Elements of Urbanism: Lexington, KY

[Metro Jacksonville]

Elements of Urbanism: Lexington, KY



Metro Jacksonville explores a sunbelt city with an urban development boundary: Lexington, KY


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-aug-elements-of-urbanism-lexington-ky

[Hurricane]

CityCentre would've been pretty cool.  It's good to see other cities are having the same problems as us... 

[tufsu1]

the main purpose for back-in angle parking is better visibility for the diver when pulling out

[heights unknown]

Beautiful, clean city.  Metro is small but the City itself stands up to Jax I feel not counting Jax's consolidation with Duval County.  Downtown seems dense, compact, and looks like it has an urban feel with little or no parking lots (I'm sure there are some but I can't tell).  Nice looking City.

Heights Unknown

[thelakelander]

Lexington is also a consolidated city.  It consolidated with Fayette County in 1974.

[reednavy]

CityCentre would've been pretty cool.  It's good to see other cities are having the same problems as us... 

I disagree with it being "good" on this issue. It appears other than that, Lexington's DT is doing better than ours, so the comparison is just silly.

IMO, the growth rules and such they have seem a bit overkill because it isn't like that region is booming, as apposed to continued, steady growth. Much of that continues within the boundaries of Fayette County.

[zoo]

Great city planning with urban growth boundary.

"Victorian Square is a block of century old brick buildings that have been combined to house a vertical shopping mall."

This is the kind of planning and creativity that seems to be missing in Jacksonville, in favor of the less environmentally-friendly, "Let's just build it out further" approach. Anyone got any ideas how to change/stop poor growth practices that seem inseparably entwined with the market and policy mindset?

[Deuce]

Lexington enacted the nation's first Urban Growth Boundary in 1958.

Did not know that. I recently saw a special on TV about Portland's UGB and opposition to it and how it has affected the city overall. On the whole, I think these are a good thing. It's a shame more states and cities have not done this.

Anyone got any ideas how to change/stop poor growth practices that seem inseparably entwined with the market and policy mindset?

Convert more unused land to conservation land. Reward those who choose to live centrally and reward companies that locate centrally for starters. I would also do the reverse and penalize but then again I don't live in Mandarin.

[Ocklawaha]

Where's the NS, former Southern Railway Depot? This city would be on a direct: JAX - VALDOSTA - MACON - ATLANTA - CHATTANOOGA - KNOXVILLE - LEXINGTON - CINCINNATI, passenger train route. Wonder if they kept anything intact after Amtrak passed them by?

Where's the streetcar? Where's the bus? Where's the Skyway? Where's the BRT? Where's the LRT? Where's the Subway? Heck, was there ANY transit to photograph?

Lastly, (he says with a grin) We have more then just 4 bars on Bay Street!

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

Unless something just opened recently, we're still at four (bars/clubs) for East Bay.  Nevertheless, this article's text was written back in June, which was before the bar/club listing issue came up.  So, just to help a few of you sensitive advocates sleep better at night, I just removed it.

As for Lexington, from what I can tell, they demolished their train station and the main rail line that ran through downtown was pulled up and replaced with a street.

[Fallen Buckeye]

I have a friend who lives in Lexington and just loves it.

Columbus is planning something similar to Phoenix Park, too. City Center Mall has been closed in downtown C-bus, so they're planning on leveling it to create a new park which will transition to office and retail space some time down the line. Basically wiping the slate clean. Called the Columbus Commons. Here's the link to it: http://www.downtowncolumbus.com/progress/columbus-commons

[GatorShane]

One of only a couple of S.E.C. cities I have not been to. Very cool. If only we had a major college presence, we would be off the chart.

[904Scars]

For being smaller it looks very well planned and put together, nothing really stuck out as being an eye sore (unlike some buildings in our downtown) several building that looked to be nicely restored mixed with modern buildings that still had some "vintage flare". Very very cool indeed. Maybe we need to drag some of our developers around the nation slapping them in the face and saying "look you idiots, look what can be done".

[krazeeboi]

Hate the skywalks, but overall Lexington looks pretty well put together.

And I know I'm being picky, but as far as the subtitle goes, is Kentucky considered a Sunbelt state? Southern, definitely, but not sure about Sunbelt: