Thanks to everyone who entered the first Celebrate Winter contest for Mentelle Neighborhood Association members to decorate and light your home. Here are the winners, who receive a gift certificate to a nearby locally owned business.
1 Mentelle Park Unit F — Barbara Wagner Shiny ornaments on bare branches cut through the gloom of a winter’s day.
24 Mentelle Park — Clark Lester and Logan Wilson An angelic trio looks down on a wonderland of color and light.
25 Mentelle Park — Selma and Eddie Owens Classic and Classy.
41 Mentelle Park — Kate Smith Jupiter and Saturn have nothing on these shining heavenly bodies. Or the brilliant reindeer (Florence Lightengale) ready to spring into flight.
42 Mentelle Park — Jill and Ray DeBolt If we had a pretty arched attic window, we’d decorate it too.
709 Aurora Ave. — Jeremy and Melissa Miller Wow! Just wow!
718 Aurora Ave. — Bethany Baxter and Willie Davis Evergreens and white lights on a cozy cottage brighten the night.
808 Aurora Ave. — Helen Martin Gotta love a holiday parrot in winter. Or is it a toucan?
809 Aurora Ave. — Erin (Crum) Johnson Keep your mitts off the boxes and bows. That nutcracker soldier could land some hard blows.
728 Bullock Place — Tracy and Pat Davis Lush evergreens and a candle’s gleam in every window make this a home for the holidays.
145 N. Hanover Ave. — Steven and Justine Pickarski Deck the porch, door, windows, shrubs and tree, ’tis the season to be jolly.
312 Hanover Court — Chris and Mercedes Harn Red-bowed wreaths and icicle lights, these are a few of our favorite sights.
811 East Main St. — Kendall Peaks Wherefore art thou, Santa Claus? The balcony is decorated and awaits your reindeer paws.
It’s time for neighborhood associations to seek matching grants from city government. The deadline for applying is August 7, and we’d like to hear ideas and feedback from MNA members.
A pollinator-friendly project — perhaps a Monarch butterfly way station — is one possibility that some of the officers have discussed.
The government awards up to $10,000 which the neighborhood must match with cash, donated supplies or volunteer labor and services.
We hope to have more info to share after a Zoom training next week. Feel free to join the training at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 22, to walk through the on-line application process. Access the Zoom meeting by clicking https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86105328042 or connect through audio by calling 1-301-715-8592 using meeting ID 86105328042 on the date of meeting.
Please email ideas or thoughts about a pollinator project to Jamie Lucke at jamiedlucke@gmail.com.
The Planning Commission today approved the plan that the Mentelle Neighborhood Association negotiated with Schilling Properties for an expansion of the Blue Door Smokehouse.
The vote was unanimous.
Any lingering worries about our plan’s safety were dispelled by none other than the traffic engineer, who assured the commission, “It’s not going to be a safety issue one way or another.”
The original plan that we saw in January had two commercial driveways funneling traffic directly onto Aurora Avenue.
The main concession we won was to keep traffic entering and exiting on Walton Avenue with no intrusive commercial driveway on Aurora.
Mr. Schilling also agreed to a deed restriction protecting his house at 708 Aurora from rezoning for at least 20 years and to limit the use of vinyl siding on the expansion.
In exchange, we agreed to support the rezoning of 706 Aurora from residential to neighborhood business. We think the final design will buffer nearby residences and preserve Aurora’s residential character.
The plan will improve the looks and functionality of the Aurora-Walton corner. The parking in front of Blue Door will be replaced by landscaping. There will be a normal sidewalk and maybe some outdoor tables.
Blue Door will double in size with a larger kitchen taking up much of the addition. Blue Door proprietor Jeff Newman said this will enable the restaurant to expand its catering business.
Thanks to everyone who pitched in, including Chad Walker of The Warehouse Block who testified in support of the neighborhood’s plan, and our president Ann Olliges, who spent a lot of time on the phone with Schilling’s lawyer.
Thanks also to the Planning Commission, which overruled its staff on the traffic access question in order to unanimously support our plan.
Schilling Properties is seeking to rezone 706 Aurora Ave., where it demolished a house last year, from residential to business for an expansion of Blue Door Smokehouse.
After months of delay caused by Covid-19, the Planning Commission on June 25 will hold a public hearing on the requested rezoning of 706 Aurora Avenue to accommodate an expansion of Blue Door Smokehouse.
The meeting, which begins at 1 p.m., will be held by video teleconference (Zoom).
You might recall that back in February the neighborhood and the owner/developer, Schilling Properties, reached an agreement that would keep Blue Door’s traffic entering and exiting on Walton Avenue.
Unfortunately, the planning staff opposed our compromise and is instead recommending that all Blue Door traffic exit onto Aurora.
We’re asking the Planning Commission to overrule its staff and approve our plan.
Thanks to all of you who already have written letters to the Planning Commission.
If, like me, you’ve been putting it off, now is the time. I suspect our letters will be more important than ever because of the limitations of the Zoom format. Members of the public will be recognized to speak on Zoom for 3 minutes each. (More about that and how the Zoom meeting will work are explained in links below.)
You can email your letters to the Planning Commission in care of senior planner Hal Baillie at hbaillie@lexingtonky.gov.
Here’s the email we got from Hal Baillie on Tuesday:
The application PLN-MAR-20-00001: Schilling Properties for the property located at 706 Aurora Avenue is scheduled to be heard on June 25th, 2020 at 1pm. You are receiving an email, as you had previously submitted comment regarding this application. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and State of Emergency, this meeting of the Planning Commission will be held via video teleconference because it is not feasible to offer a primary physical location for the meeting. Please see attached sheet regarding viewing and public comment. You may view the meeting on LexTV Spectrum channel 185, Metronet channel 3, Windstream channels 3 and 20, or via live stream at https://www.lexingtonky.gov/lextv.
The agenda for the above meeting will be posted to the www.lexingtonky.gov/calendar one week prior to the public hearing. The agenda will include specific information for this meeting necessary to join the video teleconference. For persons with a disability who need assistance to participate in the above meeting, for assistance navigating the website, or if you have any questions, please contact the Division of of Planning at planningmailbox@lexingtonky.gov or 258-3160.
Shilling Properties is seeking to rezone 706 Aurora Ave., where it demolished a house last year, from residential to business for an expansion of Blue Door Smokehouse.
Schilling Properties has agreed to four concessions in response to our concerns over the proposed rezoning of 706 Aurora Avenue and the expansion of Blue Door Smokehouse.
We still need to see these conditions in writing, and negotiations are ongoing.
But the MNA board is encouraged that these discussions could produce a solution that the neighborhood would want to support.
This compromise would need strong neighborhood support – in emails and person – to win approval because it conflicts with the traffic planner’s recommendation that all Blue Door traffic exit onto Aurora. We would be asking the Planning Commission to override the staff recommendation and allow Blue Door traffic to continue to exit onto Walton but in an organized, engineer-designed way.
While many of us would prefer no rezoning of 706 Aurora from residential to business, we also recognize that we could lose before the Planning Commission and Urban County Council, and then gain nothing to protect the neighborhood.
As you may recall, the Schilling plan called for all the Blue Door traffic to exit onto Aurora, via two driveways, one in front of the restaurant and one behind.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, in the Council chambers of the government building, second floor, 200 East Main. We expect that the compromise plan will be offered then in place of what was originally proposed.
These are the conditions offered Friday night by attorney Dick Murphy to MNA President Ann Olliges:
* Deed restriction against rezoning 708 Aurora to business for 20 years, void if 710 Aurora is rezoned for business before then. (Schilling owns 708 Aurora.)
* No exits for restaurant customers onto Aurora Avenue. Entrances and exits will be off Walton Avenue. Garbage trucks will be able to access the dumpster via 706 Aurora but the space for garbage trucks will not connect to the new customer parking lot/s.
* Expansion should be compatible with neighborhood. Vinyl restrictions on the expansion. (No vinyl on the walls but OK on soffits and windows.)
* Blue Door’s off-street parking remains.
The city’s planning staff has offered these conditions, which the MNA board supports:
* No drive-through window.
* No outdoor audio amplification.
* Height limit on outdoor lighting.
We’ll provide more info as we get it.
Meanwhile, if you like this compromise and are working on a letter, here are a few things you could urge the Planning Commission to consider:
Allow Blue Door traffic to exit onto Walton. It already exits onto Walton but in a disorganized free-for-all way. Schilling owns three contiguous lots – 222, 224, 226 Walton – all zoned B-1. So there is plenty of space to organize traffic flow and standardize the weird corner at Walton and Aurora without funneling the traffic onto a narrow street where families with young children live.
Allowing the Blue Door traffic to continue to exit onto Walton will not appreciably increase the traffic on Walton because Blue Door traffic already exits onto Walton.
The Planning Commission should protect our neighborhood because it has all the qualities that the city is seeking in Lexington’s core.
We want a walkable neighborhood that’s safe for pedestrians and bicycles. The traffic planner approved a plan that would have restaurant traffic crossing the sidewalk on Aurora in two places.
The neighborhood has worked with the developer and the business to find a solution.
Blue Door might move but B-1 zoning is forever. Once the rezoning is granted, a high-traffic restaurant that’s open all hours could become the tenant. Therefore, it’s important to exclude the possibility of a customer driveway at 706 Aurora.
We need these conditions to protect the livability of a core neighborhood.
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.
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.
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.
The city’s planning staff has recommended approval – with some conditions – for rezoning 706 Aurora Ave. from R-1D (single-family residential) to B1 (business) to facilitate an expansion of Blue Door Smokehouse to enlarge the kitchen and improve the bathrooms.
The site on Aurora, until recently a small house, would become a driveway for traffic leaving Blue Door. Schilling Properties owns all of the property in question.
On Thursday, Feb. 6, two committees of the Planning Commission considered the development plan and rezoning request. Both committees – subdivision and zoning – recommended postponement rather than approval.
Members of the Mentelle Neighborhood Association voiced our concerns to both committees, and we think that made a difference.
We don’t know what postponement means, however, and are trying to find out.
The full Planning Commission could still hear the proposal and vote on it Feb. 27, according to a member of the planning staff.
A committee of neighbors is working on a longer presentation with visuals for Feb. 27. Individuals will be allowed to make brief comments as well at the public hearing. We also need letters from neighbors to the Planning Commission.
We’ll update as we learn more.
The Aurora Avenue property for which the rezoning is sought is directly behind Blue Door Smokehouse, which faces Walton Avenue.
