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Fayette Alliance Blog

Return on Environment: The Economic Value of Protected Open Space in Southeastern Pennsylvania

By Knox van Nagell | March 18th, 2011 | See all in Fayette Alliance Blog

Return on the Environment | Photo courtesy of dvrc.org

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and the GreenSpace Alliance recently released Return on Environment – The Economic Value of Protected Open Space in Southeastern Pennsylvania – Final Edition and Technical Appendices.

More than just pretty places, preserved open spaces contribute to our local economies and property values, they help us save on everything from health care to recreation, and they perform valuable ecosystem services that naturally improve the air we breathe and the water we drink. These are the messages that the new study documents and will be used to convey to the public….Download the final report.

Click Here to see more versions of the report or view a summary.


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Coldstream Heads Upstream

By Knox van Nagell | March 18th, 2011 | See all in Fayette Alliance Blog

Rendering of  Proposed Coldstream Town Center |  BizLex.com
Coldstream Heads Upstream: UK’s Coldstream Research Campus eyes building a town center with amenities to make it more attractive to present and future business tenants

By Dan Dickson, 3.17.11, BizLex.com

The University of Kentucky Coldstream Research Campus is home to about 1,000 employees working in more than 50 companies dealing in biotech, pharmaceuticals, university research and numerous other industries.

Coldstream is huge — 735 acres — nearly seven times larger than the average university research park in the United States. Presently, only about 15 percent of the property, once a prominent horse farm, is being utilized. Officials have acknowledged that the campus is not as busy as they had envisioned it would be when it opened. They would like to make it a whole lot busier…Read more at BizLex.com


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Penn Offers Example of Effective Town-Gown Integration

By Knox van Nagell | March 18th, 2011 | See all in Fayette Alliance Blog

Omar Blaik, president of U3 Ventures, and Henry Ford Health System CEO Nancy Schlichting bask in a beautiful day in Midtown Detroit at the Avalon Bakery on Tuesday. They are working on Midtown's resurgence. / KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press

Omar Blaik, president of U3 Ventures, and Henry Ford Health System CEO Nancy Schlichting bask in a beautiful day in Midtown Detroit at the Avalon Bakery on Tuesday. They are working on Midtown's resurgence. / KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press

Ivy League Role Model: Penn offers example of effective and deliberate town-gown integration

By Jane S. Shropshire, 3.17.11, BizLex.com

The University of Pennsylvania is a private institution widely considered to be among our nation’s strongest. Yet for years, it lagged Ivy League peers in rankings and in attracting top student and faculty talent. Why? Many pointed to the bleak, crime-ridden neighborhoods surrounding Penn’s campus. Faculty, for the most part, fled to homes in the suburbs at day’s end, and students who wanted to shop, see movies or enjoy any of the city’s amenities were transported to Center City by van or bus.

Under the leadership of President Judith Rodin, with Senior Vice President Omar Blaik leading the charge, Penn developed a community re-engagement strategy. Inward-looking building habits morphed to outward-looking; instead of thinking about a safe environment for the Penn community while sacrificing the needs of surrounding neighborhoods, the institution looked for a means to integrate the needs of both…Read more at BizLex.com

More Information about Town-Gown Integration,

2011 Lafayette Seminar “Town and Gown III: The University-Neighborhood Connection”


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Vulcan Mining Operation Sues Lexington Board After Denied Expansion

By Knox van Nagell | March 18th, 2011 | See all in Fayette Alliance Blog, How We've Made a Difference, Protecting Our Farmland

Vulcan Materials Co., which operates a rock quarry on Elk Lick Falls Road, is seeking a conditional use permit to allow it to blast underground on an adjacent Fayette County farm. DAVID PERRY | STAFF | KENTUCKY.COM

Vulcan Materials Co., which operates a rock quarry on Elk Lick Falls Road, is seeking a conditional use permit to allow it to blast underground on an adjacent Fayette County farm. DAVID PERRY | STAFF | KENTUCKY.COM

On Friday, February 11th The Fayette Alliance joined the Boone Creek and Old Richmond Road neighborhood associations, Fayette County Farm Bureau, the Fayette County Neighborhood Council, and other community partners to oppose Vulcan’s request to expand its limestone mine in South Eastern Fayette County.

After a contentious nine-hour hearing–spanning two meetings–the Board of Adjustment DENIED Vulcan’s conditional use permit application 5-1.

The Alliance believes that Vulcan should satisfy the requirements of the LFUCG mining ordinance before expanding their activities on Turner Station Road. Vulcan not only failed to comply with the mining ordinance, but its operations are also a nuisance to surrounding neighbors. This track record demonstrates Vulcan’s disregard for land stewardship—as required by several of our important land-use authorities including the Rural Land Management Plan, the 2007 Comprehensive Plan,  the Boone Creek National Historic District, which is adjacent to the mine in question.

While the Alliance supports mining and quarrying in Fayette County, it must be properly licensed and operated. Without this requirement, the expansion of environmentally disruptive uses will be the order of the day—fundamentally jeopardizing our local Zoning Ordinance, and most importantly, the safety of the public. Click here to learn more.

The Alliance looks forward to working with our elected officials to ensure that our local mining ordinance is implemented and enforced countywide, and we’ll keep you posted of all developments at fayettealliance.com.

“Company sues Lexington board over mining issue”

By Beverly Fortune, 3.17.11, Kentucky.com

Vulcan Construction Materials has filed a lawsuit against the Lexington Board of Adjustment and its individual members demanding that the board issue Vulcan a conditional use permit to do underground limestone mining on property on Elk Lick Falls Road.

Vulcan wants to expand its mining onto a farm in southeastern Fayette County, adjoining the property where it already mines

At the conclusion of a Feb. 11 hearing, the board voted to deny Vulcan’s request…Read more at Kentucky.com

More articles about Vulcan Materials’ Expansion Request,

“Board denies Vulcan’s request to expand limestone mining in Fayette” Beverly Fortune, 2.14.11, Kentucky.com

“Grounds for dispute: Lexington needs better rules for land use conflicts between farms, rural industry” Tom Eblen, 2.2.11, Kentucky.com

“Hearing on Vulcan Materials’ Request for Permit is Extended” Beverly Fortune, 1.29.11, Kentucky.com


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Two Kentuckys: Cities grow while rural areas decline

By Knox van Nagell | March 18th, 2011 | See all in Fayette Alliance Blog

Lexington | Photo courtesy of Jeff Rogers, www.jeffrogers.com

Two Kentuckys: Cities grow while rural areas decline, census shows

By Bill Estep, 3.18.11, Kentucky.com

Kentucky’s Golden Triangle continued to grow during the last decade as the population drained away from the eastern and western coalfields and farm counties along the Mississippi River.

That’s the overarching news from the state’s official 2010 U.S. Census count, released Thursday

The state as a whole grew a modest 6.1 percent from 2000 to 2010, to a total population of 4,339,367 as of last April 1, according to a Herald-Leader analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data…Read more at Kentucky.com


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Who We Are

The Fayette Alliance is your voice at city-hall advocating for sustainable growth in Lexington…to achieve a world-class city in our world-class Bluegrass landscape.

Since 2006, the Alliance has worked with local government to usher over 50 major land-use policies into law that promote farmland preservation and our signature agricultural industries, responsible development, and improved water quality and infrastructure in Fayette County.

We are charting Lexington's future by positively impacting local zoning and policy decisions—the very building blocks of our community. Although many challenges still remain, we are accomplishing sustainable growth in Fayette County for a better quality of life, economy, and environment for all of us.

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