Neighbors: This Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment to R-3 R-4 and R-5 may not affect is immediately as the Ball Home Peninsula project is already underway with an development plan approved in 2016/2017. However, this change allows development or re-development of other properties around us to be denser and taller. For more information, See the links below provided by Walt Gaffield in the letter he sent to us on 9/12/20.
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Dear Neighbors,
The Urban County Council responded to our/your August 24 suggestions of postponing a decision on the zoning ZOTA. We thank you for those emails! As a result, the Council rescheduled the examination of the issue and most likely the vote to September 24.
A refresher on the issue: The LFUCG Council is considering a Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment (ZOTA) that would significantly increase the allowable floor-space-to-lot-size-ratio (FAR), height, and lot coverage in R-3, R-4, and R-5 apartment zones. It’s currently possible to have single family detached housing in R-3 and R-4 zoned areas, and the proposed ordinance, if passed, would allow the conversion of land from single-family-detached housing to apartment use at significantly higher density, even without notification to neighbors in the area.
The Fayette County Neighborhood Council has significant concerns about this so-called FAR ZOTA. You can find those FCNC concerns at FCNC.org, specifically at http://fcnc.org/index.php/2020/09/10/letter-to-council-re-far-zota/, which shows the FCNC letter to the Council.
Please be aware that you may have R-3, R-4, or R-5 zones in the vicinity of your neighborhood (see the Current Zoning Maps at fcnc.org to know for sure), and thus the proposed ZOTA could have a negative impact on the area in which you live as well as in the areas where R-3, R-4, and R-5 zoning are the most common zoning designations. Also be aware that under the 2018 Comprehensive Plan, zone changes to such apartment zoning are encouraged, particularly near arterial and collector streets.
The proposal likely will come before Council on Thursday, September 24, so please contact your Council Member soon to express your opinion. You can reach all council members by sending an email to councilmembers@lexingtonky.gov.
The FAR ZOTA is receiving strong support from the Fayette Alliance, which represents primarily Lexington’s rural areas, as well as from LFUCG Planning and segments of Lexington’s development community. The views of residents living in the affected areas and of residents in other Lexington zones also need to be heard.
Please tend to this matter soon, as time is running out. Contacting Council members with good reasons for revision of the ZOTA at this time will be effective in making sure that the reactions of neighbors in this complicated issue are not neglected.
Walt Gaffield President, Fayette County Neighborhood Council, Inc.