In its Tuesday, January 20th, meeting, the Urban County Council will review a draft of the ordinance that would revise the expansion process for the Urban Service Area (USA). The plan was unanimously approved by the General Government Planning Committee in December 2025. 💡 What is the Ur ban Service Area?The Urban Service Area is the part of Fayette County that is able to be developed and receive city services like water and sewer. This area contains almost all new development of buildings inside of it – leaving the remainder of the county as rural, natural, or agricultural land. You can read more about about it in our explainer here. This ordinance would significantly change how the city determines whether or not to expand the Urban Service Area. Currently, the decision is made through the update of the Comprehensive Plan every 5 years. Here’s how it happens: During the Comprehensive Planning process, LFUCG Planning staff make a recommendation to the Planning Commission on whether or not to expand the USA. Planning Commission then considers this recommendation, balances it against the rest of the Comprehensive Plan, and then makes a decision. That decision is then sent to the Urban County Council. Then, the Urban County council reviews the decision, and determines whether to uphold or modify the decision. In most update cycles, the topic of expansion becomes extremely political and divisive on Council. This ordinance – otherwise known as the Lexington Preservation Growth Management Plan – is designed to create a new, more transparent and data-driven process for making this decision. What does the ordinance do? The ordinance would revise the city’s Code of Ordinances to establish the new process for Urban Service Area expansion. Here is the basic outline of that new process: Step One: 5-Year Growth Report to Planning CommissionThe Planning Commission will receive a Growth Trend Report estimating Lexington’s residential growth needs for the next 20 years and will recommend strategies to meet those needs. Step Two: Urban County Council ReviewCouncil reviews the Planning Commission’s recommendation and may accept, reject, or amend it. Step Three: Vacant Land ReviewA subcommittee reviews vacant land within the USA to determine whether any parcels should be removed. Step Four: Expansion ProposalsEligible property owners may submit proposals to add land to the USA. Step Five: Master PlanningOnce expansion areas are set, Council allocates funds for Master Plans for the newly added areas. The ordinance would also establish new measurement tools and processes that city planners state will make the process more transparent, data-driven, and flexible. Here are a few of those: Growth Trends Report: The Growth Trends Report would include a new formula for determining what Fayette County’s projected land needs are. This formula would calculate this by dividing the projected 20 year population growth of Lexington (as determined by the Kentucky State Data Center) by the average household size of the county. That number would be divided by the five-year average of dwelling unit density per acre. That would be the total acres needed. Vacant Land Review: The Vacant Land Review would evaluate how much vacant land that is suitable for development currently exists inside the Urban Service Area. It would use that to help determine whether or not new land needs to be added. The ordinance clearly specifies what would count as vacant land: property inside the USA that is zoned agricultural, has no urbanized land use, and doesn’t have a certificate of occupancy. There are exclusions for churches, schools, floodplains, common areas in subdivisions, and some government-owned land. Special Economic Development Need: The ordinance would also allow proposals from property owners at any time to be added to the USA – but only for economic development projects, not residential developments. To qualify for this special need, proposals would be required to be under 250 acres and include a development plan, data showing a unique employment benefit, and proof of infrastructure access. A minimum of 10 Councilmembers must vote to initiate a zone change to move forward with any proposal. The post Council to take up new process for expanding Urban Service Area appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less