City officials have been working for about a year on the Lexington Preservation and Growth Management Plan. It's an effort to avoid past conflicts that have arisen during the comprehensive planning process over whether the city need to expand.
Precedent is being set right now as we make these decisions.Brittany Roethemeier, fayette Alliance
"It sort of comes to down to this contentious and political fight about how and if to expand the Urban Service Boundary in that particular Comprehensive Plan," Richard Young with CivicLex described.
The proposed system would see a growth report presented to the planning commission every five years, which could trigger a long, formal process to asses if an expansion might be needed, what land is suitable, and allow for a more structured process to potentially go about widening the boundary.
Brittany Roethemeier with the Fayette Alliance, which lobbies for what it calls "smart growth" that protects Lexington's surrounding farmland, cautioned city council members to be vigilant when it comes to setting the city's path forward.
"This process will only be as strong as the careful details that are included within it," she said. "We shouldn't go into this thinking that we can change this process as we go... Precedent is being set right now as we make these decisions."
Lexington opted to expand the boundary in 2023, the first time in nearly three decades -- prompting passionate debate and a legal challenge.
Leaders hope the new plan will allow future expansions to be more data-driven. A final vote is expected on Feb. 12.