Help neighbors oppose Aurora rezoning

Shilling Properties is seeking to change the zoning of 706 Aurora Ave. from R-1D (single-family residential) to B1 (business) to facilitate an expansion of Blue Door Smokehouse. Shilling last year demolished a small house on the property.

We need letters opposing the rezoning of 706 Aurora Ave. from single-family residential (R-1D) to business (B-1).

The Planning Commission is scheduled to hear the rezoning request at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 27. We need to get our letters to the commission before then.

Schilling Properties is seeking the rezoning to facilitate the expansion of Blue Door Smokehouse’s kitchen, restrooms and parking.

Under the plan, all of Blue Door’s traffic would exit onto Aurora.

Send your letters or emails to:

Hal Baillie

Senior Planner

101 E. Vine St., Suite 700

Lexington, Ky. 40507

hbaillie@lexingtonky.gov

Please email a copy of your letter to MNA board member Jamie Lucke at jamiedlucke@gmail.com. We want to be sure all our voices are heard.

Also, mark your calendar for the morning of Saturday, Feb. 22. We’re still working out the details of time and place, but we want to share our MNA presentation to the Planning Commission (yes, it’s a PowerPoint) with neighbors so we can get your feedback and improve our spiel.

Here are a few things to think about:

  • 706 Aurora became a vacant lot last year when Schilling demolished the house that had been there.
  • Schilling Properties also owns 708 Aurora, currently a rental house.
  • Schilling also owns three lots on Walton Avenue – 222 (Blue Door), 224 (also once a house, now a parking lot) and 226, the Schilling Properties office. It should be possible to accommodate the Blue Door traffic in a more orderly fashion on Schilling property already zoned for business if (and this is a big “if”) the Planning Commission would approve an exit onto Walton; after all, most of the traffic already is exiting onto Walton.
  • Funneling the traffic onto Aurora will change the character of a residential street with narrow front yards where people like to socialize on their front porches and on the sidewalks.
  • There’s no guarantee that Blue Door will remain the tenant, but the B1 zoning will last forever. We could end up with another high-traffic take-out restaurant that’s open all night.
  • The incursion into a residential neighborhood violates the Planning Commission’s goal of promoting successful neighborhoods.
  • Our neighborhood already meets all of the city’s criteria for a more densely developed core. We are an asset to Lexington that should be protected.