Explainer: Lexington’s Comprehensive Plan

What is Lexington's Comprehensive Plan?

A Comprehensive Plan, or Comp Plan, is a document that city governments around the country use to lay out how a city or county should grow over an extended period of time (20 years in Lexington’s case). It is a way of planning for the long term goals of a city, and is designed to be created and used by the entire community - including residents, developers, business owners, government employees, and more!

In Lexington, the Comprehensive Plan (or Comp Plan) is updated every 5 years and published by the Planning Department, after review and approval by City Council and the Planning Commission. Lexington’s last Comp Plan came out in 2018 and is called Imagine Lexington. Imagine Lexington was a pretty big deal in the world of Lexington planning - it has more community engagement, a new structure, different branding, and a lot of substantial changes from previous Comp Plans. The next Comp Plan will be released in 2023, and will continue the modernizations of Imagine Lexington.

Why do we have a Comp Plan?

There are a lot of reasons to have a Comp Plan. One of the biggest ones is that Kentucky State Law actually requires it or a similar document for communities that regulate land use. Comp Plans are also a big part of how cities make decision about zoning changes (changing what kind of building can be constructed in a certain place) and new developments. Regulating these processes through a 20-year document like the Comp Plan helps make sure the polices are thinking about the future, accessible to the community, and all organized in once place.

Lexington’s Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) is the 20-year plan that guides how land is used in our community. It sets priorities for how neighborhoods are developed, what types of jobs we have in our community, how our transportation network is laid out, what efforts we take to steward the environment, and how we grow.

The Comp Plan (currently called Imagine Lexington 2045) is updated every five years and sets growth priorities for the next twenty years. It is required by state law.

The Comp Plan is created by Lexington’s Division of Planning, which falls under the purview of the Mayor, but it must be adopted by the Planning Commission and the Council. The Division of Planning and the Planning Commission are responsible for following through on the goals in the plan and executing the strategies it sets.

Why does the Comp Plan matter?

Kentucky State Law requires cities that do any kind of urban planning must have a Comp Plan. Comp Plans are a big part of how cities make decision about zoning changes (changing what kind of building can be constructed in a certain place) and new developments. Regulating these processes through a 20-year document like the Comp Plan helps make sure the polices are thinking about the future, accessible to the community, and all organized in once place.

Decisions around developments are made by the Planning Commission and the Urban County Council. Developers have to make arguments to both of these bodies to convince them that the development is a good idea, and to do that they must show how their development fits in with the Goals and Objectives of the Comp Plan.

The Comp Plan's Goals and Objectives set a roadmap for how Lexington's planning regulations should be improved. They all are organized under five specific themes. If you want to get into more detail, you can check out the Imagine Lexington Website.

How can you get involved in the Comp Plan?

Since the Comp Plan guides all development in Lexington, it's important to know how you can be involved in development and planning conversations throughout the City. Here are some good first steps:

• Reach out to the Division of Planning with any thoughts, questions, or ideas about Planning in Lexington!
• Join your local neighborhood association! Neighborhood associations are often deeply involved in development projects in their neighborhoods. You can find out if you have an active neighborhood association here.
• Attend Technical Review Committee and Planning Commission meetings! These bodies grant the first step of approval in the development process.
• Reach out to your Councilmembers with any thoughts, questions, or ideas about Planning in Lexington!
  • Remember, you have four Councilmembers who represent you: your District Councilmember, and your three At-Large Councilmembers (including the Vice Mayor).

What else do I need to know about the Comp Plan?

The Placebuilder

The 2013 Comp Plan was the first Comp Plan ever to not include a land use map for all of Lexington. This was an attempt to make the plan more flexible and open to innovation.

However, many people worried that this made the Comp Plan too ambiguous, so in 2018, The Placebuilder was created. The Placebuilder is a new system for deciding what types of developments can be built where using categories called Placetypes.

Each Placetype has its own recommendations for development types and its own criteria for how those development types might be met based on the five major themes of the Comp Plan. Placetypes are designed to be more flexible than a land-use map, allowing a developer or resident to make a case for why a certain building would meet enough of the criteria to be suitable, or why certain suggestions shouldn’t apply to a given structure. 

Public Engagement Toolkit

Resident engagement is one of the most difficult aspects of development. Miscommunication and a lack of understanding of how best to engage with neighborhoods cause frustration and mistrust throughout the development process. 

The Public Engagement Toolkit (PET) addresses these issues for both developers and residents and provides guidance for both in-person and digital meetings.

For Developers, the PET provides a set of best practices for how to engage with residents in a productive way and sets core recommended principles for development, including new methods for notifying residents of new development. It also includes a set of guidelines for holding community meetings about zone changes, including bringing in a third-party facilitator, taking into account differing abilities, and hiring translators where needed.

For residents, the PET provides a way for residents to better understand the development process and know where to find information about proposed developments. It also gives more validity to the concerns of residents about being in the dark during zone changes.

Changes to Lexinton's planning and zoning regulations

The 2018 and 2023 Comp Plans called for a number of changes to Lexington's zoning ordinance, which regulates what types of developments are allowed in certain parts of Lexington. Historically, Lexington's zoning ordinance (as is true in most cities in the US) have been fairly restrictive as to what developers can build, which can lead to low job creation, low supplies of housing, and developments that are poorly designed.

Here are some of the zoning ordinance text amendments (ZOTAs) that have been passed in recent years: