Candidates for three Urban County Council At-Large seats answered questions from residents about big topics facing Lexington during a CivicLex forum and ice cream social.
Of about $6 million left over from the previous year's budget, Council directed most to help cover street paving and vehicle fuel costs. Council also earmarked money for a new affordable housing program.
Lexington has $6,043,836 left in its unassigned fund balance, and the Council will review how to use it on Tuesday.
Candidates for three Urban County Council At-Large seats answered questions from residents about big topics facing Lexington during a CivicLex forum and ice cream social.
The six candidates for three Urban County Council At-Large seats answered questions from residents about big topics facing Lexington during CivicLex's Ice Cream Social Council At-Large Forum Wednesday night at Crawford Middle School.
Incumbents Dan Wu and James Brown are running for reelection against candidates William Tate Ohmer, Herbert Lynn, Christopher Shafer, and Stephanie Aschmann Spires. The candidates met with voters and answered questions on six topics: data centers, homelessness, complete streets, gun violence, student housing, and an open category where citizens could ask about other issues.
The summaries below, organized by topic, were reported and compiled by six University of Kentucky students in a Public Service Journalism Workshop course: Gavin Breunig, Sydney Byrd, Hannah Piedad, Isabella Sepahban, Nick Tenhundfeld and Sammy Wynn. Peter Baniak, the Al Cross Faculty Fellow and Visiting Professional in Public Affairs Journalism at UK, teaches the class and assisted with editing.
The candidates generally opposed hyperscale data centers, citing concerns about land use, health, environmental impacts, and utility bills.
“Just given the lack of benefits, the lack of jobs, the lack of money that comes back into our community, and the negative health consequences and the money that flows out of our community from these data centers, I don’t think they (hyperscale data centers) have a place in Lexington,” Lynn said.
Lynn and other candidates also said there are existing data centers in Lexington, like those used at universities, hospitals and banks, but made a distinction between small-scale facilities that have operated in the city for years and hyperscale data centers.
Wu was opposed to hyperscale data centers in Lexington, bringing up concerns such as draining resources and increasing utility costs. “I just want to make sure existing businesses and institutions can continue to do the work that they’re already doing," he said.
Wu, along with Lynn, Spires and Shafer, also pointed toward the need for more affordable housing in Lexington. They raised concerns about using up land for a hyperscale data center that could be used for housing.
“We need housing, and we need jobs. And neither does this create, and we have such limited land that we can just go ahead and toss those out (hyperscale data centers),” Spires said. “It’s not even a conversation for our community.”
Shafer said he believed Lexington did not currently have a place for hyperscale data centers, and that the city needs to consider potential noise and electric impacts.
Brown said he did not support hyperscale AI data centers and believed that a policy needed to be developed for things such as governing small-scale data centers, creating buffers around residential neighborhoods and addressing environmental concerns.
Brown said he believed more guidance on such facilities should come from the state and federal governments.
“My concern is that we come up with a policy for Lexington that is so restrictive, the state just comes in and takes our ability away to govern,” Brown said. “That’s one of the things I’m concerned about.”
Ohmer said he thinks it is crucial to ensure that companies do not cause harm to Lexington residents, such as driving up power bills, but that he expected the state to set some sort of regulatory framework before Lexington’s data center moratorium expired.
“Which I know is like, the least interesting answer I can give as a political candidate and say the state’s going to come in over our heads,” Ohmer said, “but that’s kind of the reality I see.”
Hannah Piedad
After more than 40 traffic incidents – 15 resulting in the deaths of pedestrians and a cyclist – in 2025, all candidates agreed that the city needs to work toward making streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and all commuters.
Several roads in Lexington, such as Nicholasville Road, require state approval and funding for renovation. Spires said that to make roads safe, the city can't “use the excuse” that they are state roads.
“We've got to have strong relationships at the federal and the state level to have additional funding,” Spires said. “What we are seeing is we're getting cut in those areas because we haven't had a strong relationship in recent years.”
Wu said he has served on the STREEET Safety Task Force, which looks at solutions in three areas: enforcement, engineering, and education. The task force has passed a no-parking-in-bike-lanes ordinance and is working to create roads and infrastructure that encourage safer driving, including narrowing roads and adding more roundabouts.
“It's a lot of educating both motorists and cyclists and pedestrians about safe ways to travel,” Wu said. “If you don't create the environment, it doesn't help. It doesn't help to just say to pedestrians, ‘You need to watch out, right?’ But it does help when you create a crosswalk.”
Brown said that before any initiatives to improve streets can be implemented, it's important to communicate with the community, ensuring they're “on the same page.”
“What some people see is a benefit and an improvement; some people see it as a change and a hindrance,” Brown said. The city needs “to be more proactive in engaging our community and our neighborhoods about the policy direction that we're moving in before we show up.”
For Shafer, adding more crosswalks and improving lighting will help pedestrians travel more safely across the city.
“If it's raining or dark outside, it's very hard to see people,” Shafer said. “I think there's some improvements that we can make there.”
To create a safer city, Ohmer said, adding medians and trees along busy roads encourages drivers to slow down and gives pedestrians better access while crossing the street.
“That's the very first thing I want to do is look at how many streets we can line with trees to decrease speeding and also increase the kind of sense of community and walkability in these neighborhoods,” Ohmer said.
For Lynn, even though they can be expensive, looking into the potential of pedestrian overpasses would not only save lives, but it would also appease drivers, who won't have to stop for crossing pedestrians. Lynn said the city should also add bike lanes with a physical barrier between the bike lane and the vehicle traffic.
“I think most Lexington residents are in favor of bike lanes,” Lynn said. “I think there are ways to implement them on our busiest streets and our less busy streets so that they're safe for bikers and pedestrians and vehicle traffic."
Sammy Wynn
All six candidates said one of the main ways to decrease gun violence in Lexington would be providing more after-school activities for children.
“We have all kinds of community centers that are empty in the afternoon now,” Shafer said. “And I think that will be a very good thing that we could get back if we had the funding.”
Many candidates pointed to the work done by ONE Lexington in reducing gun violence. Wu suggested collaborating with Fayette County Public Schools as well to work on community outreach, saying that all of the city’s pressure to decrease gun violence should not be put just on ONE Lexington.
“You have to approach it from all these different angles, not just approaching the people who are in the midst of the violence, but also at the same time, making sure everybody has stable housing, has stable nutrition, has after school activities . . . we constantly have to do all of those things,” Wu said.
Candidates Brown, Shafer and Spires highlighted the work done by Lexington’s police force. Brown pointed specifically to the benefit of neighborhood resource officers, saying they are able to connect with their communities and help prevent violent interactions early on.
“They’re not looking to make arrests. They’re looking to see if your neighborhood’s got an issue and what they can do to help bring people together to address it,” Brown said.
Spires noted the value of proper training for police officers and firefighters. “I really want to make sure our officers and our fire department have the training, but also the staffing,” Spires said.
Ohmer, Spires and Wu brought up the positive effects that mental health programs can have on reducing the likelihood of gun violence.
Ohmer said communities are facing an epidemic of loneliness, and that creating “third spaces” for neighbors to connect with one another can in the long run reduce crime rates.
“When you get to interacting with neighbors on a daily basis, you build that sense of community that leads to lower crime rates and self-policing behavior,” Ohmer said. “If a neighbor’s having a bad time, you can reach out and talk to them, and they won’t be stuck on that spiral that may eventually lead to gun violence.”
Alongside mental health programs in Lexington, candidates also noted the importance of affordable housing for lower-income families.
“The more we invest in our communities, the more that we are able to prevent things like childhood housing instability, which has huge correlations with later crime in teenage and young adult years,” Lynn said.
Isabella Sepahban
The candidates generally supported the recent proposal by the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness to convert the temporary homeless shelter on Versailles Road into a permanent shelter.
“There is a community in our neighbors,” Spires said. “The best thing is to get to know them.”
The price of the proposed shelter, estimated at $25 million, was mentioned by most candidates and a major sticking point for some. Shafer said that looking toward other long term solutions that could be cheaper would be more efficient, such as repurposing unused FCPS schools into homeless shelters.
The most common cause of hesitation was the lack of a long-term plan to create more affordable housing, which was mentioned by candidates Wu, Shafer, Brown, Ohmer and Lynn.
“It’s nearly impossible to build affordable housing without tax breaks, without incentives,” Wu said. “So I support shelters, but I don’t want us to focus 100% on shelters because, ultimately, it’s still a temporary solution for people.”
Although Lynn doesn’t believe that there is a full solution to the problem in the near term, there are many small steps the local government can take toward fixing the problem in the long term such as building up available acres within the Urban Service Boundary.
One of these small steps was building more starter family homes, such as townhomes. Ohmer said focusing on building more of these types of homes within Lexington’s borders would relieve pressure on rent prices.
All of the candidates stressed the importance of mental health, and addressed generally underserved aspects of homelessness, such as the transition period between emergency situations and stable living.
Brown was a member of the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness, but still had concerns that the shelter would fall short of addressing some important aspects of homelessness.
“I don’t think we’re doing a good job of helping people transition from emergency situations to more stable housing,” Brown said. “We need to put more of our focus and put more of our resources on getting people to sustainability.”
Gavin Breunig
The candidates shared their thoughts on how the city should balance the growing demand for housing while listening to the concerns of Lexington residents. Candidates brought up the challenges of zoning, public transportation and supporting local businesses.
A common question for the candidates focused on the university’s responsibilities in dealing with student housing.
Wu said that solving the housing crisis for students should be placed in the university’s hands.
“For me the ultimate solution is more housing, is more supply,” Wu said. He emphasized the need to increase Lexington’s housing supply, and that the lack of available housing pushes Kentucky students into surrounding neighborhoods.
Spires said she is interested in cooperation between the city and UK and suggested looking at other college towns and different types of housing, including affordable housing for seniors so they are close to downtown and the university, which she argues could help benefit the community.
“Who wants to build a service business or a coffee shop when we don’t have the housing there yet?... it’s a chicken and egg situation.” Spires said.
Lynn said he has concerns about housing developments that are specifically designed for college students with dorm-style floor plans. He said that if these new housing developments are going to be built they should also serve working individuals, families and low- income households. “I will not support any sort of student housing that isn’t also amenable to working people and working families,” he said.
Ohmer suggested a case-by-case approach to housing development. He voiced support for increased housing near downtown and UK’s campus but said he also understands concerns about the potential loss of historic homes. “I do think we need to understand that density closer to downtown is important,” he said about putting students closer to campus so they could walk and possibly free up some parking.
Brown focused on the process of approving new developments while also noting how important it is for city leaders, developers and neighborhood residents to communicate with each other.
He mentioned using zoning decisions more intentionally and considering when and where new housing projects should be approved. Brown also connected the need for dependable public transportation with questions about parking.
Shafer suggested looking at underdeveloped areas as opportunities for infill development when figuring out where housing should go. “We need housing… Parking will be a major issue,” Shafer said.
Sydney Byrd
Audience members were given a chance to ask questions to council candidates that were not covered by the other five categories. One question posed to all candidates involved potential fixes for the loneliness epidemic in people 65 years old or older in Lexington.
Candidates Brown and Ohmer proposed having more "third spaces" with better accessibility, with Ohmer specifically suggesting the creation of a third-space commission to develop small scale parks in neighborhoods and promotion of small businesses similar to Kenwick Table in the Kenwick community.
“I'd like us to work with colleges at UK, with our existing organizations, and basically create a heat map of where our third spaces are in Lexington. Not only where they are, but who they can serve,” Ohmer said. “Our definition of what is accessible changes based on the adjectives that surround our daily lives. So I'd like us to take into account when we're studying third spaces.”
Wu touched on third spaces but also pitched intergenerational housing models for UK students. Wu explained UK students would be paired with an older alumnus for a cheaper rent price, allowing the older generation to connect with someone regularly.
“So the idea being, if I'm an older person living in a house by myself without a lot of support, I connect with this grad student, you know, in their 20s. They live in my house,” Wu said. “I would get some income that I didn't have before, and I would get both socialization in the community and also some help around the house.”
Spires brought a similar solution but mentioned senior living communities can be put near UK’s campus similar to the University of North Carolina’s campus. Seniors “can access the activities such as Singletary Center and volleyball games and whatnot, but also go downtown maybe even for restaurants and have a walkable experience,” Spires said.
Lynn pitched the creation of more senior living communities as well as further development of the public transit system in Lexington.
“It's shown that seniors who live in those sorts of communities, who live close together with people their own age, have higher quality of life, have higher life expectancy. So, building those sorts of communities is another way we can do that.” Lynn said.
Shafer said he would need to look into the issue more to understand unmet needs.
Nick Tenhundfeld
Lexington has $6,043,836 left in its unassigned fund balance, and the Council will review how to use it on Tuesday.
There's a few ways to register to vote before the October 5th deadline.
The Urban County Council helps craft the city's budget and has taken several consequential votes this year, from safer streets to data centers. Your vote shapes those decisions.
Lexington voters will find races for Mayor, city council, school board, three charter questions, and many other offices on their ballots this fall. Here's how to make a plan to vote.