Planners laid out a vision for the expansion areas that relies in part on regulation to ensure a variety of housing types, mixed-use areas, and connectivity, among other priorities. Caleb Rosico, with the firm TSW, explained the rationale.
"As these areas develop, every person who lives there or lives nearby should be able to walk to an amenity, walk to retail, walk to a corner store or even a school. The village and the town centers are really fundamental to achieving that," he said.
The city planning commission also heard from supporters and skeptics of the draft plans, including nearby residents and developers.
"How will this be paid for? And I think that that's something that the planning commission and the council needs to take a hard look at and explain to the community, because this is going to be a very expensive endeavor," one speaker said.
"Lexington is desperately in need of these kind of developments, and I think this is an excellent development," another said.
One new method planners want to use is something called "concurrency," which would set triggers for when developers of large projects would have to diversify what they're developing. For example, once a single-house suburb developer hits a certain threshold, they would also have to build a certain amount of mixed-use projects.
One developer warned the plan, while well-intentioned, could impede the central goal of the expansion, which is the creation of more affordable housing.
"It is something that is going to slow down the response to something that is clearly a crisis in our community," he said.
The plans being debated are still a draft. The final plan is expected by December.
