Urban Service Boundary

Unlike many communities across the country where development has spread outward without limits, Lexington, Ky., has long sought to grow inward while protecting the surrounding countryside through its Urban Service Boundary. For the last 20 years, the Fayette Alliance has been at the forefront of supporting that delicate balance between achieving sustainable growth and preserving the farmland in Lexington-Fayette County along with serving as a resource for land-use advocacy, education, and research. A nonprofit organization, Fayette Alliance was formed by community members on May 2, 2006, in response to pressing...

Earlier this week, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government's Urban County Council voted in favor of upgrading the existing Mint Lane waste water treatment pump station and not relocating it to Bowman Mill Road, according to a press release from the Fayette Alliance. They also voted to send the proposal for an industrial-scale solar facility to the full planning commission for review. The final vote was 10-5 in favor of updating the existing pump station, rather than locating it on property at Mill Ridge Farm. Said the Fayette Alliance in the...

A Planning Commission Public Hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17, at 1:30 p.m. ET at City Hall in Lexington, Kentucky to discuss the completed draft of the Urban Growth Master Plan, according to a press release from the Fayette Alliance on Wednesday. Residents of Lexington-Fayette County are encouraged to provide public comment and input on the draft plan during this time. The Planning Commission will then reconvene on Thursday, October 31, at 1:30 p.m. ET at City Hall to review any proposed revisions and consider adoption as an element...

Castleton Lyons Farm has filed plans to subdivide over 1,000 acres of their farm into 16 individual lots, according to a story in the Lexington Herald-Leader on Friday. The story says that the lots range from 40 to over 80 acres along Mount Horeb Pike. Castleton Lyons lies outside the urban service boundary, meaning that there are restrictions on the land use and lot sizes. The original farm dates back more than 200 years, and was purchased by Dr. Tony Ryan in 2001. It underwent major renovations, and the breeding...

The Fayette Alliance will release two new research studies that analyze the remaining land inside of the Urban Services Boundary in Lexington, Kentucky at an open meeting March 5. "Grow Smart: Land Use Analysis and Recommendations" and "Lexington-Fayette County Housing Growth Analysis" will be presented on Tuesday, March 5 at 5:30 p.m. ET in Lexington's Central Library Branch's Farish Theatre, 140 E. Main Street in Lexington. Expanding development outside of the Urban Service Boundary--the circle around the downtown area of Lexington--has been a contentious issue for years in the city...

The first hearing in the lawsuit filed by the Fayette Alliance against the Lexington, Kentucky Urban County Council over the Urban Service Boundary's produced no decisions at the October 5 meeting; instead, both parties were asked to file additional briefs over the next two weeks. The news is according to a press release distributed by the Fayette Alliance. The Fayette Alliance is alleging that the Council's decision to expand Lexington's Urban Service Boundary--a circular boundary around the downtown designed to protect Kentucky farmland--was not legal. The Alliance clams that the...

Horses are at the heart of what makes Lexington, Kentucky unique. It is the unparalleled quality of our soils that makes Lexington the world's center of the equine industry. The equine industry has been an important part of Lexington for over 200 years, with some of the first known racetracks in the region dating back to the late 1700s. Over the past two centuries, Lexington has proudly become the Horse Capital of the World, serving as home to some of the industry's biggest icons. Numerous thoroughbred champions, like Man o'...