Okay, good afternoon everyone. Welcome. It is November 30th, 2023. I'd like to call this meeting in order. It is now 1.30. So imagine Lexington 2045 comprehensive plan, public hearing. Staff. All right. Mr. Chair, members of the commission, submitting for the record copies of the legal advertisement for today's meeting. And then also to pass around to submit the public comment that we've received since your last work session on this topic in December. So today is the culmination of a two-year effort to update our comprehensive plan. At its most simple, the comprehensive plan is a visioning project for communities with zoning, and in Kentucky that's enshrined by our state statute, KRS 100. Every five years, our community endeavors to reevaluate our 20-year plan by looking back at what's been successfully implemented from the current plan. analyzing updated community data and demographics, and then asking the public to engage in telling us how their priorities might have changed or evolved, and what issues have arisen, and what they want Lexington to prioritize going forward. A great deal has happened in Lexington and across the country since 2018 that has raised new issues and questions about how cities can best serve their residents. A national racial justice movement and an increasing human and monetary cost of climate change and disasters even in our own state have brought about an acceptance of the need to address climate change. And so with that as the backdrop for this comprehensive plan update, we're going to take a quick look at how Imagine Lexington 2045 has come together over the last two years to address these issues. So Lexington has a long history of developing and implementing comprehensive plans dating back to 1931. It's emblematic of how seriously Lexington takes the issue of managing and guiding growth and development. That in turn has created an attractive and desirable city that continues to grow, and it's that cycle that reinforces itself. We plan for growth, we learn from the plan, then we evolve and improve the next one. That process starts with developing goals and objectives. By statute, this process includes a recommendation by the Planning Commission and final action by our legislative body. But the simplicity of that process doesn't really acknowledge the year-long effort of public engagement that's undertaken to gain as broad an understanding of what the community wants to see and their aspirations for the city. Their needs for infrastructure, recreation, transportation, land uses, utilities, housing and jobs. The comprehensive plan shapes and impacts all of those things. And the goals and objectives portion are what define the priorities for the rest of the plan. So once the goals and objectives are adopted by the Urban County Council, statute also requires that we develop elements of the plan in support of carrying out the adopted goals and objectives. Since the 2013 comprehensive plan, Lexington has moved to a policy-based plan which addresses the three statutorily required elements, land use, transportation, and community facilities, through five themes, growing successful neighborhoods, protecting the environment, creating jobs and prosperity, improving a desirable community, and urban and rural balance. that are covered in these themes that encompass and address all of the required elements. And the concluding two themes lay out action items designed to implement the plan and also include a tool to assist in guiding land use decisions. So the groundwork for Imagine Lexington 2045 started in November of 2021 with advanced planning for public engagement. That outreach lasted through June of 2022 when the Planning Commission began the evaluation of that input and began reviewing draft goals and objectives. In February of this year, the body recommended a set of goals and objectives to the Urban County Council. And throughout the spring, the council undertook their own additional public process to hear from the community once again, and in June adopted a set of revised goals and objectives. The outcome directed staff and the Planning Commission to identify additional land for inclusion into the urban service area. Since June, staff and the Planning Commission have continued working on updating the themes of the plan to incorporate that important task, while also developing and updating long-standing policies to support sustainable development patterns and through increasing our opportunities for infill and redevelopment. The full draft of the plan was presented in mid-August and was followed by another month of public engagement to hear feedback on the required elements. So it's important to point out that while the 2022 on the table wasn't as large as the one that took place in 2018, that thanks to our partnership with Civiclex, we were able to document that the engagement on this plan was representative of the community's racial and ethnic makeup. A carefully curated survey with over 2,400 responses provided vital feedback about how residents feel about their city. The enhanced data collection from this on-the-table effort told us that community priorities by race, age, zip code, neighborhood, and educational attainment. The feedback and data not only helps create the goals and objectives, but also serves as a guide in updating the themes. In theme A, in growing successful neighborhoods, the updates here included incorporating the Mayor's Report for Racial Justice and Equality with new action items focused on planning education and building community partnerships so that we both acknowledge the role that historical planning practices have had in driving segregation, displacement, and inequality, but also improving how we engage people that typically aren't involved in the planning process still today. In theme B, protecting the environment, an extremely ambitious statement about achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 was adopted as part of the goals and objectives by the Council, and thus numerous policies were added to begin that process. everything from establishing our baseline greenhouse gas inventory to comprehensive carbon reduction plan to improving our oldest and most attractive carbon capture technology, our tree canopy. The environmental policies in this comprehensive plan are a monumental update and step forward in beginning the process of acknowledging the impact of climate change. In theme C, the goals in prosperity, The updates here focus primarily on the prosperity of Lexington residents through addressing the needs for both our employers and our workforce with abundant attainable housing options, while also addressing our serious need for subsidized affordable housing. In theme deed, improving a desirable community, the most significant update was acknowledging the mayor and council's adoption of a complete streets policy. The resulting policies and action items needed to implement that policy will have wide-ranging impact on all aspects of growth and development. Supporting that work requires continued efforts to update our zoning code to create more walkable, less car-dependent development patterns complete with housing and services in close proximity. In theme E, on preserving our urban and rural balance, we set forth very important accountability policies on addressing climate change and racial equity and incorporating those goals into the very structure of local government. And if that's not enough to fill 20 years' worth of work alone, this chapter also identifies critical near-term growth policies for addressing the development of newly added urban land through an already underway master planning process. But it also calls for completing the work of improving how we make those decisions in the future. Other cities in the U.S. have taken the example that we set with the creation of the urban service area to new heights and shown how to address both preservation and future growth. Developing a growth management plan that acknowledges the reality of future growth and ensures that it will produce sustainable development while meeting identified needs remains one of the most important implementation tasks of Imagine Lexington 2045. With this most recent comprehensive plan, we're now 10 years into using a policy-based comprehensive plan to guide our land use decisions. In 2018, you adopted an innovative enhancement to that policy framework with the Place Builder. The Place Builder provides clarity and transparency in the development process for all the interested parties. It grants flexibility and opportunities for innovation and new development and redevelopment. It connects comprehensive plan policies and the goals and objectives to actionable criteria. and it aids in the evaluation of development proposals. This tool walks applicants, the public, and decision makers through the process of evaluating a development proposal through the lens of every single policy in the comprehensive plan, and it starts with public engagement followed by a thorough examination and review of determining the appropriate place types and development types by looking at the existing built environment. Five years into using Place Builder, staff undertook a top to bottom review of each aspect to look at which development types and place types needed updating as well as the recommended zones in each category there were minor modifications made to the descriptions of the downtown corridor and new complete neighborhood place types as well as updates to the suitable development types for the corridor and new complete neighborhood categories within the regional center corridor and new complete neighborhoods the recommended zones were updated slightly to reflect the associated changes in the goals objectives and policies of this plan. We also looked at which development criteria were redundant, unused, or perhaps included in the incorrect locations. Some place types like the industrial and production center, enhanced neighborhood, and regional center place types saw the addition of a few new development criteria. While the remaining four saw a decrease in the applicable development criteria. And so with this very brief summary, the staff would like to take a moment to thank all of the different partners that helped lead and work on public engagement efforts. I want to thank the Planning Commission and the Urban County Council for their work in getting this document to this point. And to thank the thousands of Lexington residents and dozens of local organizations that have weighed in over the last two years. But at this point, if the Planning Commission has any questions on the presentation, I'd be happy to answer them. mr chairman if you'd prefer we can go right to the public comment and then we can answer questions at the end so uh we can open it up right now okay unless we see fit do we have any comments for staff good oh i'm sorry i thought you said something no okay okay I know, I know. I'm just messing with Ms. Thomas. Okay, thank you, Mr. Taylor. Okay, at this moment, we're going to do public comments. You do so by stepping up to the podium. I did not have a name or a sign-in sheet. Do we have one up back? Okay, great. We'll do that. Each individual will have three minutes. The timer will be up on the screen there while you're speaking. Okay. Okay. First up, we have Mr. Scotty Baszler. Yes, sir. Thank you. I was just here to play defense. I'm all for you. You did a good job. Anybody else talk, I might do it later, but I think you did a good job. That was a quick three minutes. Thank you. Next, Dean. I can see that a lot of effort and thought has gone into the comprehensive plan. I may not agree with 100% of all the content, but I see it as a great tool to grow Lexington into a better place to live and work. It considers a wide variety of issues and references solutions from other communities around the country. It attempts to leverage modern thinking about urban development and learn from mistakes that Lexington and other communities have made in the past. My biggest concern with the current principal plan isn't with its contents, but with how it will be used and enforced. It lists lots of suggestions and guiding principles, but in and of itself will not achieve the specified goals. it will require the planning commission and other boards and government agencies to follow its guidelines and suggestions when taking actions based on the handling of the urban service area expansion some members of the planning commission are willing to stretch the guidelines to the limit or a little beyond in order to circumvent or subvert them without buy-in and acceptance of the comprehensive plan by the planning commission and other agencies the The comprehensive plan isn't worth the paper it's written on. It will only be effective if the intent and goals of the comprehensive plan are accepted and acted upon. Thank you. Aaron, Michael. Good afternoon. My name is Aaron Michael and I am representing Fate Alliance today. Thank you for your hard work and commitment to the City of Lexington. Alliance appreciates everything you've done to help move our city forward. Aside from the mandated expansion of the USB, we believe the proposed comprehensive plan is the single most inclusive and forward-thinking comprehensive plan in our city's history. We are excited about the potential of this new roadmap, but we must acknowledge that expanding the USB makes many of the other policies so much harder to achieve, policies we would like to see come to fruition. Expansion will divert our city's finite resources, time, money, and public services from being invested in existing communities. We have yet to complete project recommendations from the last comprehensive plan, including Imagine Nicholasville Road and Imagine New Circle Road, on which we've already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's unclear if we can afford to update our current infrastructure and maintain our high-quality public services while also building and serving brand-new neighborhoods because we haven't been told how much it will cost to do so. We applaud the staff and commission for the numerous important efforts they've moved forward since the last comprehensive plan. On the table showed us that infill and redevelopment is still the preferred growth strategy for our community and research proves we have thousands of remaining vacant acres inside the USB. We recommend using our resources to prioritize areas for infill and create financial incentives alongside policy changes to lay groundwork for real change, change our community has asked for. Numerous policies are included in Imagine Lexington to achieve environmental sustainability, but are contradicted by expanding urban sprawl in our community. Officially using the land we have first is key to protecting our environment both now and in the future. There is no question we must promote job growth and grow our economy, and we currently have hundreds of acres and millions of square feet of vacant business space inside the USB to do that. The issue here is not land availability. We recommend that we focus on our strengths, leverage our assets, and build upon our city's unique identity, which requires preserving the productive rural areas that support it. We will continue to support completion of a new, long-term process to guide future growth decisions and appreciate the staff's discussion of the same within the proposed plan. We strongly recommend that work on a new process begin immediately, and not be postponed until 2025. Each decision made now sets precedent for the future. A mandated expansion of the USB is a hindrance to the policies of Imagine Lexington. However, we do believe there are still ways we can move our city forward in a smart, sustainable way, and Imagine Lexington outlines many of them. Thank you to everyone for their thoughtful work on Imagine Lexington and for basing a majority of the plan on data, research, and public input. We appreciate your consideration of all of our recommendations and our full position statement on our website. Thank you. Thank you. Nathan Billings. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen of the commission, as you know, my name is Nathan Billings with Billings Law Firm. I speak today on both myself, who has a fairly active land use planning practice, and my client, Del Ridge Farm. To introduce the record today, I'd like to introduce all of the urban growth management advisory work, minutes, videos, and submissions that were prepared and worked on in August and September, the santec sewer capability study the goal for work group report the city's sustainable growth study and kytc's 2022-28 enacted highway plan including expansion on winchester road and and the resolution and the map that was adapted by the planning commission on october 26th i would respectfully ask the commission to add those as appendices to the comprehensive plan should it adopt the plan today at the october 26 meeting as you know this commission made a decision without public input without data without analysis to make changes to what was a robust discussion and factual background research and analysis regarding the expansion area map by doing so the in my opinion commission violated the goals and objectives that the city council had adopted in June. While the resolution appears to say that it won't be effective until a time of an amendment to the comprehensive plan in November 2024, because the Planning Commission has already undertaken that work and acted on it, the adoption of a comprehensive plan today that is inconsistent with that act a month ago could in fact violate KEROS 100 and be inconsistent with the goals and objectives. As a result, I'm going to ask you to not approve the comprehensive plan today. To staff's dismay, not because I don't support the vast majority of the report with the findings in there, but because you all have now acted in a way that says one thing a month ago and something else today, and that's inconsistent. If you are going to adopt a comprehensive plan, I do ask you to accept those documents I introduced in the record as appendices, because they're going to show that the decision made in October was not in consistency with KRS 100 or the Urban county council's directive separately apart from my comments about the comprehensive plan and the october 26th resolution the comprehensive plan has a component called place builder which you know of place builders currently undergoing some revisions and i would highly encourage you all to consider how the b3 zone plays a role with the conference plan i know staff is working on that they have a plan coming forward but there's going to be a gap in time where we have a place builder criteria that does not recommend B3 and a likely B1 zone that is highly nerfed. And we will have owners who would be injured in the B1 zones during that interim period. I would highly ask you all to consider adding B3 quickly to the place builder. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Billings. Do we have anyone else that would like to speak? Okay. Thank you. We'll bring it back to the commission for questions, comments, statements as well. Ms. Burr? I'd like to ask for counsel's response to Mr. Billings' comments. Well, I'm somewhat perplexed by his comments, to be honest, because, well, I heard him just as you did today. so this response is based on what i just heard um you all did what you were tasked to do when you had your hearing and took the recommendations of the um the urban growth management advisory committee and and reconsidered those but there was never a question at any point in time that i'm aware of that the ultimate decision wasn't going to be made of what to send to the consultant for purposes of master planning by anybody other than this commission. And that's what you all did. So what we're doing today is not master planning. What we're doing today is the adoption of the rest of the elements of the comprehensive plan, which include that master planning piece. But obviously that piece isn't going to be completed by virtue of the goals and objectives until December 1st of next year. So I would respectfully disagree. with what he said today, I think you can adopt this plan and things will continue to move forward as set forth through the master planning phase based on what the consultant says and what you all do through a series of reports from them and also what I think will be public input at various stages along the master planning phase down the road. But the comprehensive plan addresses that there will be master planning. And so that's what's happening. That's happening separate and apart from the adoption of the rest of the elements of this comprehensive plan. Okay. Thoughts? Any more questions from the commission? statements. All right. That's great. Not seeing none, not hearing any. Mr. Owens? Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the comments from everyone. Historically, this would be, not that I've been here for the past two years working on this, but this would be the third comprehensive plan that i've voted on and the comment was made that this was a very in-depth uh comprehensive plan i would agree with that compared to some of the ones that we've had in the past a couple of those i've seen in the past have been good but this i think there's been a lot of thought a lot of hard work being put into it so I'm I'm very much good with it as far as our last discussion I see I see the comprehensive plan and the possible expansion decision that we had as two so separate totally different items and I think it should be kept that way I do not see a need of including that at this time. Thank you for your comments. Any further comments? Okay, if not, I'll just close this portion out and bring it back to the Commission for it. The floor is open. It's open. The floor is open. Ms. Meyer? I'm ready to move with approving the comprehensive plan. Do we require reading by you of the resolution before we do that? Okay. She has to do it when she makes her motion. Okay. After? Before or after? Do I make it now? Yeah, this is a motion, so she's going to do it. All right, I make a motion to approve the comprehensive plan, and I will read a resolution adopting the elements as required in KRS 100.187 of Imagine Lexington 2045, the 2023 comprehensive plan. Whereas KRS 100.197 sets forth the procedures for periodic review, update, amendment, and adoption of the comprehensive plan elements in their research basis. And whereas the comprehensive plan goals and objectives statement was adopted by the Planning Commission on February 23, 2023, and subsequently adopted by the Urban County Council on June 15, 2023, by Resolution No. 329.2023, as required by KRS 100.193. and whereas the statement of goals and objectives acts as a guide for the preparation of the remaining elements to aid in implementing the comprehensive plan, and whereas this planning commission and the Urban County Council, having adopted the statement of goals and objectives, this planning commission may now proceed to adopt the other elements of the comprehensive plan pursuant to KRS Chapter 100, and whereas to achieve that end, this Planning Commission and its staff have conducted considerable research upon which to base Imagine Lexington 2045, the 2023 comprehensive plan elements, and in compliance with KRS 100, have conducted duly advertised public hearings and public meetings in order to receive input from all interested persons, including a hearing held on November 30, 2023. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Lexington Fayette County Planning Commission, Section 1, that this Planning Commission hereby adopts the elements as required in KRS 100.187 for Imagine Lexington 2045. The 2023 Comprehensive Plan for Lexington Fayette County is designated in the supporting text and maps presented and or modified on this date. The maps supporting documents and modified text are incorporated herein by reference. Section 2, that this resolution with the attached documentation, modified text, and the maps adopted herein shall be referred to as Imagine Lexington 2045, the 2023 comprehensive plan for Lexington-Fayette Urban County. Section 3, that Imagine Lexington 2045, the 2023 comprehensive plan updates, shall supersede all prior comprehensive plans adopted by this planning commission. Section 4, it is the intent of this Planning Commission that the zoning ordinance, land subdivision regulations, and the zoning map currently in effect on the date of passage of this resolution shall remain in full force in effect unless and until duly amended by the Lexington Fayette County Urban County Council after receipt of a recommendation by this Planning Commission. Section 5, the director of the Division of Planning is directed to forward this resolution and the documents mentioned herein to the Lexington Fayette County Urban County Council for its information and use. Section 6, that this resolution shall become effective on the date of its passage. Passed November 30th, 2023. Thank you for the motion. Do we have a second to that motion? Poe? Thank you, Mr. Poe. Any further discussion to that motion? Seeing none, please vote via Granicus. Hang on a thing, man. That'll be fine. Okay, we got everybody. Okay, motion passes unanimously. Thank you for Ms. Boxer. Are you raising your right hand for a yes? Yes, I'm raising your right hand. Okay. Fine. There it goes. Fine. All right. Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, staff. Hallelujah. For everything, Mr. Duncan. Mr. Chair, members of the Planning Commission, thank you for Yeoman's work. You've stuck with us throughout this entire year as we've been working on this, and this is certainly a good way to end the year. As we begin, then, the next task, as you know, we're already working on the master plan for the expansion of the land. I do want to remind you of upcoming meetings. On Thursday, November 7th, a week from today, you have your committee meetings. and then on Thursday, December 14th, will be your last meeting of the month. It will be a combined meeting of the subdivision and the zoning items. So please come prepared for an evening to get some work done on Thursday the 14th. Mr. Chair, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Duncan. Unless we have anything further, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.