Our Infrastructure

LFUCG 2007 Urban Services Area Map

The Urban Service Boundary is essential to protecting our farmland.

The Urban Service Boundary is a growth boundary that limits development in rural areas.  The use of such a boundary forces city planners and developers to creatively utilize available space as opposed to continually expanding outward into our signature Bluegrass farmland.

The potential expansion of our city limits into more farmland for development has significant economic, environmental, and quality of life implications for Lexington-Fayette County.

Expansion of the Urban Service Boundary will be extremely expensive.

According to a 2005 LFUCG study, it will cost, on average, $16,529.00/acre or a total of $117 million to lay new sewer lines in new development areas outside of the Urban Service Boundary. This number covers just sewer lines, not major roadway improvements, police, fire, schools, or other infrastructural needs.

The cost of expansion could increase home prices.

It is unclear who will be covering these astronomical costs.  If developers pay for them in impact/exaction fees, they will have to make this money up somewhere-perhaps in the form of increased home prices. Click Here to read more about the affordable housing issues facing Lexington today.

Horses with Lexington Skyline | Photo by Jeff Rogers, www.jeffrogers.com

Losing farmland to suburban residences will decrease city revenues.

Residential properties create a net loss for the city because of the urban services they require. For instance, in 1998, for every dollar of revenue the city gained from residential development, it spent $1.69 to service the property. On the other hand, for every dollar of revenue the city gained from Fayette County farms, it spent $.93 to service them – creating a net gain for the city.

There is still plenty of land to develop within the current Urban Service Boundary.

There are 20.66 square miles of vacant land inside our current urban service boundary. According to the LFUCG Affordable Housing Study, if infill policy decisions are made this land could be used to create 14,251 new housing units. These unites could accommodate Lexington’s growth without expanding the Urban Service Area.

For more on this subject, please visit the “Our City” page.

For More Information:

“Rural Sanitary Sewer Capability Study”, LFUCG, 2006
“The Cost of Community Services in Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky”, American Farmland Trust, 1999.
“LFUCG Affordable Housing Study”
“The 2007 Comprehensive Plan”, LFUCG, 2007

Our roadways are not able to support the amount of traffic that flows through Lexington on a daily basis.

Downtown Traffic

In 2005 Lexington’s peak traveler’s experienced 38 hours of delay over the course of the year; In 1995 they only experienced 18 hours. Roughly 90% of workers 16 and over drive to work and 80% drive alone. This is a large contributing factor to why our carbon foot print is so high and our roads congested.

We need to think sustainably about how we live and function. Alternative modes of transportation—such as walking and bike paths, and taking public transportation options—are essential in solving this problem.

These issues have caused many Lexingtonians to move closer to the city center.

Many Lexingtonians want to live in the urban interior because they do not want to deal with traffic. Unfortunately, there is not enough affordable housing to accommodate this need. Click Here to see more about affordable housing in Lexington.

Bicycle at Fasig Tipton | Photo by Kathleen Burke | The Fayette Alliance Staff

Alternative forms of transportation are becoming more popular as traffic continues to increase.

In 2007 the League of American Bicyclists named Lexington a Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly Community. Lextran has also steadily increased its ridership since 2001. Between 2007 and 2008 the number of Lextran patrons increased 11.5%.

By continuing to promote and expand alternative modes of transportation we can not only alleviate some of the stress on our roadways but also decrease our carbon footprint.

Click Here to read more about how traffic and roadways can be addressed by an innovative land use model.

For More Information:

“Transportation for America”, 2009
Small American Community Survey 2006-2008 3-Yr Estimates
“Guide to the Bluegrass”, Commerce Lexington, 2008
“In Housing, Smaller is Big”, Planning, December 2006

We have leaking sewer lines and pipes.

Storm water gets into our sewer system through leaky pipes and faulty lines. This means that our wastewater plants end up treating additional water.  When it rains our treatment plants operate over 100% capacity, and when we are in a drought they operate well below capacity. This system is inefficient and ineffective.

Exploding pipes often dump sewage near or in people’s homes.

In 2005 Lex Call received 2,873 calls reporting sewer and storm water problems. When our plants operate at over 100% capacity it causes pressure to build in our pipes. This pressure creates more leaks and often leads to exploding pipes, dumping sewage and other waste near or in residences. This is a huge health hazard.

Even small breaks can cause large problems. In September 2010 a 4-inch valve broke. Over the course of six hours an estimated 83,000 gallons of sewage poured from this small valve into Elkhorn Creek. This incident killed countless fish and contaminated the local wildlife. Click Here to read more about this incident.

We cannot safely support new development with this faulty system.

The city of Lexington must address the inefficiencies and issues associated with our sanitary sewer and stormwater systems before compounding the problem with additional growth—masking underlying problems with new, and expensive infrastructure.

National authorities noticed the safety issues of our failing water quality systems and we are now paying for it.

In 2006 the EPA and Kentucky’s Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet filed sanctions against Lexington because our aging system violates the 1972 Clean Water Act.  The resulting 2008 settlement was finally signed in January 2011. It includes repairs that are expected to cost between $250-300 million and a $425,000 civil penalty fee.

We are now faced with the daunting task of bringing our system up to par. To finance this effort, Lexingtonians must pay annual sanitary sewer and water quality fees. Click Here to see the LFUCG description of this program and Click Here to see our stance on this issue.

For More Information:

Neighborhood Association Sanitary Sewer Report, 1999
LFUCG Sanitary Sewer Oversight Committee, 2006
“Raw Sewage Pours Into Elkhorn Creek” Lexington Herald-Leader, September 26, 2010
“Lexington, KY., Agrees to Major Sewer System Upgrades” EPA Press Release March 14, 2008
“Lex. EPA Consent Decree Signed by Judge”  Business Lexington by Tom Martin, January 4, 2011

Horse Farm off Old Frankfort Pike

Our current storm water system is defunct.

Lexington uses detention and retention basins to control flooding and storm water filtration in its neighborhoods. Because many new homes are built on extremely small lots with poor drainage, it is essential they do their job.  Yet, the city has not had enough money to thoroughly maintain these basins. So, when it rains, many of these basins don’t absorb or filter a lot of water. Polluted run-off then floods basements, and nearby streams—compromising our water quality here in Fayette County.

This flooding situation is extremely dangerous. Recently, Lexington residents have lost their lives due to swift stormwater run-off.

Increasing pavement and other impermeable surfaces in Fayette County has made the problem worse.

Often, there is simply not enough “greenspace” to absorb and filter storm water run-off when it rains.  Storm water run-off floods our streams, transporting pollutants from the pavement and negatively effecting local fish and aquatic wildlife.  According to a new study by the US Geological Survey, when impervious cover reaches just 10% of the watershed area, many types of aquatic insects can decline by as much as one-third.  Consequently, the Kentucky Division of Water reported that over 70% of Fayette County streams are impaired and polluted.

We need to think more sustainably about how to address run-off and flooding issues arising from new development. For example, The Fayette Alliance recently supported a change to Lexington’s Zoning Ordinance that allows developers to use “green infrastructure” in new subdivisions. Click Here to read more about this issue.

Stormwater discharge from rural activity centers is not locally monitored…

Despite a local ordinance stating that LFUCG has a duty to regulate the pollution of our natural streams and rivers, The LFUCG Division of Engineering does not monitor the stormwater discharge from areas such as Bluegrass Airport and BlueSky Industrial Park. The runoff from these areas discharges into Fayette County creeks and streams, complicating our pollution issues.

For More Information:

Neighborhood Association Sanitary Sewer Report, 1999
LFUCG Clean Water Task Force, 2006
LFUCG Stormwater Oversight Committee, 2006