Lexington’s Downtown Management District Up For Approval
Drew Fleming, the Chair of the Downtown Lexington Corporation Board, discusses the Downtown Management District with Council
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council will hear the second reading of an ordinance for Lexington’s first Downtown Management District at this coming Council Meeting, 6:00 pm on May 7th, 2015. After a proposed ordinance receives a second reading with a majority of Council’s support, it then becomes law. You can view the presentation made at the April 14th, 2015 Work Session by clicking here.
A Downtown Management District functions much like a homeowners’ association, where all homeowners within a development or geographic area pay an assessment to advance common neighborhood interests, such as beautification, security, and maintenance. You can view a map of the area included in the proposed Downtown Management District by clicking here, and an informative video detailing Lexington’s proposal by clicking here.
The proposed Downtown Management District would have an annual tax of ten cents for every hundred dollars of property value. Council declined to approve a similar proposal in 2013 because the effort did not have a majority of tax-paying property owners within the district signing a petition in support. (Non-profit and government properties are not assessed.) State law requires that 33% of all property owners in the district must sign a petition for a management district and they must hold 51% of the assessed value. In 2015, 51% of tax paying owners who hold 62.5% of the value signed the petition.
Given this increase in stakeholder support, well above the minimum set by state statute, I plan to vote in favor of creating this new district. I believe it will contribute substantially to efforts already underway to make our downtown even more visually appealing and vibrant. That will benefit all of Lexington.
