The Bluegrass and Beyond

Lexington was born and grew up around the Town Branch of South Elkhorn Creek, but over the past century we’ve done our best to pollute it, bury it and forget about it.

Water finds its way, though, even if it sometimes needs help.

Town Branch Trail Inc. has been working for a decade to develop a greenway along the creek west of downtown. The first fruits of those labors will be on display next weekend, when the initial two-mile section of the trail is opened with a benefit concert and bicycle rally.

The Freedom Concert, with music by Cora Lee and the Townies and Fifth on the Floor, is at 8 p.m. Friday at the new Buster’s in the restored Old Tarr Distillery, which backs up to the creek on Manchester Street. Admission is $10, with all proceeds going to the trail project.

The next morning at 8:15, the public is invited to meet at Cheapside for a police-escorted 10-mile bicycle ride out and back on roads to the completed trail section off Leestown Road and Alexandria Drive. There will be a hospitality tent at Lewis Manor, a circa 1800 home beside the trail in Marehaven subdivision.

When I walked the trail last week, people were already using it.

Workers had just installed stone-cutter Richard McAlister’s beautiful sandstone benches and furlong posts made of finely crafted “Kentucky marble” limestone. And there were several new signs along the trail explaining Central Kentucky’s landscape, geology and ecology.

Van Meter Pettit, the Lexington architect who put together the trail project, sees it as more than a place to exercise; it’s a way to learn about Lexington’s history and environment. It’s also a way to rehabilitate and protect the watershed and help deal with runoff and pollution problems that have grown with the city.

“There is a compelling story to why we are the way we are that even many natives don’t understand,” he said. For example: Lexington’s downtown is long and narrow because it was built along Town Branch, which now flows beneath Vine Street.

Town Branch runs along the west side of the finished section of trail, just beyond tracks that were part of Kentucky’s first railroad line.

In one section, the trail goes around a giant, centuries-old tree, surrounded by a stand of native cane. When the first pioneers came here 250 years ago, much of the Bluegrass was covered with cane. Now, it’s hard to find.

“This is about as good a snapshot of authentic Kentucky as you can get,” Pettit said.

On the east side of the trail is Central Kentucky’s modern landscape: several new subdivisions.

Efforts to build trails in established neighborhoods often are met with “not in my backyard” opposition. But these subdivisions are new, and many homeowners are building decks and landscaping their yards to take advantage of trail access.

Indeed, subdivision developer Dennis Anderson was key to the Town Branch Trail’s success. That’s because he realized the trail would not only be an amenity for his development, but would help with drainage and be a financially attractive way to use undevelopable land.

“Without him,” Pettit said, “this trail would have been a nice idea that never would have happened.”

With this section of trail finished, Pettit is now turning his attention to another one-mile section that has funding. The remaining five miles is under feasibility study while trail organizers seek money, easements and rights of way.

So far, Town Branch Trail has received about $2 million in grants and other funding and $1 million worth of donated land, Pettit said.

Plans call for the trail to eventually be at least eight miles long, going from this first finished section to downtown. It will end along Manchester Street near Rupp Arena, where developers of the Distillery District plan to rehabilitate the stream and incorporate the trail into their multi-use project.

Eventually, Pettit would like Town Branch Trail to connect with the nine-mile Legacy Trail being built from downtown to the Kentucky Horse Park, as well as other walking and bike paths.

Even further in the future, there is talk of developing a trail beside the railroad line from Lexington to Versailles and eventually Frankfort.

So come out and see this first piece of Town Branch Trail. You’ll get some exercise, learn about Lexington and see how creative people are harnessing our rich heritage to literally pave the way to a better future.

If Tuesday’s public hearing had been at Keeneland instead of the Urban County Council chambers, here’s how I would have handicapped it:

The Lexington Distillery District project was the clear favorite. Everyone spoke of its good breeding and conformation, and they thought it was a great bet with the promise of a big payoff.

The CentrePointe development was a more complicated wager. Many speakers thought it was a beautiful horse, a sure thing. A few were skeptical, criticizing it as too big, ugly and lame to be a winner. Most, though, were willing to take the gamble, because the potential payoff seemed worth the risk.

Of course, horse races are over within two minutes. This one will last three decades.

What the Urban County Council and state officials must decide before the end of the year is whether Lexington can and should use tax-increment financing for these projects — two of the biggest developments proposed for downtown Lexington in a generation.

Tax-increment financing, or TIF, would allow Lexington to use 80 percent of new tax revenues generated by a huge private development in a blighted area over 30 years to pay for the infrastructure needed to make the development possible.

TIF will be a great deal for Lexington if the private developments succeed. Not only will the city get the developments, but it will get to keep tax revenues that would otherwise be shared statewide.

The Lexington Distillery District project is a textbook example of why the TIF law was created. The project would rehabilitate two former distillery complexes on Manchester Street and convert 28 of the most neglected acres in Fayette County into an entertainment, arts and multi-use neighborhood. Similar projects have worked wonders elsewhere.

The Distillery District’s developers are seeking $80 million in future tax revenues for such things as streets, sidewalks, utilities and parking. The developers plan $110 million in private investment.

The Webb Companies plans to spend more than $200 million in private financing to build Centre Pointe, a 35-story tower that would have a four-star Marriott hotel, 70 luxury condominiums, offices and restaurants.

Mayor Jim Newberry is working with the Webbs to use CentrePointe as the focus for a 14.25-acre, $48 million downtown redevelopment project that would include such popular amenities as improved streetscapes, a $16 million renovation of the old courthouse that houses the Lexington History Museum and a permanent home for the Lexington Farmers Market.

It also would include a lot of money for amenities that would directly benefit CentrePointe, such as an adjacent $10 million underground parking garage and two $1.5 million pedestrian walkways.

Architects have criticized CentrePointe’s design and size, preservationists opposed its destruction of historic buildings, and others have questioned its economic viability and secretive private financing. But most of the speakers at Tuesday’s hearing praised CentrePointe as a needed shot in the arm for downtown.

Unlike a horse race, these projects aren’t competing with each other so much as with global economic forces that have shifted dramatically since they were proposed.

As Lexington places its bets, we should keep this in mind: The payoff will come only if these projects can go the distance. There’s no such thing as a free ride, either in horse racing or in tax-increment financing.

If you live in Lexington, you don’t need to wait until the Nov. 4 election to have your say about the future.  There are several opportunities this week to comment on three development projects that could have a big effect on our city’s future.

On Tuesday, in the Urban County Council chambers, there will be public hearings on proposals to use tax-increment financing (TIF) to support two private developments.

At 6 p.m., the public is invited to comment on plans by a group that wants to turn a long-neglected section of Manchester Street into the Lexington Distillery District, a multi-use and entertainment area.

I think the Distillery District is a visionary project that has a lot of potential to improve downtown.  It is a great example of what the state’s TIF law was designed to do. You can read some of what I have written about the project by clicking here and here.  See the project’s own Web site here.

At 7 p.m., the public is invited to comment on TIF projects related to the Webb Companies’ proposed CentrePointe development on the block bounded by Main, Vine, Upper and Limestone streets.

If you follow this blog and my column in the Herald-Leader, you know I don’t think much of CentrePointe or the TIF projects attached to it.  If you want to know why, click “CentrePointe” in the categories list at right. Click here to see CentrePointe’s Web site.

A different kind of project with a lot of potential to improve Lexington is the Legacy Trail, a nine-mile pedestrian and bicycle trail from downtown to the Kentucky Horse Park.

Organizers plan a series of information and listening sessions Thursday and Friday with area “stakeholders” and a party Saturday morning at Coldstream Park to gather comments and suggestions from the general public.  There also will be an information booth at Thursday Night Live at Cheapside.

I’ll be writing more about the Legacy Trail project later this week.  Click here for the Legacy Trail’s Web site, which has more information about the public event Saturday.

Vice Mayor Jim Gray, whose day job is running a big construction company, says he learned a long time ago that development projects ”are a lot more about process than project.“

Two of Lexington’s biggest development projects came up Tuesday during the Urban County Council’s last work session and meeting before the summer break. What was striking was the radically different approaches the two projects’ developers have taken to ”process.“

One project is CentrePointe, Dudley Webb’s proposed 35-story luxury hotel, condo and retail tower that would occupy a block in the center of Lexington. The other is the proposed Lexington Distillery District on a blighted section of Manchester Street between Rupp Arena and the Newtown Pike Extension.

Conceived privately and announced March 4 after closed-door discussions with the Downtown Development Authority and the mayor’s office, CentrePointe has faced broad community opposition and suspicion.

Young people are upset that popular music and entertainment venues such as the Dame were evicted from the block. Preservationists want some elements of the block’s historic buildings incorporated into the new structure, as has been done in many other cities, rather than being bulldozed.

Citizens and urban planners complain that the design Webb unveiled is too massive for the site and doesn’t follow the city’s Downtown Master Plan. Architects think CentrePointe’s design is uninspired, at best. The soon-to-be-displaced Farmers Market wants a new home.

Stung by the opposition, Webb responded by making a few changes to his plan. But he insists on clearing the block and starting fresh. And he says it’s too late to consider alternative suggestions from architects, preservationists or citizens.

Webb’s approach to ”process“ prompted the Fayette Alliance on Tuesday to withdraw support for CentrePointe. The Alliance had conditionally supported the project when it was announced, saying urban infill is important to preserving farmland, its main goal.

In a sharply worded rebuke, the Alliance criticized CentrePointe’s developer for failing to involve the public or address community concerns. The Alliance urged city government and Webb to ”establish a transparent and structured public participation process to meaningfully address“ those concerns.

In stark contrast to Webb’s style is the approach being taken by Barry McNees, Brooke Asbell and their partners in the proposed Lexington Distillery District. It would create a mixed-use neighborhood of restaurants, clubs, stores, loft homes, pedestrian areas and perhaps a farmer’s market or even a small showcase distillery along Manchester Street.

A century ago, the neighborhood housed three of Kentucky’s biggest bourbon distilleries, the last of which shut down a generation ago. Many of the old distillery buildings remain, and there is lots of vacant space for new development.

In a presentation to the council Tuesday, Asbell said his group wants to reuse the old buildings rather than bulldoze them, to create a unique area that will bring people downtown and pay homage to Lexington’s history and culture. The developers are working to integrate their plans with other nearby projects such as the Town Branch Trail and the Newtown Pike Extension’s signature bridge.

Like CenterPointe, planning for the Distillery District began more than two years ago.

During that time, the Distillery District’s developers have held several workshops to gather design ideas from professional and student architects and have met frequently with local leaders, surrounding neighborhoods, arts groups and other interested parties. Open community forums will be scheduled soon, after studies help firm up more project details, Asbell said.

Tax-increment financing, known as TIF, will be needed to make the project economically feasible, Asbell told council members. That’s because the developers can’t cover the cost of such things as putting utilities underground and building pedestrian areas.

Kentucky’s TIF law allows local governments to partner with developers to pay for such improvements with a share of future taxes that will be generated by the project.

When CentrePointe was announced, Webb said he wanted a TIF partnership to pay for underground parking and other public improvements. Then, faced with opposition, he said he could do the project without TIF financing. Since then, though, he’s indicated he does want TIF.

Stung by their own exclusion from the CentrePointe ”process,“ council members voted Tuesday to have seven of their members meet with Webb and any other developers seeking TIF financing to negotiate terms of any deal openly and with respect to Lexington’s ”history and heritage.“

After the council briefing, Asbell described the Distillery District developers’ philosophy this way: ”It’s not going to work without the support of everybody. Our approach is to say, “Here’s what we’re planning, and we want to work with you.’“

That’s a lot better than the CentrePointe approach: We know best. We don’t care what you think. Here’s the deal; do you want in or not?