What should go on 2,800 acres in Fayette County’s new expansion area? Here’s the plans

A planning consultant has recommended much of the 2,833 acres that will be added to Fayette County’s growth boundary in the coming years be used for residential areas.

TSW Design, a consulting group spearheading the master planning process, recently released preliminary plans for five new expansion areas — Athens-Boonesboro Road near Interstate 75, the nearby Blue Sky area, Todds Road to Canebrake Drive, Winchester Road and Interstate 64 and Parkers Mill and Man O’ War Boulevard.

Fayette County needs more residential housing and it needs more than just single-family homes, said Sam Castro, a consultant with TSW Design during a Thursday Urban County Planning Commission, which must approve the final design plans.

More than 25,000 new housing units will be needed in Fayette County over the next several decades, Castro said. Currently, about 60% of Lexington’s housing is made up of single-family homes.

Each of the areas will be developed around a town center or city center concept, with density clustered around the commercial areas and single-family homes toward the edges of the property. To make the plans more sustainable, the initial plans call for preserving all-natural drainage areas around streams. That helps with drainage in the area and creates more green space, said Thomas Walsh, of TSW Design.

The expansion areas will be built around a traffic grid system rather than collector streets, Walsh said. Collector streets have led to too much traffic on some roads, and a grid traffic system allows traffic to move in and out of an area through multiple points, decreasing traffic backups, Walsh said.

The group met with developers and landowners in the expansion areas July 11. It also held an open house Monday to gather feedback from the public, Castro said.

The initial drafts also considered future needs such as schools, roads and green space and parks.

The consultants will return in late fall with a proposed plan on how infrastructure improvements will be paid for as the area develops. The city has instructed consultants to come up with a plan so taxpayers outside those expansion areas will not have to shoulder the cost of building out those areas, including pricey sewer infrastructure, water, roads and police and fire protection.

In October, consultants will also return with final plans for each of the proposed expansion areas.

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, which voted last year to expand the urban service boundary for the first time since 1996, has given the planning commission until Dec. 1 to finish the master plan for the areas identified for expansion. Those areas will be eligible for city services.

The city’s last expansion added 5,000 acres to the growth boundary.

It will take several years for construction to begin even after the final plans are approved, Castro said.

“Three years is aggressive. Five years is more realistic,” Castro told the planning commission Thursday.

To find out more about the Urban Growth Master Plan or to see more detailed maps go to www.urbangrowthlex.com

Winchester and Hume Roads: 1,097 acres

Each of the five areas is designed to incorporate both commercial or retail space and housing to create walkable neighborhoods with green space, consultants have said.

In addition, most of the proposed plans for each of the areas to be developed include multiple housing types from single-family homes, townhomes to apartment complexes.

The consultants have also examined the area and determined how much of each expansion area includes buildable land. Although there are 1,097 acres in the Winchester and Hume Roads area, the buildable land proposed is 492 acres.

Here’s the statistics:

• Residential: 6,342 units or 45% of the land

• Commercial: 446 units or 1%

• Remaining land: Green space, buffers for streams, roads, schools, fire stations, existing neighborhoods

Parkers Mill and Man O’ War: 163 acres

Due largely to a sinkhole on the land in the area, the buildable acres in the Parkers Mill area is only 98 1/2 acres. It is the smallest of the proposed expansion areas.

The draft plans for this area largely include residential areas, but there are also commercial properties toward Man O’ War.

During Monday’s open house, the vast majority of the public feedback was about the Parkers Mill expansion area plan, Castro said. The bulk of those comments were largely due to concerns about traffic and connecting proposed roads in that area to the existing network.

Residents in the area also wanted to see more details about how existing trails would connect and work with that property, Castro said. The group has a transportation consultant looking at trails through all the expansion areas, Castro said.

Planning commission member Robin Michler also urged planners to consider putting a smaller commercial area on Parkers Mill closer to two parks — Cardinal Run South and Cardinal Run North, which is under construction.

There are many smaller businesses, including restaurants, around Woodland Park in downtown Lexington, Michler said.

Preliminary site statistics:

• Residential: 1,335 units or 51% of the land

• Commercial: 66 units or 14%

• Remaining land: Sinkhole, green space/park, roads, stream buffer

North of Athens Boonesboro near I-75: 641 acres

Another large portion of the 2,800 acres to be added to the growth boundary includes 641 acres north of Athens Boonesboro Road near I-75.

That area has 382 buildable acres and more commercial property toward Athens Boonesboro near I-75. The plans also show a school and a new police or fire station for the area. The area also has some flex space that could be used for commercial, residential or industrial areas.

Castro said the schools in the area are placeholders. Fayette County Public Schools has been invited to some of the group’s planning sessions and agreed that adding that many homes to certain areas may mean additional elementary schools in the future.

Castro also said residential areas are typically built first in new expansion areas.

“You have to have rooftops to bring retail,” she said

Still, some areas, like Athens Boonesboro, which has significant frontage on a major road, may attract retail first.

Preliminary site statistics:

• Commercial: 701 units or 5%

• Residential: 4,976 units or 45%

• Remaining land: Schools, fire/police station, sink hole, roads, green space and parks

Todds Road and Canebrake Drive: 497 acres

The plans for this area across the interstate from Athens Boonesboro Road includes plenty of land set aside for homes, apartments or townhomes. The plans include 289 buildable acres.

It, too, has some flex space and commercial properties.

The site statistics:

• Commercial: 470 units or 2%

• Flex space: 199 units or 8%

• Residential: 3,462 units or 47%

• Remaining land: Green space, roads, other infrastructure

South of Athens Boonesboro and I-75 near soccer stadium: 215 acres

Lexington Sporting Club’s stadium, currently under construction, and its youth playing fields are the center of this expansion area.

The area also includes some acres on the other side of I-75 that currently includes a defunct hotel and a small section north of Athens Boonesboro Road. The plans show 134 buildable acres.

The plans for this area incorporate the soccer fields and future plans for more commercial growth. It also includes much of what is now the Blue Sky Industrial Area. That area — 302 acres — will have a separate plan that is still being developed.

The South Athens Boonesboro area will also have some light industrial and flex space, according to the preliminary plans.

The site statistics:

• Commercial: 984 units or 4%

• Residential: 1,214 units or 4%

• Flex or industrial space: 420 units or 4%

• Remaining area: About 58% is the current Blue Sky Industrial Area, which includes a lot of industrial space. The small area plan, which will set up how that area will be redeveloped, will determine what type of industry can go where.