and there's kids coming that's going to be unattended. And like I said, my neighbors will be impacted by it. I live across the interstate from this, but I'm still impacted from this. And so today Mr. Rochelle stood here and told us another story and I thought about it. I got some tax notices this week and it dawned on me. They're putting down AstroTurf. How much impervious surface is that going to impact our waterways? How much water fees are they going to pay to the city election for this? He also stated in his conversation today that this is commercial use property. How much tax is they going to pay? Are they going to pay an agriculture exemption or are they going to pay a commercial usage tax? These are questions that need to be answered. These are situations that need to be dealt with. This property needs to have a six-foot chain link fence built between everybody that's agriculture around it on the boundaries. I can't make them build a fence and chain link will be in like a prison, but I can ask for the farmers to be protected from this type of action. And I thank you all for your time. Thank you. Next is Edward Hastie. Yes, that's right. Yes. Thank you, members of the council. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Edward Hastie. I live at 141 Ashley Woods Road. My wife and I built a home there 42 years ago and have lived there continuously since then. Ashley Woods, as you know, is contiguous with the property line of the petitioner's property, which is subject to this zone request. I'll take a quick aside here, and then I want to make four points. The aside is that on November the 17th, I'll put the date on it, of 2022, when we had the first neighborhood association meeting, the developer was there. Stephen Dahlhaer did most of the talking and did, I want to corroborate what several others have said, we were told not to worry. This was in the face of immediate opposition from all of us. And instead of saying, oh, that's wonderful, we welcome you, we said the opposite. And that's when Mr. Daw here said not to worry. It's almost certainly going to be in Jessamine County. Now, I want to make four points. The first I will shorten greatly because it's been covered by Mr. Hodge and by Mr. Miller. But the kernel of the first point I wanted to make is that the sole reason on which the request for the zone change and the companion conditional use permit is pinned is the need to build a stadium. If there's no stadium, the whole thing evaporates, this whole request. I don't care what all the other companion buildings, training facilities, so forth are, if a soccer stadium is not built, which is the only reason a B3 is needed, then the whole thing fails. The second point I want to make is vehicle traffic. Several others have referred to that. I want to point out the huge flow of traffic, which I fight to get out of Ashley Woods and head to my office in downtown Lexington. In the morning rush hour, the afternoon rush hour, special events, UK sports, football, basketball, Keeneland, to add 6,500 more vehicles. And remember, they arrive at approximately the same time because they don't want to miss the start of the match. And then they all definitely leave at the same time. So there's 6,500 people trying to get onto Athens-Moonsboro Road, which is already a very dangerous road. That leads me to my next point, my third point, which is the traffic signal. I heard said from my friend, Mr. Rochelle, law school classmate, that a traffic light had been approved. I don't understand that comment because I had talked with Judge Goodman yesterday and again today to see if we could verify that there was a light authorized. And the answer when she today, and then I'll wind up, was there will not be a traffic light at the entrance, which is Doe Run Trail, apparently, is the one being used. And instead, it will be R cuts, which have not been decided upon yet. So it would be premature. This is my last sentence. Thank you, Mr. Hastie. I'm trying to keep everybody first. irresponsible for this council to approve this in the face of all of that. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next up, we have Ms. Jan Meyer for public comment. And Ms. Meyer, I think you signed up after we swore everybody in. So if you don't mind. Please write it right now. Don't repeat after me. Do you swear or affirm that any testimony that you give at this hearing will be true to the best of your knowledge? Yes, I do. All right, thank you. My name is Jan Meyer. I reside at 218 Shady Lane in District 3 and I am one of the people on the Planning Commission who voted for this application. I voted for the application thinking having seen a development plan that included a stadium and supporting uses, including a training facility. I liked the idea that there was going to be a supporting medical facility. And I thought that this was going to be something that was going to be good for Lexington. It was, I spent some sleepless hours thinking about it, but as it turned out, my fellow commissioners, We voted unanimously for this application, and you've heard a lot of talk about from the applicant that it was unanimous. But if you take away the stadium, you take away the training facility, and the supporting medical facility. You have an applicant here who hasn't agreed to, hasn't convinced me that this is going to happen in Lexington. They're exploring other avenues and that's fine. But if you take away the stadium and you take away the training facility and probably, you know, and I don't know if the medical facility would stay, why do we even need a zone change? So that's the question that I'd like you to contemplate. Thank you. Thank you. That's all I have signed up for public comment. Staff rebuttal. How much time do you need? I think I'll need the five minutes, unfortunately, sir. All right. You got five minutes. Thank you. And much of staff's remarks will be clarifications rather than full rebuttals. Within the applicant's statement, or the applicant's presentation, there were a few times in which the applicant referred to expansion or contraction of the rural service area. What staff believes the applicant meant was actually the rural activity centers. This is not actually a review of expansion or contraction of the rural service area. It is a component thereof. Within Mr. Miller's presentation, the opposition showed findings that were not adopted by the planning commission. It included a finding that described infill opportunities. The staff removed that finding prior to the public hearing and it was not recommended by the planning commission at their hearing. Mr. Miller also referenced infill within his presentation that again was not reviewed by the planning commission at their public hearing. There were several comments about KRS 100-213 regarding the legal basis of a zone change application. I referenced this in my presentation. In this case, the first step for reviewing a zone change application is agreement with the adopted comprehensive plan. If there is an absence of a finding, then an applicant should review the two other alternative justifications, which include a social, physical, or fiscal change in the area, which makes the current zoning inappropriate and the proposed zoning appropriate, or that the current zoning is outright inappropriate and the proposed zoning is appropriate. In this case, the applicant did not utilize any of the alternative justifications as they are showing in staff's recommendation and the planning commission's recommendation that they are in agreement with the comprehensive plan. That is the gold star of a zone change application and does not necessitate a further argument of the other two justifications. Some of the evidence that was added to the record showing lights and water was specifically associated with an area of construction for the soccer fields that were approved by the Board of Adjustment. They are not the location of the proposed rezoning. The proposed rezoning is not adjacent to any agricultural land uses at this location. It is buffered by the B5P zoning, and there is a significant distance between that proposed B3 rezoned area and the residential land uses to the west. There were several conversations about traffic at this location. A traffic study was submitted by the applicant. It is within your packet. It was reviewed by the divisions of traffic engineering, the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Division of Planning, and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. In each case, they found that it was adequate and it was representing that there was not going to be an adverse impact to this location. It will add traffic, as all new uses will add traffic to our roadways. However, with the safety projects that have been proposed for this location, there are mechanisms that are being put into place by the state further down, and that will be required as this project develops over time to alleviate safety concerns. So the MPO, KYTC, and the Division of Traffic Engineering has been reviewing this and is in constant work with the applicant as they go through this process. There were other questions about who is reviewing these plans, specifically with stormwater runoff and some of the other impervious surfaces. All new development is required to adhere to the stormwater manuals as well as the engineering manuals. These have strict regulations that guide applicants through the construction phase of their application or of their proposed site and mitigates those impacts. They are supposed to be adhering to all of the standards during construction and post construction. These are all elements that are reviewed by the division of engineering, division of traffic engineering and building inspection as the process goes on. That's all I have, sir. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer. All right. Thank you, Hal. Petition or rebuttals? Mr. Rochelle? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And you have five minutes as well. Let me try to get us refocused. We are here for a zone change from B3, a restricted zone change from B3 to B5P. Both are commercial zones. Excuse me? Oh, excuse me. Thank you, Charlotte. I stand corrected. That is all we're here for. And that request is a conformance with a comprehensive plan, and we have specifically shown you why it is in conformance with the comprehensive plan. Let's talk about what we're not. We're not encouraging any farmland, as may have been suggested. We are staying within the Rural Activity Center, as we're supposed to. We are going to have several uses of this location, and we have been over those with you. But the most important is the training facility, which is adjacent to the fields that are under construction. So everyone that plays and practices those fields and comes to those fields for regional tournaments will have safe care. And then Sam Stockley pointed out all of the reasons, the other lancelary reasons of why we have to have that. healthcare facilities, banks, restaurants. We can have a vibrant area within the area where we're supposed to have it. It's already zoned. And we request that you all approve that tonight. Now, concerning the stadium, my client has been more than forthwith. starting back with the meeting with Ashley Woods, Mr. Dahl here and the other people who were there who I can't call totally disagree with what these neighbors have said. But regardless, that is factual. That is not material to this case. What is material is a zone change in front of you from B5P to B3. Now, I can't guarantee you the stadium will be here. We told that to the Planning Commission. We're doing the best we can, and the reason we're even talking to Jessamon County is because of the two-year delay to possibly get you all to approve it today. And there's been threats from the Ashland Woods Neighborhood Association of Litigation, so we don't know if this is the end of the end or the beginning of the end, but we have to have a decision today which would allow the zone change for all the reasons that we have discussed. Now, making a couple comments, it is really a shame that Julie Goodman chose to introduce racism into this discussion. And the reason is she's trying to get the African-American vote today. Listen, if there was ever a sport that is inclusive and on the world stage has many black athletes, white athletes. It's soccer. It's a sport for everyone. You don't have to be rich. Those that can't afford it, we have established scholarships to help those people along, particularly immigrants, and we pay for their travel expenses. What's the benefit to us? Nothing other than to be inclusive. And to say that Masterson Station is too far to go out to Athens-Boonesboro Road, listen, I'm a proud, proud grandfather. I'm missing my grandson's birthday party right now. Both of my children work. All my children work. They all play soccer. Their children, the grandchildren all play soccer. And they get them where they're supposed to be. It's part of the bonding process. You don't have to be rich or poor, or it doesn't matter what your ethnic or racial background is. It's a bonding time when they travel to the various soccer fields. Right now, I hate going to Masterson. On Saturday mornings, it's way out in the middle of nowhere, but nice soccer fields. This soccer change is not solely about the stadium. We've made that clear. At the Planning Commission level and tonight, it's about something much more important, and that is a comprehensive plan. And this request is a conformance with a comprehensive plan. I'm running out of time here, I'm afraid. But as I said at the Planning Commission, everybody that spoke after me is throwing stuff on the wall. They're hoping they don't take. The Planning Commission solved right through it. If we want a stadium here, if we want to have a vibrant area at the corner of Athens and the interstate, we need to approve this zone change. Simple as that. And all of the other reasons stated, the Planning Commission heard, and they unanimously rejected that. Thank you all. Thank you, Mr. Rochelle. um opposition rebuttal uh mr todd there's several of us that reserve times that uh i'm going to give you that so it's how many how many organized is it is only three of you remaining yes um i'll let you use your reserve time is that going to be enough for you yeah i'll be i'll be quick and i'll leave my balance to judge Judge Judge Judy Goodman. Judge Judy Goodman. Judge Judy Goodman. in the record and secondly there was a meeting on april 10th public hearing was held in the city of nicholsville on april 10th um mr chairman this is about time to be admitting uh additional this rebuttal they brought it up i can rebut it that's what rebuttals for i'll agree i'll allow it the rebuttal thank you and in their particular hearing down there this was on the tiff application It was publicized in the Jesmond Journal on two separate occasions. They had a public hearing. There was no opposition to their TIF application. So the purpose of those two documents shows that they genuinely have made an application in Jesmond County for the soccer stadium. Now it's on the open. Everybody knows it. So the question that I want you during your question period to ask him is, okay, you've indicated that you've made that application. and all the notations and documentations in your application are correct, are they aware that the Dale Farm in Jesmond County, they just voted to annex it yesterday for the purpose of this particular proposal? So if they are aware of that, what assurances are they going to give us? If they locate the stadium in Jesmond County, what assurances are they going to give us with relationship to our B3 zone change, assuming you approve it. What protections are they going to give us? I'd like for you all to ask them that question. And those are the two points that I want to make a rebuttal, and I yield the balance of my time to Julie Goodman. Thank you all. Thank you. So, Mr. Hodge, did you want a rebuttal? And I think you also had a balance of time as well. Yes, sir. Again, Mr. Chairman, members of the council, I appreciate all your time and how long we've been here. I'd just like to make basically two points. I've been practicing law over 50 years. I've never seen anything like what's happened in this case, where an applicant goes to the planning commission, sells a project with one concept and then goes on the record in print in the newspaper and says, we're not going to do the project that we sold to the Planning Commission. But give them every benefit of the doubt. Honorable people, all of them are honorable people. If you want to approve this, The solution starts with what's up on the board with sub A and goes through the words accessory uses. So it's the following uses shall be prohibited. And then you've got three little lines there. Otherwise, that's identical to what the staff has proposed. The only difference are those four little lines. And that protects you guys from being hoodwinked if these folks aren't honorable people. But I'm giving them the benefit of being honorable people. I mean, they try hard to do it in Lexington, and it just doesn't work out. This language will protect them, it will protect all the neighbors, and it will protect the Urban County Council. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Goodman. I simply want to say one thing. I have more respect for the people of color who are on this committee than obviously Mr. Rochelle does. I did not bring racism into this. What I told you is a public servant who has served in the capacity as a judge in the judicial system, I see what we, even as a court system, when we live in ivory towers and when we see a situation, don't realize how our decisions, if we're not careful, if we're not diligent, can affect people who do not have all the same as others. That's all I said. There was no intent to ever bring racism into it. It was simply an intent to say, as another public servant who sees every day what our systems can do if we're not careful to our marginalized societies and to the people who are less fortunate, that is all I'm trying to say. We have got to be so careful for that when we make these decisions because we are the people in power. And how we decide affects everybody in this community, not just the privileged. And if I've offended anyone, I apologize. But that was never my intent because I have much more respect for the people on this council than obviously Mr. Rochelle does. And the only other point I will make, every neighbor that stood up here and told you what we heard the developers tell us in november of 2022 stood up here under oath and i of all people value the oath i take and every other neighbor did but i will note mr gabbard sits in this audience and mr rochelle says oh he disagrees but i don't see mr gabbard under oath standing up here and saying that's not what we said just for the record thank you all Thank you. That's it for rebuttals. Mr. Brown. If I may have just a minute or two. So this is the next item on the agenda is summations. It's summations. Is our staff, do y'all have any summations? Sir, I will just go quickly. The Planning Commission and the staff did review this application in its total. Staff stands by our recommendation of approval and the Planning Commission made a recommendation at their public hearing reviewing all the facts in the same way that you are reviewing them here today. At that meeting, the Planning Commission did recommend approval unanimously on this application, not because of just one aspect of the application, but the application in total. If you have any questions as you go along, staff is here to answer. Thank you, Hal. Mr. Rochelle, do you have any summation? Again, the record you have before you from the staff and the planning commission and from the applicant is for a zone change which is in conformance with the comprehensive plan. it's in conformance with the rural land management plan for the for the rural activity center all of these items were addressed at the planning commission they were unanimously rejected the same cast of characters were there they don't they haven't had any new arguments tonight and you have got to support your planning commission particularly on unanimous recommendations i wish we weren't here if you're going to have if you're going to have a zone change hearing at the request of a council person with his own changes located for unanimous recommendations you're going to spend all your time up here all your time up here and why else do you have your planning commission especially when it's unanimous in conformance with the staff's recommendation the applicant spent months and untold dollars to come up with these excuse me the various reports of traffic as I said earlier if you're gonna have a vibrant community you're gonna have increased traffic and the Department of Transportation is dealing with this. The idea that there might have been a messy stream, a brown stream from construction nearby, that is sandbagging. Anytime you have construction, eventually you're going to have a couple, a little brown water and you're going to have some construction lights. We have done everything possible to make sure that this zone change will not have any negative impact on our neighbors. It is interesting. They have not in any way challenged the B3 zoning. They haven't, they want to talk about ancillary issues. And concerning Jessamine County, we have been forthright with you all. We have been forthright with the Planning Commission. We cannot, we're doing everything we can to build a stadium here. And we had to seek other alternatives. Actually, we didn't seek them. They came to us. We would appreciate your affirmative vote in confirming the Planning Commission and their recommendations. And thank you. Thank you. attention thank you any summation from opposition yes so out of the sake of time and trying to keep from being repetitive can can one of can one of you just give one of you just give summation and for the opposition we have different You know what's on here. Okay, I'm going to do it. All right. I want to clarify the law for everyone who hasn't done this before or done it a whole lot. What's on this board is what the applicant has to prove in order for the council to grant a zone change. But the law is clear. Even if they prove number one, that's in accordance with the plan, the council does not have to grant the zone change. only if they prove that the existing zoning is inappropriate or that there's a compelling need for the use in the county do you have to grant the zone change. They've only argued number one. So even if they are correct on number one, given what has happened in this case with what we've explained to you about what is so unique about the saying they're not gonna do what they said they were gonna do. Even if they prove number one, the case law is clear. You do not have to grant the zone change. You can turn it down and you can use the findings that we propose to turn it down. Or if you wanna strike a middle ground, you can use the language that I submitted in the other exhibit. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Yes, sir. I'd like to have one minute. I have different clients, and they want me to make two points. I would ask the council members to ask the staff this question. Has there ever been a zone change of intensification in a rural activity center? Ever? I don't think so. You're going to set a precedent here that's going to open up an issue beyond the rural service area or beyond the urban service area. That's a major issue. Ask them that question. I honestly don't know that answer, but I can't from my recollection, and I've been doing this 50 years. I can't remember a specific instance. Remember there are three rural service areas that are public properties. Obviously they don't need zone changes. This is the only private one and I don't recall any such incident. Steve made the mention that well, yeah, they went to Jesmond County and they had to file their options, but the planning staff approved it unanimously. The planning staff didn't know at the time that they had an application pending in Jesmond County and they had all those issues. They were not aware of the fact that they had submitted that development plan or that had applied for and were approved for tiff uh monies it had they known that at that time as miss meyers testified to you it had been a different ball game thank you thank you all right that's it for summation uh how was you gonna say something oh uh council members do you Do you all need to take a break or are you all ready to go into questions? I think I've seen a sign for a break. Five-minute break? Let's take a five-minute break. Let's try to be back at 820, and then we'll go into questions for council members. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The End Thank you. Thank you. The End The End ¶¶ Thank you. Okay, y'all, we're going to come back in session, but before we get started, please no outburst. Let's try to be respectful of everybody here, every participant, every witness, council members and everybody in here, let's treat this with some respect and some decorum. So thank you. So next, as we get started, first council member up for questions is council member. gray thank you chair um first question is for the petitioner um mr rochelle um do you plan to build a stadium on the lending question i thought i had explained that no it's a yes or no all right do you plan to build a stadium on the property in question yes thank you next It was opposition number two, the second gentleman. I don't see him in here. I believe it's you. You stated, if you open your eyes and see regarding four points. I didn't catch those four points. What were those? I think you're talking about the zone, the basis upon which the zone change is considered. I assume that's what you're asking me. No, I'm just asking you what your four points were regarding open your eyes and see. And you said you had four points. I'm sorry, I don't recall saying that. Was that me? Yes, it was. Okay. Well, I mean, the four points were, and correct me if I'm wrong, they had submitted a proposed development plan to the city of Nicholsville. Are the proposals in their development plan accurate? Are they aware that the Dale Farm had been annexed by the city of Nicholsville for this purpose? And do they acknowledge the effects of their zone change? and if they in fact choose the Nicholsville site as opposed to Lexington, what assurances will they give Fayette County as to the land uses under the B-3? Okay, thank you. Okay. Next up, Ms. Goodman. You showed an exhibit of something that appeared to resemble a creek. Do you have any video to show what it looked like prior? Well, what you see is the actual stream. Do you have any video of it prior? Well, that's what it is. We have streams, all of us, and what's happened is our streams... So it is a stream. We all have blue streams on our property that go into the river. I mean, we are a blue streams, all of us, and ours flow towards the development. But what happens is the development is flooding into, because they've done away with all the area that would keep their water where it needs to be, and it's all flowing into our streams and getting our streams muddy. Okay. And also, do you have any, you showed lights, you mentioned lights and truck sounds. Yes. Do you have anything, video showing what it looked like prior to them being there? Well, yeah. Well, I don't have video, but prior to it, it was a wooded, treed, beautiful farm area. So you don't have any? Well, I just have limited time, so I'm just trying to. No, I'm sorry, because we all knew what it looked like before. It was a wooded farm area. So next, my next question is. Me? Yes, ma'am. Oh, okay. You made statements regarding the site of town. The way? You mentioned they. They live on. Never could be able to join. You mentioned the country club. You mentioned they would never be able to make it to that side of town. Could you please clarify what you were saying? What I was saying is I was talking about, it might have been Ms. Fogle maybe that talked about, she was very eloquent when there was the battle over the parking. It was one of the council members, and I apologize if it was not you, Ms. Fogle, but I watched that, the battle over raising the parking rates. So it was regarding parking rates. Remember when you all? The hearing? Yes. And she talked about how raising it would affect her ability to bring her grandchildren because they didn't belong to country clubs. Thank you. And could you please clarify your statements regarding the transportation, that people were too impoverished to find transportation or transit that would change, or that was basically what was insinuated. No. What I had talked about, and I've seen this over the years, I have often seen people in my courtroom because I have fine payments when I was a district judge. I only have 17 seconds, 16 seconds, 15. Okay, well, and they couldn't even come to my fine payment because they didn't have a vehicle. Okay, thank you. And next, I have the coach. Ten seconds. It's going down. Do you plan to do any outreach with your club? 100%, yes. We're already in that environment with Box2Box. We brought those guys in and that community in, and we sponsor them, and we give them scholarship for those guys. It's a big part of our plan to be able to reach out to all the outreach and schools. Okay, thank you. Council Member, you can sign back in. Oh, I can? I was rushing, y'all. Sorry, I didn't mean to be disrespectful. If I was, I was just going through my questions. Yeah. Council Member Fogle. Thank you. First, I would like to clarify a couple things to both sides. What you see before you sitting on this new council are three very, very strong black women, two of which have studied law. So I myself have this spiritual discernment and an ability for a BS detector born with it. So with saying that, what I've seen in the past, and I have 11 grandchildren, by the way, KBA was put out in off of Nicholasville Road and that was a basketball arena. Came and got the inner city children because they were great athletes, built that program. But what happened was, even though they had scholarships, we couldn't get in. The fees were so high to come and see our children play. And take me, I got 11 grandkids. I got to pick who I get to take because everybody can't cheer because we all can't afford to get in the stadium. So I think, who would I ask this? Is there a fee to get into this stadium if it is built? because I heard this revenue of $2 million and we're all sitting up here and it's budget time. So when you talk about we're going to get some extra money, then yeah, we smiling. But what's the cost of that extra money? So I don't know who I pose this question to as far as is there a fee to get into this privately owned stadium? It's a great question. Once again, Vince Gabbard, President of Lexington Sporting Club, thank you for the comment. For the events, for the games, for the professional games, yes, ma'am, it will be a ticketed event, just like we're charging right now at Georgetown College. But for our youth events and a number of the community things that we have planned and that are programmed as part of that, there will not be fees for a number of those events. There will be some for team fees. So when we attract tournaments and we bring teams from all over the country in, those teams will pay a fee to come, but that's part of their team fees for coming. Those numbers that we showed on the economic impact pieces are revenue from salaries that are generated for employees of our organization on the site. And the other numbers that we've submitted to staff also include the hosting of tournaments and the hosting of games and people from traveling from out of the area coming and spending the night staying in our hotels, eating our restaurants, creating tax revenue for our area that wouldn't exist otherwise. So I have four of my children that come to participate, and I want to bring the rest of my kids to see them in the team games. Do I have to pay to get in? No, ma'am. You will be able to come and watch your kids in those youth tournaments. The same way that all of our teams go and we watch our families and those families participate in other youth tournaments. Okay, and so as I lean toward transportation, because that's really not your issue, even though it's really out Athens. I tried to go out there to buy a car at that dealership that's out there in Athens, and I thought I was in another state by the time I drove out to Athens. But so that's a relief because right now our gun violence is so high. We're looking for something for our teens to get into to attract something other than gun violence. I was just having some issues. I don't want any of you all ever to think that when you talk about race, which is a huge factor because we're watching soccer fields. I'm just going to talk. I'm not going to say we. I am. I have 15 parks in the first district that needs attention. And then we have a private setting who's going to come in, and then there's a million dollars. I catch everything. That could be given to you all, but we need the million over here on the north side. So that's bothering me. And then everything that went down. Now, we stand for the letter of the law. That's what council does. Then I saw a poster that talked about four elements, and I'm going to sign back in because I'm really intentional on we ain't going to break the law. And if the law says it has to be this way, I'm not going to break the law. I can't speak for the other council members. I'm not going to break the law because I remember the last time I broke the law, Judge Overstreet gave me 10, and I ain't going back. I'm done. Thank you, Council Member. Next is Council Member Plowman. Thank you, Chair. And thank you to everyone tonight for your voices and your being a part of this important conversation. And especially to my colleagues for being here and for your commitment to listen. And appreciate all of that. One thing that I wanted to point out is that our council role tonight is to approve or disapprove this zone. This zone change request came to us as a result of the planning commission who was brought the development plan that included a soccer stadium. And that's why we were voting on this. But the soccer stadium was driving that, so to speak. So what I would like to do, and I'm going to probably come back later for some comments, but what I wanted to do is to ask Mr. Bailey and Ms. Tracy. If we were to deny the request tonight, we said no. What would be the process where it would go in the timetable? What would happen next? And on the same token, if we approve it tonight and we find out that it's drastically changed, the development plan has changed, it's not coming in there, tell us, kind of look at those two different tracks and share that with us, if you would. Yes, ma'am. So if the zone change was disapproved by this body, the applicant would not be able to continue forward. This would end their ability to move forward, barring any appeal to any circuit court. At that point in time, they would be able to appeal any decision that you made for specific reasons. If this application were to be approved and if the applicant did not go forward with a soccer stadium, they would be held to Article 21-7E, which specifically states within the regulations that stipulate what must be done for development plans with a final development plan, which they need to build any of their project, the Planning Commission could disapprove that final development plan if it deviates significantly from what they are proposing currently with the preliminary development plan. Could they start all over again? If they start all over again. But I mean, could the whole idea come back in a different form just for that property? So if this body disapproved the zone change, they would have to wait a year's time to come back to this body to apply. They could ask for some alleviation from that, but within our zoning ordinance, it does have a time requirement for them to wait to come back. Okay. I just wanted to make that clear to my colleagues and to the public that those were the two options that we would have. And I'll come back later. I'm really interested to hear my colleagues and their thoughts. So thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member Plowman. Next is Council Member Savigny. Thank you, Chair. I have just a few questions for our legal team. And I just want to make sure, and actually our people, did the applicant, is the conditional use already approved through Board of Adjustment? Well, the conditional use has been approved, but not by the Board of Adjustment. And here's why. There is a provision in KRS that allows if an applicant is applying for a zone change, and part of what they intend to do on that property also requires a conditional use, and they file them at the same time, then the planning commission can hear the zone change and the conditional use at the same time. That's what happened here. The statute does not provide for the council to hear conditional uses. So the conditional use has been approved, but it is subject to the zone change being approved or else it will no longer be valid. Thank you for that clarification. I appreciate it. And then I just wanted to make sure, is both Mr. Gabbard and Mr. Schacke, have they been sworn? I think, right, correct? Yeah, I got a quick question for each of you. Mr. Gabbard, we've heard from multiple people tonight that said that you were in their home, in their subdivision. having a conversation. And so I'm going to ask you specifically, did you say something that would lead them to believe that we won't be putting a stadium there? No, sir. In the spirit of transparency, we did say that we were looking at other options and we did have other options that we were looking at, but we never said that that was a definite that we were going somewhere else. I can assure you of that. Okay, so there's nothing that you could have ever said that they would have construed as we're not putting a stadium there? No, sir. Okay. All right, and thank you very much. And then Mr. Shockey. And it could be that I, like this, you know, this has been going on for a long time, so it could be that I misunderstood what you said. But I did hear you say several times we're putting a training facility here. We're putting a training facility here. And I actually didn't really hear you say, I don't recall hearing you say, we're putting our stadium here. I do apologize. I'm not in those conversations, but I certainly do hope the stadium is going there. I would like the stadium and the training facility to be in the same place. Okay. But you're not part of that decision? No, I'm not part of those decisions. I'm the sporting director, so everything to do with performance, to do with building teams, development, and everything to do with the men's pro team. I'm not involved in the build. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. Next is Council Member Sheehan. Thank you, Chair. First, while I ask my first question, could someone from the planning staff put the development plan up? And then while you're working on that, I wanted to know from our planning staff, has anyone seen the plans for the updates to Athens Boonesboro Road that have been discussed today? I see Tracy Wade coming forward, thank you. I wanted to know if there are any multi-modal pieces of the design to update to the road like are there bike and walking paths or like a complete streets model that would allow for other types of transportation beyond cars that's a great question so just beyond this site the richmond road r cut project involves extension of a trail from i believe yorkshire and squires Squires, there's a trail existing or a connection being built that goes over to the peninsula and eventually over to Armstrong Mill. That Squires trail connects to Richmond Road and then there will be a trail along the, I guess, eastern side of Richmond Road that would come out to Jacobson Park and then extend to Hayes Boulevard and beyond. there's a connection within that neighborhood old chilesburg road that would allow the connection into the residential neighborhood as well and i think the hope is to keep it moving along that side of richmond road out to brenda cowan and then ultimately be able to connect to this development as well i believe there were conversations early on about rather than sidewalks sidewalks on both sides of these local streets, that there was an interest in including a shared use path on, you know, standard sidewalk on one side and maybe a shared use path on another to increase the mobility. And again, with bike and pedestrian infrastructure, our city has to do that in a way that almost seems a little hodgepodge, but it's small connections that eventually make a really great system. Thank you. You're welcome. And then on the development plan, this question is for the petitioners, and I'm not sure exactly who over here in this group would answer it, but when Josh Lewis was speaking, you talked about other businesses contacting you about use of these spaces. So I'm looking at these other red buildings, and I would like to know a little bit more about what those are and then where would these other businesses that you're talking about go or be incorporated into this? Sure. Some would not fit or could not fit on this current plan, but it was a purpose of just introducing that we have. There's been quite a bit of interest in the site for uses other than the B5P, but most specifically, I don't know if I can do this or not, but most specifically the large building there to the north west, which is a long, elongated building there. Let's see which button. There we go. This building here. So that's a medical office building is proposed, and there are specific users. I can't disclose who they are, and certainly without the zone change, their participation would not be possible at this site. These locations here would all be either office or a bank or retail or could be entertainment types of businesses, some that would possibly fit in the B5P, some that would not. And then certainly the training facility here has been discussed, which would require a B3 zone as well. So the businesses that you're talking to would fit within the spaces that are defined here and would not require significant change to this development plan? Certainly with this and these here, that's correct. Okay. But what about in the rest of the space? This space here? Well, this is where the stadium's being proposed, right here. And then everything else is not a part of the zone change request. Okay, I'm just thinking about the conversation that we're having about what could potentially go in this space if it was B3. And so my question is, are you having conversations with other businesses that would not fit within the spaces as defined in this plan? No, because we don't have the ability to put them here at this point in time, but they have reached out. There has been activity. There have been people that have requested and have approached us about the site. But, no, we're not in active conversations that I'm aware of. The place, other than this one here, this is very specific conversations here. And then, obviously, these, what I would consider supportive uses for both the soccer training facility and the stadium. Okay, thank you. I'm out of time. I'll sign back in with other questions if I have them. All right. Thank you, Council Member. Next up is Council Member Legree. Thank you, Chair. This first question is for Mr. Bailey or Ms. Wade. I'm looking at the conditional use permit conditions and the supplemental staff report on the conditional use permit requests. And I just want to start with what I think is a simple question. So it's my understanding that what we're reviewing right here is a B3 zone change request with a conditional use for an outdoor athletic facility. And is that correct? It's actually for a stadium. Stadium. Yes. It's specifically lined up. Thank you. And then there are associated conditions with that use. Is that right? So this body will not be reviewing the conditions for the stadium or the conditional use permit, as that is only under the purview of the planning commission. But for that to go into place, it is incumbent upon you to pass the B3 zone. Okay, excellent. That's very helpful to me. And then Council Member Plowman asked a question that was helpful to me, and I just want to reiterate. So what we're talking about is a B3 zone change. But part and parcel with some of that discussion, as usually goes, is some discussion of a development plan. And what you were saying earlier is that if the development plan changes substantially, then it goes back to the planning commission for another form of review. Is that accurate? That is accurate. this applicant would have to submit a document to the Planning Commission no matter what. Even if they do propose to finish the stadium out at that location, they would have to come back for a final development plan. Any modification of their preliminary development plan would either need another preliminary development plan or a final development plan that shows that change. If the Planning Commission saw a significant change from that, they could disapprove it at that location. Okay. And when we say stadium, there isn't any kind of clarification on professional stadium or use stadium or stadium type. Is that accurate? That is accurate. Okay. And so because the conditional use permit conditions are not part of our discussion today, then I was going to ask some questions about lighting screening, fireworks, things of that type. Is that appropriate to this discussion or not? So it would not be something that you could affect with this zone change. There were conditions that were applied that are within your packets to the conditional use that limited those aspects. Okay, that's helpful. I guess those are my initial questions. Thank you. I'll sign back in if I follow up. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next is Council Member Baxter. Thank you, Chair. Don't go too far. Okay, so many questions. Where do I want to start? Okay, we were asked to ask you a question of if we have ever intensified a rural activity center in the past, and your answer would be? Absolutely. This rural activity center has experienced several different zone changes, either to the B5P zone or to the light industrial zone. The light industrial rezoning occurred in 2021 by this applicant. Okay, thank you. And then you spoke briefly about the history of this particular parcel, and I know that it's been vacant for what feels like a million years. Can you tell me again when the last time a development plan was filed on this property? I can find that information out. But it's been a while. It has. Okay, great. Looking at a B3 zone, I saw somewhere in all of the notes that it is considered non-residential, correct? That is correct. So a mixed-use development, such as the summit, we're going to use that as an example, could not exist in this location. Is that correct? Not based off of the recommendations of the Rural Land Management Plan. Okay. So as we are looking at the potential of this being something else further down the line, that could not be a possibility in this particular location? Not under the current plan. Not under the current plan. Okay. Hold on. Okay. And then is it within our purview to, I know we've done it in other zone changes. is it within our purview on this particular zone change to have a condition requiring a fence yes it is but only on the portions of the properties that are being rezoned in question okay hold on let me see what else so many pages um and so council member lagree um had you answer the question about um substantial changes to the development plan which we are not approving today we're approving the zone change but if there is a substantial change could you tell me what qualifies as substantial it is under the the purview of the planning commission at that point but staff would review it based off of the justification that was made by the applicant for the development so a substantial change i i hesitate to give specific examples, but it would be based off of what the applicant has proposed, has provided their information, their justification, what they're showing on their current development plan, and what they were to be proposing. Okay. I think that's all I have right now. I'll sign back in if I think of something else. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. Next up is Council Member Lynch. Thank you, Chair. And my question is for the petitioner. Could you please talk about your engagement, your public engagement regarding this process? I think it would be better to have my, I have not done that, to have my client discuss that. I didn't go to those meetings. Okay. We actually had multiple meetings throughout this process. And because we've had so many overlapping processes, I'm trying not to blur the lines. But because of the way that we've went with this development, the fields on the backside of the property, the stadium site, all of that, we had initial meetings with Old Richmond Road Neighborhood Association, myself and Mr. Lewis and Mr. Boaz with our engineering firm, went and attended those meetings and laid out some more of the larger site plans that we had. And then, as you've heard multiple times now, we did go to the Ashley Woods neighborhood in November, and Dr. Pearson and his wife were kind enough to allow us to utilize their house for that meeting and met with those neighbors to try to, again, explain the options that we had, what we were looking at, and what our overall goals were for the rezoning piece. So with what we were discussing and deciding on tonight, was that meeting in November the only engagement you had with the surrounding neighborhood and residents? Only thing formal. We've had a number of, well, in addition to the process that planning does. So we've had, you know, through that whole hearing process, the conditional use and all of the various committees, those were also part of that formal process as well. But the only other formal meeting that we had was that November meeting with the neighborhood association. We've all individually had a number of phone calls and emails and conversations on an individual basis, but the formal process was the planning process and that initial neighborhood meeting. Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next is Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Chair. Staff, please. We're here about the zone change from B5 to B3, but we're also here about the stadium. is it all about the stadium or is it just about the zone change because the stadium is being part of that because how do we protect the community if we're talking about the stadium but it's a zone change so when we look at all applications we look at them as a total so within the applicants justification letter they did talk about the stadium as being an economic driver in connection with the sports fields below, as well as the training facility, the medical offices, and some of the outlaw development. So with staff's review of the applicant's justification with all of that in mind, not just the stadium, if it was to be professional or non-professional, we looked at it in total and made a recommendation that this was in agreement with the comprehensive plan and the rural land management plan as this increased the economic opportunity and the B3 zone specifically in the intent section talks about increasing economic viability at this location. So and this would go back to the significant change and that's when to go back to planning commission if they don't do a stadium but they do other stuff that would be part of but not all of. I believe that when you are looking at this application you have heard different elements the training facility the medical facilities if they came in for portions of the property to go forward with, say, the medical facility, they would be able to do so with a final development, phasing in other elements of the site. So if they were to come in and not do the soccer stadium, which covers a large portion of the area that is being rezoned, they would be required to justify that in front of the Planning Commission, and the Planning Commission could deny that or disapprove that based off of a significant change. Mr. Hodge gave us a piece of paper that had some changes to, I guess the findings of fact. Have you looked over those? Staff has looked over this, both planning staff and law. From the planning staff's perspective, the tremendous amount of restricted uses as proposed by Mr. Hodge goes away from some of the perspectives of conditional zoning restrictions that are laid out within our zoning ordinance and within KRS. They are supposed to be thoughtful and used sparsely. So this essentially limits the project to a B5P zone with a soccer stadium and training facility. It's problematic for the training facility in the way that the applicant has described it because it involves several different aspects of the B3 zone. We don't have a specific training facility use. What they described today during the hearing included indoor athletic facilities, offices, and a few other uses within the B3 zone that it's somewhat problematic to disallow. Furthermore, the justification that staff provided that Mr. Hodge said you can just keep that last paragraph and it will work, staff does not believe that that works because it does not address those uses that Mr. Hodge is proposing to limit. And Ms. Jones, if I've missed anything with that, just with Mr. Hodge's recommendation for conditional zoning restrictions. I mean, I think Hal's pretty much covered it, but the provision in KRS that allows you all to have conditional zoning restrictions, which, by the way, I think we've talked about this in other forums, but, you know, the urban county government is the only jurisdiction in the state of Kentucky that can do that. They are restricted to certain things. And so I have some pause about it because if you read it the way it's written, it says to all uses permitted in the Highway B3 zone except, and then it lists two. One of those is the B5P zone, which it already is zoned, and the other is specifically a soccer stadium and training facility and permitted accessory uses. So just so you understand the impact of you all putting a conditional zoning restriction on any zone change, once you do it, it follows that zone wherever it goes. And as you know from last week, the only way it's coming off is if you have another one of these hearings and you all vote to take it off. Can I follow up with that then? And so if we put on the restriction that if a stadium is not built, that we revert back to the existing zone, is that appropriate or allowed? I don't believe that's allowed under the statute. And let me tell you the reason why. The section of KRS that talks about that is talking about when you are creating your zoning ordinance, it tells you what you can put in the text. and it says that yes, you can put that in the text of the specific sections. But we didn't do that for these sections in the zoning ordinance, so I don't think you're permitted to do that. I think the only section of the zoning ordinance that allows for a reversion is a B6P. Okay, my time's up, but I'll come back to that. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Fogle, before I recognize you for a second time, I have a few questions I want to take a first pass at. So how I have a few questions. Can you talk about the planning commission's ability to disapprove an application? What does that look like? And what are the inflection points that the neighborhood would have if the stadium didn't go forward and another development plan came? How does that work? Yes, sir. A development plan is submitted during our typical schedule. They would have to go through two committees and then have a public meeting. The first committee would be the technical review committee. It's just looking at things from a technical aspect. And then they would have a subdivision committee meeting. This is the first time that some of the members of the Planning Commission are able to review the application. At that point in time, staff would also have a recommendation as to whether or not this deviates in a significant way to present that to the Planning Commission. with the conversation at that committee there would be a recommendation to the full planning commission at both committees members of the public are welcome to attend at the planning commission public meeting they are welcome to go ahead and voice their opinion and objection that this is a significant deviation it would be part of the process in which the planning commission would hear the different aspects of this the planning commission as you heard from one member today, they would have significant concerns with any change like that. And staff would have significant concerns with any change like that. At the public hearing, we did say we don't do bait and switches in our community because we have a professional staff that watches out for some of these things and a very diligent planning commission. Okay. And you're confident in the tools that we have in place to keep that from happening and the planning commission's process in regards to the community having input on those development plans? I'm confident in our planning commission and our planning staff, sir. Okay. All right. Let me ask you about, and maybe you don't know, the transportation, public transportation down that corridor. Do we have public transportation that goes to Jacobson Park or any, are there any bus routes that go down that far or in proximity? No, sir. They are able to work with Lex Tran to generate, I know that one individual from the public mentioned on specific game nights or something along those lines. Lex Tran does work with different service or trolley service to different games. So that would be an option, but there is no dedicated route currently. Okay. Well, let me pivot and ask that question of probably Mr. Gabbert. Have you all had any conversation or any thought about how to approach Lex Tran or to create opportunities for public transportation or to get folks out to the facility if it moves forward? Yes, sir, we'd be more than happy to work with Lex Tran. In fact, early on in this process, I sent a couple emails to Lex Tran staff that I never got replies back. And it may have got caught in spam filters and other things. So I'm not blaming them in any way, shape, or form. But that's our willingness to work with them is absolutely wide open and we would welcome that opportunity. Does the team currently have an equity statement or have plans to address some of the concerns that were brought up early about access and opportunity for folks that might not always be adjacent or close and have the opportunity to participate? Yes, sir, absolutely. And we work with all of our coaches, Sam can speak a little bit more acutely, but we work with all of our coaches as well. that if there are families, we have a lot of families that carpool despite transportation. needs just schedules of themselves but we we make every opportunity that we can on our side to make sure that we give every kid that wants to play in our club the the access and the opportunity to do so okay so so let me pivot a little bit so the stadium what are what are the typical hours of games once once it gets to that point and what are the hours what you know how many how many games in a season and what are the hours and normally are the games held so currently our men's first Our men's professional team that's playing at Georgetown College, we've got 16 home games in a calendar year. Our first games are in March, and we go through the middle of October, and hopefully if Sam's successful, we'll go into the first week of November through the playoffs and the championship. All but one of our games are on Saturday evenings with a 7 o'clock start time. A lot of that gets dictated by the league that we're in because all of our games get streamed on ESPN+. But most and the large majority of our home games will be 7 p.m. games on Saturday evenings. Okay. And ending around what time do the games normally let out, do you think? They're 90 minutes, and you're done. So by 9 o'clock, the games are typically over. And at Georgetown, the parking lot's been cleared at the latest by 940 each of the three weeks we've had home games. Okay. All right. Thank you. I have a couple more questions, but I'm going to circle back. Next on the list is Council Member Focal. Thank you. So we know that our safety officer staff is like bare minimum. So is there a plan? Do you have your own built in? Would you have your own built in safety officers to direct that traffic to get out of this area? bam yes ma'am we work with the city on on that we're doing the same we're doing very something very similar georgetown scott county with the county sheriffs and the city department uh as well and i spent 12 and a half years at keeneland as our chief operating officer and worked really very closely with lieutenant van breckel and his staff and making sure that we had all the right traffic management and people management plans okay so i need everybody to bear with me right now okay I'm a new kid on the block. So answer this. Since we can't see the conditional use because this fouling was done at the same time, so that blocks us from seeing what the conditional use, was that the intent to make sure, you know, because we would have had a whole lot of questions about conditional use. And I don't know who that goes to. I'll take it over here. It's a legal requirement. The KRS sets forth who hears conditional uses. And the Kentucky Revised Statute is in Chapter 100 that addresses zoning, Board of Adjustment, planning. And so in that statute, normally a conditional use would go in front of the Board of Adjustment. So you all still wouldn't get it. It goes to the Board of Adjustment. But there is a provision that allows when a zone change that involves a conditional use is filed, that both can go at the same time to the Planning Commission. That's what happened here. That's sufficient for me. Thank you so much. Now, here's this old bait and switch. I keep on hearing about this bait and switch. I really don't know where you're going with that, but I kind of feel a strong arm tactic. And this is from just personal experience. So this goes back to the conversation with the folks who live in the area. And Council Member Brown has been schooling me on this about asking the question and getting the answer you want. So the question was, did you tell these residents that something about the stadium? And then the answer was, no, we never said that. However, if in my opinion, you told these residents, well, we've got other offers. We're going to make offers down the road. That is a strong-arm tactic. And here we are, here I am, sitting up here, still thinking about the budget. We need money. If I hear we got another offer, when I played basketball for Kentucky and and we was trying to put our best defense in there, which is usually me taking a charge. But we had a tactic that we used. Valerie Steele was the scorer. I was to make sure the best player on the other team failed out. That was the tactic. If I hear we're going to build and then we talk to the planning people and there's an area picked out, then me as the resident is going to think, okay, well, they're not going to build here. They've already got something else going. That is a tactic, and that is a bit deceitful in my eyes. I don't know where that goes out there, and I haven't made my mind up yet. I just want to put that on the table. Just me as the everyday citizen and new council person sitting here. And no one has answered my question about are those four points law on that board. That's the last thing I want to say. If somebody can tell me if that is like, is that the conditions of what we're here about the zoning? does all of those points have to be met or just one of them just one just one so the one and or no just one one or the board is not reflective of what the state law how it reads the board is an excerpt from a case a lexington case but it's not what the state law says It's a reiteration that a judge wrote. It isn't. It's from the Fritz Farm. Okay, I didn't mean this cause no harm. I'm learning this stuff. KRS 100 says, and our zoning ordinance, local zoning ordinance says the same thing. Here we go. before any map amendment is granted the planning commission and now or the legislative body that's you all must find that the map amendment change to the zone is in agreement with the adopted comprehensive plan that's what we have to find in the absence of that then one of these other things must be considered so you have to there has to be a finding that it's actually not in agreement with with the comprehensive plan and therefore we're looking at these other options in terms of approving a zone change. So the first thing is always is it in agreement with the comprehensive plan and if you meet that, that's all you need. Thank you. Councilmember. I'm here for three and a half hours and it comes down to that. Next up is Councilmember Ellinger. chair mr hodge i was going to have as have you come here because i want you to talk about your um proposal and i think you have a couple other things i need to respond to your question no no that's that's your respond to my question yeah i want to know about this okay i don't want to open up for other stuff no that's all i want to do is respond to your question okay all right now if if If the important thing here is that it's sort of been raised in the last minute is section 6-7 of the urban county government zoning ordinance is based on KRS 100.203. Okay. I've got in front of me the treatise written by Glenn Price, a preeminent zoning lawyer in Louisville, and our own Richard V. Murphy, who all of you all know is a zoning lawyer here in Lexington, who I hired when I was commissioner of law to work in the law department. All right. KRS 100.203 says, amongst other things, in urban county governments, in addition to any other powers permitted or required to be exercised by the chapter. The text of the, and Tracy's right, it's talking about the text of the zoning ordinance. The texting of the zoning ordinance may provide as a condition to granting a map amendment that the planning unit may, A, restrict the use of the property affected to a particular use. Section 6.7 does not prohibit this body from restricting the use to a particular use. But our proposal doesn't do that. it restricts it to the stocker facilities and everything permitted in B5P. So going forward, the property owner, whether it's these guys or somebody they sell it to, can then from a zoning standpoint, use the property for these soccer uses or any permitted use in the B5P zone. So it's a whole bunch of uses. Thank you. Now I guess I want to hear from the law department on his interpretation. Well, you know, it's hard to disagree with Mr. Hodge when he prefaces everything he says with I'm the law commissioner. But let me say, and I disagree in part. 6-7 of our zoning ordinance does mirror what KRS 100.203 says about conditional zoning restrictions. So what I'm saying to you is, if you choose to do this, I'm not going to tell you you're strictly prohibited. However, as you know, your decisions may or may not have to stand up to challenges. And I am concerned that when we have a zone change in front of you all tonight, to change from a B5P zone to a B3 zone, and you add a condition that basically says we're eliminating everything in the B3 zone except for what's in the B5P zone, which is encompassed in the B3 zone, and a soccer stadium that you're sort of doing an end around on what you're here to do. So, I mean, I guess if you don't agree with the B3 zoning and you don't think it accomplishes what is appropriate under the comprehensive plan, which is what you're required to follow, then maybe you should disapprove it. But if you think there's been a case made to you that a B3 zone is compliant with the comprehensive plan, then you should maybe approve it. But I'm not going to tell you absolutely no, you can't do this. But I'm just saying it might make it difficult to stand up to a challenge because you're eliminating all the uses in the zone that's being requested, except for what's already there in the existing zone of B5P. Thank you. My time's up. Thank you. Councilmember Laguerre. Thank you, Chair. I have just a follow-up question based on some of my inquiries earlier. Just so I'm clear, questions of light pollution, sound pollution, maybe the use of chemicals or runoff, are all of those addressed in relation to, again, the conditional use permit conditions or no? No, ma'am. So within the B3 zone, you can have a conversation overall of the B3 of light pollution, air pollution, sound pollution. Those are all nuisances that are produced by many sites. Within the zoning ordinance, there are specific provisions that limit the production of light pollution. We have specific regulations that limit the height of lighting within parking lots. We also have specific provisions that state that no light should flow onto a neighboring property. In terms of storm water or any type of runoff, those are required to meet the storm water manuals, which incorporate a fair amount of best practice management activities. Okay, thank you. That's helpful. One other question when i look at the b3 zone and then kind of the conditions we have in front of us you know you shared earlier in the staff report already there were a couple of prohibited uses for example pawn shops adult entertainment retail sale of automotive parts etc if we wanted to add an an additional prohibition, for example, something like car washing establishments, would this be the place for that potentially or not? Yes, ma'am. The conditional zoning restrictions allow you to restrict uses, as Mr. Hodge has presented as well. The only thing that you would need to add is a finding for why you are limiting that restriction, and that is one of staff's concerns with the large list that Mr. Hodge has presented. Okay, excellent. That's helpful. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next, Council Member Floman. Thank you, Chair. And this is for Mr. Rochelle. Question. If the stadium is not built, how would you feel reverting back to the original? Well, I don't know any of the property. We should probably have my spokesman client here. But I think they would say that absolutely not. That this zone change, apparently I have not done a good job, or the staff has not done a good job. This zone change is a lot more than about the stadium. it's bringing to life 37 acres of underutilized land, which is in conformance with the comprehensive plan. And we have noted all of those items, banks, restaurants, medical facilities, and so forth and so on. We want this property to come to life in conformance with the comprehensive plan. And I've never seen a comprehensive plan that doesn't more specifically point to a piece of property than the rural land management plan in this instance. So we would not agree to that. Is that correct? That is correct. And I would disagree that the B3 for that land out there is appropriate. So, you know, that's, I think when you've got over 400 different B3 options that can go out there for that particular area, close to the rural action, rural center. I'm curious, where does that come from? I thought there was 31. What are you making reference to? I'm called blindsided. No, I'm just talking about the acreage there that was going to have the, are you talking about the 400? I'm talking about the uses. I'm sorry, I missed part of that conversation. Well, this is how many different uses there are in B3, how many different options are. I thought we heard that it was going to be close to. There are only, I can answer this question. There are five pages that are in reference to the B3 zone. There are four pages that are in reference to the B3 zone. In the B3 zone, there are 31 principal primary uses. Of those 31, several of them have been disallowed or recommended to be prohibited by the planning commission and the planning staff. Within the B5P zone, there are 11 principal primary uses. Okay, thank you. Thank you. And also, Mr. Hodge, can you come back up? Yes, ma'am. Just going back to the proposed revision that you brought before us before. And just a response again to what Ms. Jones just said in terms of kind of, could you respond to what she just shared with us? I'm supposed to get my hearing aids changed week after next. Could you repeat that, please? Yeah, Tracy Jones had just talked about the revision that you had suggested, and she had some concerns about that. And I just wanted to see what your reaction were to that. And, Ms. Jens, maybe you want to reiterate that? You know, when you're undertaking something that hasn't necessarily maybe been done right here, if you're a good, defensive, cautious attorney, you may not want to undertake that for fear that you're going to get embroiled in litigation. But any time anything in any zoning matter comes before you guys and it goes against somebody, there's a chance they may litigate it in the circuit court. I'm confident that what we've proposed here is expressly allowed by the enabling statute that I just quoted and by your zoning ordinance. Now, you know, I can't guarantee that. Nobody can guarantee what might happen if, in fact, there's litigation. But the statute expressly says that you can limit a zone change to a particular use. But we're not even suggesting that. we're giving them all the uses in the B5P zone plus all the proposed soccer uses. I might add the statute also expressly allows the council to place time limits on the project. So you could say you got to build the statute and it says not less than 12 months. They could say you got to build the statute, you got to build the project within 12 months. Well, you know, you could say you've got to build a project within two years. You've got to build a project within five years. We didn't ask for that stuff, but that's available to you as a tool if you would want it. Thank you, Mr. Hodge. All right. Thank you for that. Council Member Sobigny. Thank you, Chair. I have a question again for Mr. Gabbard. And it might require the real estate investor as well, I guess. Here's what I'm trying to find out. Have you done an extensive search for property in Lexington and Fayette County? Yes, sir. And let me, if you don't mind, I'll give you a little bit of process. And this will also address some of Council Member Fogle's concerns as well. So I would remind, and Mr. Rochelle touched on this, but reminding the council that we started this over two and a half years ago with the first submission with the RFP that was issued by the Lexington Convention Center Corporation to develop the high street parking lot. And we put all of our eggs in that basket, went through that process, ultimately pulled out because of demands and things that were put on the project. Then we focused on Newtown Pike and getting a text amendment, and if I get my verbiage wrong, Hal and Tracy, let me know, but getting a text amendment for an ED zone to allow a stadium. And it was actually, we went to that site at the behest of a couple council members at the time that thought that that might be a good option for us being in that part of town on the interstate doing that. We put all of our eggs in that basket because even though we were successful at the procedural steps in order to deliver the stadium in a timely manner to the market that we're required to by our franchise agreement, we decided to pivot and look at other options. Having been fooled twice at that point, we decided not to put all of our eggs in a single basket. We looked at multiple sites through that process. And before we started on the new town, looked at a number of sites, probably 50 if I'm guessing a number, including reaching out to the city and offering to be a part of the Cardinal Run North project, reaching out and looking at, I forget the name of the park, but there's a park over off the end of Polo Club Boulevard over in Hamburg, but the acreage wasn't large enough for that piece of ground. The park that sits adjacent to Lexington Christian Academy that the lacrosse fields play on, again, site wasn't big enough for what we need. So we looked at Coldstream. We approached the university about working out something with... All right. You're good. Okay. You've looked. Okay. Yes, sir. And I appreciate that. Um, and does the size of this site, um, your business guy, can, can you manage the stadium and everything that you want to do on this property and make money as a business? Well, it depends on, depends on which business line you consider making money. Yeah. Um, it's, so I can tell you from the soccer club standpoint and through the generosity of our owners, um, the soccer club itself is not profitable. as it currently sits because again we've given out over a hundred thousand dollars of sponsors and scholarships and thirty thousand dollars worth of uh expenses that we've covered for our families and our kids to travel um the hope is that that the the other parts of the businesses will will help support that thank you and is your desire to have everything on one site or does your business plan like you probably carved this up a bunch of different ways and a different bunch of of different scenarios is your best option for your business to be all on one site absolutely there's no all of the businesses benefit from everything being in a single location okay and that's not only on the revenue side but on the expense side as well thank you that's what i wanted to know sir appreciate it thank you council member um i got one more question for maybe two people and that's uh mr todd and miss goodman thinking about the b3 zoning are there any undesired uses in that zone that you want to mention that from the list of potential uses are there any desired uses that that stand out that are undesired can you give us a second real quick to look yes sir yeah and council members since i don't see anybody else signed up to ask questions of the you all go ahead ask them any more questions then i'm gonna close the public hearing after this and then allow us opportunity to deliberate amongst ourselves mr chairman a question are you effectively asking us to add some more uses to our proposal proposed compromise no my question is there any specific uses that the the neighbors in the neighborhoods and stakeholders are concerned about being allowed in the b3 specific uses well in in all fairness to the neighbors i can't speak for the neighbors i can only speak for for myself ethically. But do we want festivals and concerts without any understanding what they are or aren't? Carnivals? Yes, we don't want any of those. Do we want pool halls? No, we don't want pool halls next to our homes. Do we want kennels, large kennels with animals? No. Do we want gaming operations or casinos? No. Absolutely not. But I can't go through this and say to you, Dr. Yolcutt doesn't want automobile repair shops. He doesn't want cocktail lounge. Well, I guess it's safe to say that you're opposed to zone change. I just wondered if they, and I was asking for an opportunity to list any specific uses. Yeah, I definitely don't want the gaming operation that is just a gaming, a game operation of any kind. I don't want off-track betting. I don't want casinos. I don't want any of that. I don't think it's appropriate for the area that they're trying to put that into. Okay. Okay. There's a concern that if this doesn't go through, a gaming proposal will be next. If we can exclude that, that would be helpful. Very helpful. Okay, all right, thank you for that. All right. All right, council members, if there's no other questions for them, I'm gonna go ahead and consider this. I think they, they, they. Do you wanna say that? planning do y'all have a clarification or a comment well i'm i'm just i'm i'm just because i'm trying to look the same thing what they're doing but i'm trying to go through b3 and i just want it to be clear i i don't believe that a permitted use in this b3 is gaming and casinos anyway yeah so i don't know how we'd strike it if it's not there just just for clarification i just i just wanted to give them an opportunity to air if there was some specific uses that they had concerns about. So thank you for that. So council members, I'm going to, excuse me, sir. Excuse me. For your business, it's in the information that was passed out, I think. Yes, sir. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and consider this public hearing portion of this closed, and then I'll open it up for council members' comments and questions or motions. Council members Council member Baxter Thank you chair First of all I just want to say thank you to everybody who has been here tonight and invested so much time and energy in this We've heard a lot of information tonight We've heard about an underutilized piece of property that's been vacant since 1968 We've heard about an entity who wishes to invest significantly into our community in an unprecedented way. You even said breathing life into an area. We've heard opposition from concerned citizens who've spent numerous hours investing in this process, and I thank you. That is what civic engagement looks like. But I want to address a few concerns that I heard tonight. In every single zone change, we hear a conceptual plan that allows us to envision what a parcel could look like in the future. We are never guaranteed that the proposed development plan will come to fruition, but we do have protections in place in the event of significant changes. Planning in our city is not easy. Every step is met with opposition. And a few of those issues that we have heard about, one is traffic and safety on Richmond Road. As a member of the MPO, I know that the state and the city are invested in traffic and safety improvements on Richmond Road, but those improvements have been met with opposition at every turn. I understand the equity piece. However, our community has said no to downtown and to Newtown Pike, and we have essentially pushed this development to the outspurs of our town and out of reach of a lot of people. We've pushed it so far as to where, in my opinion, the applicant is now looking at external locations outside of Fayette County. We have been very unwelcoming, and our planning process has, that's what we've turned into. Every entity and every business that comes into our community and wants to do something that's different from the status quo is met with opposition, and I'm very, very frustrated by that. We can't always say no to everything. We just can't. Every single change in our community will have growing pains. It's just a fact. We cannot continue to build a wall around ourselves. We cannot continue to shut ourselves off from the rest of Central Kentucky. We have to make proactive changes to help our community grow and better itself. So, I have a motion. I move to adopt the findings of fact as stated in the recommendation of the Planning Commission in support of approval of the Zone Map Amendment request PLN MAR22-00023, IVCP 8th and South, LLC, located at 5380 and 5354, a portion of. Changing the zone from an interchange service business B5P zone to a highway service business B3 zone for 30.24 net, 37.36 gross acres. So moved. Second. Second, yes. All right, a motion was made to accept a finding of facts and second it. Are there any questions or any comments on the motion? I have some comments. Is it me chair of the meeting? Is it appropriate? Do I have to pass the gavel? Okay. All right. Before I vote on findings of facts, I just want to share some thoughts and concerns. I appreciate everyone coming down here tonight. I appreciate the neighborhoods for sharing their thoughts, coming down here, sharing their concerns, and being intentional about their consideration for how we grow and develop as a community. I appreciate the petitioners for filing the application and not giving up on Lexington to be the home of the professional soccer team, stadium, and practice fields. All these decisions that we make as a council, all these decisions that we make in zone changes are not easy decisions. They're tough decisions. But I think they've got to be decisions that we take all factors into consideration. Our past, our present, our future, and what we want this community to be going forward. I want the soccer stadium here. I think the soccer stadium needs to be here. I think we've got to give an opportunity for the soccer stadium to be here if it's going to happen. If we don't do something to give it an opportunity to happen, it won't happen. And it will go somewhere else. But I do share the neighborhood's concern about a bait and switch. I don't think, and from what I heard from our lawyers tonight, that we don't, without this being something that's questionable, I don't think we have the tools to put something in place to have the zone revert back to what it was or what it is if it moves forward. But I think we do have the tools in place to safeguard against the development that this neighborhood don't think will be beneficial for us going forward or beneficial for the surrounding areas. When there's a bunch of lawyers in the room, I was always told to listen to the lawyer that represents you because that's the one that's going to fight for you in court. And I think our lawyers are giving us advice on how to move forward with this zone change in this decision. Appreciate all the thoughts and input. But I'm going to vote in support of the final effects because I think it's something that we need to do if we want to give the soccer stadium an opportunity and a chance to be here in Lexington. So thank you. Next speaker is Council Member Plumman. Thank you, Chair. I will be in opposition of supporting this. A lot of reasons. You know, I think on the big picture, I think our community deserves trust. And I don't think this has been handled the way it should have been. I think when you have, and I think, Council Member, when you're straddling, you've got one foot here, you've got one foot here, and you're concurrently doing things at the same time that really aren't focused on the heart of what is best for Lexington. I just, I felt all along that this was not the right place, especially where it is in the rural area out there. The zone changed to B3, and what happened if the stadium doesn't go there? Then we're there, we're stuck with that B3. Lack of access to our whole community. I think knowing that activity that's been going on in Jesmond County, like even last night, the plan's already been submitted. The right hand not knowing what the left hand's doing, in my mind it's a lack of trust. And so I am in opposition of approving this, and I wish it was handled differently. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member. Next is Council Member Ellinger. Thank you, Chair. I've been supportive of a stadium here in the soccer. I'm excited that they've come here and that we have an opportunity to have a professional team here. I'm not happy with, as a lot of people talk about, the bait and switch. What's going on in Nicholasville really doesn't sit well with me because I feel like we're getting played a little there. but I have confidence in our team over there in the planning that's going to look out for us and look out for this community if there is some significant changes that are going to come back to the planning commission. Hearing them gave me confidence that you're all going to do the right thing, and I hope you all do the right thing, and we all can coexist out there and be proud of Lexington and what you're going to provide out there. But I am concerned about what's going on outside of Lexington, but I sure hope that you all do the right thing here. And I really hope that the planning staff does the right thing and make sure if they do do a bait and switch that you all take care of that. Thank you. And I will support it. Seeing all the comments, I think this is a roll call vote. Clerk? Hold that, clerk. Council Member Fogle. This is my first zoning meeting. And because I am a council member, I can't say it's my last, but I wish it would be. not because of the time even though I should have been home quite some time ago. I guess I just don't know enough right now being a new council person. I am very disappointed in what I've seen and heard. I heard about the scholarships but history has shown me that those scholarships will not be for African American folks. You know, I don't know what schools you all have contacted or how the scholarships would be used. And so usually our children have been left out of the process a lot. And it's not just your soccer field coming here. But what I would like to know is, would you give us that million dollars? You don't need it. I mean, you've got plenty of money. And can we have the million dollars? Can you just reallocate And maybe we can, like, get our softball fields and just our teeter-totters in our 15 parks renovated and upgraded. So, but I do kind of feel for the residents. I think that at the end of the day, what God teaches me is, like, if you have good communications and the trust factor is there, then we're not here to 10 o'clock at night. And I think there was a misstep somewhere. But I'm going to go with my fellow council person. I don't know you all very good, but I'm going to trust him that he's trusting y'all. And I'm going to go with that because we're a team. And so reluctantly, I still oppose it, though. I oppose this. I oppose it. And for those reasons that it wasn't up front, it wasn't open enough for me, I wasn't educated enough, and it just seems like just a simple, true conversation, God-led, God-fed, that we would get here. Professional soccer, well, I guess I'll learn a new sport. And I trust you too, Council Brown, and the rest of you all. You know, we'll see. My mom used to say the proof is in the pudding. Please don't make liars out of us, because I know people. Thank you all. Thanks both sides. Judge, you didn't hear that. Thank you, Council Member. There's no one else signed up to speak, so. clerk i'd ask to take the roll council member ellinger council member baxter council member focal no council member gray yes council member lagree yes council member lynch yes council member monariz council member plowman no Council member Savigny? Yes. Council member Sheehan? Yes. Council member Fred Brown? Yes. And council member James Brown? Yes. Thank you. I love democracy. Oh, sorry. Next. Is there a motion? A second. All right, the motion. So I would entertain a motion to approve the ordinance. Second. All right, a motion has been made to approve the ordinance and second it. Is there any discussion or conversation on the motion? Hearing and seeing none, clerk, I'd ask you to call the roll call vote for the ordinance. Council Member Ellinger? Council Member Baxter? Council Member Fogle? Council Member. What are we on the floor for? It's an ordinance. I'm sorry. On the ordinance. Just say no. Say no. Yeah. You got to say it in time. No. Councilmember Gray? Yes. Councilmember Legree? Yes. Councilmember Lynch? Yes. Councilmember Menares? Yes. Councilmember Plowman? No. Councilmember Sevigny? Yes. Councilmember Sheehan? Yes. Councilmember Fred Brown? Yes. Councilmember James Brown? Yes. Thank you. Council Member Fred Brown? Yes. And Council Member James Brown? Yes. Thank you. All right. Second. So, just for clarity's sake, you did give a second reading at the beginning of the hearing, so we don't have to give a second reading. Okay. So, thank everyone for coming out tonight. Thank you, council members, for taking the time. Thank you all for engaging us in this process. And with that, I'd entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. All right, a motion was made and seconded to adjourn. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. And there's none that oppose? Thank you. Yeah.