Lexington city council recently took a step toward expanding the boundary, a plan which – if voted through – would be the first time the city has done so since the mid-90s. Those in favor argue people are being priced out of Lexington and neighborhoods have been hostile to new developments inside the boundary.
But Mayor Gorton is counseling caution about moving the line further out into rural areas.
"The message that has been missing in a lot of what people are saying is they say well, we have all this pretty green space. Those are working farms — all of them," she says. "And so it's business and we need to be intentional about how we use land that's being used for a business currently.
Gorton adds that Lexington's deliberate, measured planning is part of what's made the city such a desirable place to live.
Another argument for expansion is that it could make room for more affordable housing. Gorton says it’s not as simple as it sounds and hasn’t proven to be the case with the previous expansion.
"We know that in the 1996 expansion no affordable housing was developed from that," she says, noting that developments of that kind require a variety of processes and funding sources.
While the council is facing intense lobbying on the issue, Gorton says she believes minds could be changed before the matter comes to a final vote. The plan, which could result in up to 5,000 acres being tacked on to the boundary, passed an initial vote 10-3. Still, whatever the council decides, she says, is what her administration will carry out.