Design
America’s First Greenbelt May Be in Jeopardy
Adopted in the 1950s to protect the city’s iconic horse farms, the urban growth boundary of Lexington, Kentucky, no longer seems unassailable.
When it comes to city planning in the United States, the drafting of a comprehensive plan is usually the kumbaya stage—a time of heady value statements, setting the stage for potential zoning fights down the road. But with Lexington, Kentucky’s 2019 comprehensive plan, which wrapped up earlier this year, those fights materialized quickly and took center stage.
Through heated hearings at the Lexington Planning Commission and a number of contentious votes at the Lexington City Council, the controversy centered on one key issue: Lexington’s greenbelt, which limits how far out the city can expand into the countryside.