The GGP Committee will have their first discussion on new planning regulations being proposed due to House Bill 443. Here's the rundown on what these new regulations do and mean.
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In Tuesday’s General Government and Planning (GGP) Committee, the Committee will hear a presentation from Principal Planner Daniel Crum on the Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment (ZOTA) related to House Bill 443, a recent law passed by the Kentucky Legislature in 2024.
The “HB 443 ZOTA” is meant to bring Lexington’s planning and zoning regulations into compliance with the law, which requires local planning rules The Planning Commission voted last month to approve the HB 443 ZOTA and send it forward to Council.
The regulatory changes made throughout the HB 443 ZOTA are extremely granular, detailed, and exist throughout the entirety of Lexington’s zoning ordinance.
Staff argues that almost none of the regulatory concepts in this ZOTA are new. Most of them have existed within the zoning ordinance or other LFUCG documents, but until now, they have been closer to strongly suggested guidelines than rules — they haven’t been used or adopted as regulations that developers must follow.
Because HB 443 requires Lexington to have clear standards that developers must follow, the HB 443 ZOTA compiles many of those previously existing guidelines and adds more enforceable language to them.
The ZOTA also revises language that has existed in the zoning ordinance to make it more objective, as required by HB 443. Words open to interpretation such as “adequate,” “strongly encouraged,” “appropriate facilities,” etc. are removed and replaced with specific dimensions and definitions that developers are required to meet.
As part of their vote to advance the HB 443 ZOTA to Council, the Planning Commission also formally recommended that Council explore ways to reinstate public comment in the development plan approval process — something that the ZOTA would eliminate.
Under HB 443, if a development proposal meets all written regulations, it must be improved, regardless of community input.
Planning staff argues that City staff and Planning Commissioners would not legally be allowed to consider public comment as they approve or disapprove a plan.
The only exception to this if a Preliminary Development Plan was tied to a zone change. In those cases, public comment would still be allowed because zone changes are explicitly permitted to involve discretion under HB 443.
If Council amends the ZOTA to include public comment in the development plan process, it is unclear whether that input could legally be considered in the final decision — or if it would be included only as a formality.
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Watch the meeting: The General Government and Planning Committee will meet on Tuesday, May 6th at 1pm in Council Chambers. You can attend in-person or watch live on LexTV.
They argue that the current text’s technical regulations (including drive-thru design standards, rules surrounding bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and others) should be discussed and voted on separately from the parts of the ZOTA that change the development process.
They argue this because they believe most of the proposed regulations are too strict and deserve more discussion and revision, and that HB 443 only requires changes to the development plan process, not the content of regulations themselves.
They are advocating for Council to use this alternate text as the basis for discussion, not the entire 60+ page ZOTA passed by the Planning Commission.
