Mentelle Neighborhood Association

From Mentelle median committee co-chairs Jill and Ray Debolt:

A Mentelle Park median work day will be Saturday, April 12, beginning  at 9 a.m. We’ll be picking up sticks and other debris; also, weeding and mulching the flower beds.  The good news is that some of the beds were mulched in the fall so there will be less work. Let’s get the median in good shape for the Easter egg hunt!

Lexington’s regulation of short-term rental properties, including limits on how many can operate in a neighborhood,  have survived for another year.  In its final session before adjournment Friday, the state Senate failed to accept House amendments to Senate Bill 61 that would have prevented cities from limiting the number of short-term rentals.

This legislation was pushed by Airbnb lobbyists. They and Republican legislators supporting them wanted to take away local control of this local issue by arguing that it  violated the property rights of people who want to turn a residence they own into a short-term rental. Opponents — including our own Democratic legislators, Rep. Anne Gay Donworth and Sen. Reggie Thomas — argued that the law would take away local governments’ ability to decide local issues and violate the property rights of people who want to live in stable neighborhoods. They also noted that it would push up home prices and long-term rental rates, and reduce the already short supply of permanent housing.

The Senate Bill 61 amendments were the third attempt to push through the ban on local control this session after earlier attempts in the Senate and House failed. Sen. Steve West, a Paris Republican, was the main force behind this legislation, and he had introduced a similar ban last year that never got a committee hearing. Expect him to try again when the General Assembly meets next in January 2026.

Please join us for the Mentelle Neighborhood Association’s annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 19, on the Mentelle Park medians near Cramer Avenue. The egg hunts — one for little kids up to age 4 and one for bigger kids between ages 5-10 — begin at 10 a.m. (The eggs are always found quickly, so don’t be late!)

Bigger kids will hunt on the median closest to Cramer and the little ones will hunt on the second median. The Easter Bunny will be there  for photos and to hand out additional treats to the kids.

No small children in your household? No problem! We hope that all Mentelle Neighborhood residents will come out to socialize with your neighbors and celebrate the beginning of spring. Complimentary coffee will be available and we will have delicious Spalding’s Bakery donuts.

Donations of eggs are gladly accepted! If you would like to contribute to the event, please bring plastic eggs (preferably filled with a piece of wrapped candy) in a bag to the porch of 29 Mentelle Park no later than Friday, April 18. We would love to have at least 600 eggs to make this a truly fun and special event for the children of the neighborhood. And while we appreciate the generosity of all of our neighbors, we can’t use loose candy at this time.

We hope to see all Mentelle Neighborhood residents there!

In the General Assembly’s late-night session Friday, the Senate failed to approve House amendments to a swimming pool bill that would prevent Lexington and other cities from regulating the density of short-term rental properties.

Lexington-area House members all voted against these amendments.

The Senate could approve those amendments when it returns March 27. But that means lawmakers will have missed the deadline to overturn any vote by Gov. Andy Beshear.

So, if the Senate does pass Senate Bill 61  as amended into law later this month, you have the opportunity to contact the governor here and ask him to veto it. A veto would preserve Lexington’s local control over short-term rentals that are becoming too numerous in our neighborhood and others.

 

After failing to get  through Senate and House committees, legislation preventing Lexington and other cities from limiting the number of short-term rental properties in neighborhoods was approved on the House floor Friday after being attached to an unrelated Senate-passed bill about swimming pool regulations.

House Speaker David Osborne was behind the push, which had been sought by Airbnb lobbyists who have spent the past two years convincing Republican legislators that short-term rental owners are being deprived of their “property rights.” Never mind the property rights of  homeowners who want to actually live in their homes or rent them at affordable rates to long-term tenants. Republicans used to believe in the concept of “local control,” but the super-majority has a pattern in recent years of taking away cities’ ability to govern themselves and imposing their own will on them.

The amended Senate Bill 61 passed the House 59-28, with most Democrats and legislators from urban areas affected by this ban voting against it. Our state representative, Ann Donworth,  a freshman Democrat, and others spoke eloquently against the bill during House debate and voted against it. You can watch the debate by clicking here. It begins at 31:30 into the video.

Senate Bill 61 now moves back to the Senate, which likely will approve the change since, like the House, it has a Republican super-majority. Gov. Andy Beshear could  veto this bill. But it is unclear if the Senate approved the amendments to the bill before it adjourned Friday night. That’s important, because if it did not and Beshear vetos it, the General Assembly will not be able to vote to overturn the veto.

If you want to continue to take action, you can contact legislators to express your opinions. Find their contact information here.  You can express your opinion to Gov. Beshear online by clicking here.

If this legislation becomes law, the Mentelle Neighborhood Association  will continue to work with Mayor Linda Gorton’s administration, our Council member Hannah LeGris and other council members to mitigate the damage  as best we can.

The Kentucky House of Representatives has amended a swimming pool bill (Senate Bill 61) to create a ban on local governments limiting the number of short-term rental properties in a neighborhood. This sneaky assault on local-control and stable neighborhoods comes after two unsuccessful attempts by Airbnb lobbyists, with help from rural Republican legislators, to push through this ban.

Please call 800-372-7181 now and ask that your comment go to the entire House and Senate.  Also call or email your local Legislators; you can find their contact info here.

Airbnb lobbyists and two Republican legislators are pushing through legislation that would prevent Lexington and other Kentucky cities from limiting the number of short-term rentals.

If you want to keep Lexington’s current short-term rental regulations and not have our neighborhood become even more exploited by absentee landlords, contact legislators to oppose this Frankfort power grab.

Suggestions for those contacts are below, but first some background:

Sen. Steve West, a Paris Republican, introduced Senate Bill 110. When it failed to get a committee hearing, its content was added to House Bill 490, which seeks to give Airbnb special treatment in paying local taxes.

HB 490 is sponsored by Rep. Patrick Flannery, an Olive Hill Republican. The combined bill was assigned to the House Local Government committee, which Flannery chairs.

The committee’s substitute bill was the subject of a hearing yesterday that was stacked in favor of proponents, who included two Airbnb representatives, Sen. West and a representative from the libertarian group Americans for Prosperity. Airbnb has been spending big money to lobby legislators for this change. Their arguments were that short-term rentals are important revenue generators for cities and Kentucky’s tourism economy, and property owners should be able to do whatever they want with their property.

Excellent comments opposing the bill came from J.D. Chaney, CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities. He argued that this should be an issue of local control — not a Frankfort power grab — and that property rights also apply to people who want to live in stable neighborhoods rather than hollowed-out transient districts. He also noted that Kentucky has a housing shortage, and this will make it worse.

You can watch the committee hearing by clicking here. Discussion of this bill begins 25 minutes into the meeting.

The bill likely would have been approved by the committee yesterday and sent to the House floor for a vote, but the committee lacked a quorum. It likely will come back up for a vote at the committee’s meeting Tuesday (March 11), likely at 9 a.m.

Already, about 1,000 Lexington homes and apartments have been converted into short-term rentals, reducing supply and increasing prices. Tbe Mentelle, Kenwick and Bell Court neighborhoods already have dozens of former homes that are now short-term rentals: We don’t need more.

Contact legislators, including the bill’s sponsors and lawmakers from other areas of Lexington, to oppose these bills. You can find their contact info here. You can also call the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 to leave a message for all legislators.

Sample Scripts:

I am calling to oppose HB 490 and SB 110. These bills would limit or take away local governments’ ability to regulate short-term rentals, which are unique to each community. A one-size-fits-all approach does not work. Please vote NO to keep local decision-making in local hands. 

I am calling to oppose HB 490 and SB 110. These bills would limit or take away local governments’ ability to regulate short-term rentals. While those pushing these bills claim they protect property rights, they deny the property rights of others who want to live in a stable neighborhood — not one hollowed out by short-term rentals. Please vote NO on these bills.

I am calling to oppose HB 490 and SB 110. These bills would limit or take away local governments’ ability to regulate short-term rentals. My neighborhood already has dozens of short-term rentals. They are driving up home and rent prices and hurting the quality of life in my neighborhood. I have property rights, too! Please vote NO on these bills. 

I am calling to oppose HB 490 and SB 110. These bills would limit or take away local governments’ ability to regulate short-term rentals. Lexington and Kentucky have a housing shortage. Short-term rentals have already taken away 1,000 housing units in Lexington and driven up home prices and rents. This bill will only make things worse. Please vote NO on these bills.

Mentelle neighborhood’s annual Mardi Gras party is Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the median outside Andrew Mooney’s porch at 24 Mentelle Park.  That’s where he and the Yellow Dog Jazz Band of the Bluegrass will be playing dixieland favorites.

We’ll have some Cajun food, donated by Bourbon & Toulouse, and king cakes, donated by neighbor Selma Owens of Selma’s Catering. We’ll have a cooler with water, but bring any other beverages you want to enjoy. Also bring a chair to enjoy the music.

We’re not doing a parade this year; just a great little concert, some delicious food and time to reconnect with your neighbors after a long, cold winter.  The forecast calls for temperatures in the low 50s and cloudy.  See you there!

The Mentelle neighborhood’s annual Mardi Gras party is Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the median outside Andrew Mooney’s porch at 24 Mentelle Park.  That’s where he and the Yellow Dog Jazz Band of the Bluegrass will be playing dixieland favorites.

We’ll have some Cajun food, donated by Bourbon & Toulouse, and king cakes, donated by neighbor Selma Owens of Selma’s Catering. We’ll have a cooler with water, but bring any other beverages you want to enjoy. Also bring a chair to enjoy the music.

We’re not doing a parade this year; just a great little concert, some delicious food and time to reconnect with your neighbors after a long, cold winter.  The forecast for Saturday is for a high of 44 degrees and cloudy; not as nice as today, but better than we’ve had for the past few weeks.

We hope to see you there!

Lexington’s Division of Water Quality has begun replacing sanitary sewer lines on both sides of the north end of Mentelle Park in advance of another project to update storm sewer lines in the neighborhood.

“We found that the 6” VCP sewer was in poor condition and being aware of the storm project looking to get into the area as well we thought we would upsize the line from 6” to 8” and put cleanouts for everyone in the sidewalks,” said Chris Begley, a division manager. “We should be out of the area by March if weather holds out and no other problems occur.”

Here is a map Begley provided showing the sanitary sewer replacement area:

Meanwhile, the city has finished its analysis of longtime stormwater flooding problems in and around Mentelle Park.

 “There are two storm water systems that drain Mentelle Park, a North System and a South System,” said Craig Morgan, a senior municipal engineer. “The consultant was tasked to develop two solutions for each system.  The consultant recommended Alternate 1, which runs along Cramer Avenue on the north and through the neighborhoods on the south side.  These two alignments are being carried further into the current detailed design phase”

Click here to view and download  two maps showing the proposed work, which is now under design using Alternative 1. You can read and download a copy of the full consultant’s report by clicking here.

Morgan and Mark Sanders, the Division of Water Quality’s engineering section manager, discussed the project at the annual Mentelle Neighborhood Association membership meeting in November. Another public meeting will be scheduled this spring when the consultant is about 30 percent done with construction plans for the North Phase of the project, Morgan said.

“The reason for the public meeting is to garner as much input as we can to make these the best plans to complete the project,” he said.