By late fall, an updated comprehensive plan for housing and commercial development in Lexington-Fayette County is expected to be in place. The City Council Wednesday held the first of four meetings to examine goals and objectives for revising the plan. Planning Director Jim Duncan said the status of the urban service boundary is likely to be discussed.
“Certainly the land use element as it relates to rural and urban land is part of the goals and objectives and the goals and objectives that the Planning Commission has recommended…they’re continuing to talk about that balance between rural land and urban development,” said Duncan.
In his presentation, Chris Woodall in Planning said the Planning Commission report on goals and objectives sets out to maintain the current urban service boundary. It also calls for a new process to determine land use decisions. Todd Johnson with the Central Kentucky Building Industry Association says that currently, there is not enough land available to meet housing needs.
“And that’s evident in looking at where we are in housing in general right now with inventories across the whole central Kentucky region that LBAR covers….there’s less than 2000 houses for sale today. Our inventories are at historic lows still,” said Johnson.
The Council is expected to act on goals and objectives in June. Then the Planning Commission should finalize action on the five-year comp plan update later this fall.
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