City contractors will be on Mentelle Park for the next couple of months repairing and replacing damaged storm and sanitary sewer lines. The street was built in 1905.
Sally Lambert-Warfield, legislative aide to our late Councilman Jake Gibbs, reports that sanitary sewer line segments highlighted in yellow on this satellite image of the south end of Mentelle Park will be dug up and replaced. Contractors think other sanitary sewer repairs can be made without surface digging.
The scope of work on storm sewers will have to be determined on-site, project managers told Lambert-Warfield, because collapsed lines have made it difficult to assess their condition with video cameras. However, project managers think the work would be close enough to the sanitary sewer lines to avoid further impact on the street.
Project managers told Lambert-Warfield that the contractor, Leak Eliminators, will begin notifying neighbors when they have an exact start date for the work.
I will send out an update when I have more information.
The longtime minister of one of Mentelle Neighborhood’s three houses of worship has died. James B. “Bennie” Hill, minister of the Cramer and Hanover Church of Christ for 45 years, died Tuesday at age 74. A full obituary is on Kentucky.com. Condolences to his family and congregation.
Lexington’s Public Art Commission is working on a master plan to create more public art in our community. The commission is seeking your ideas and opinions. You can give them on a survey here: bit.ly/publicartlexington
Among the things commission members want to know is specific areas in neighborhoods that could be enhanced through public art. (Unfortunately, because of health concerns, a public meeting scheduled for March 26 has been canceled.)
All Mentelle neighborhood residents are invited to a wine tasting social on Tuesday, March 3, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Wilson’s Grocery and Meat, 1010 Cramer Ave. Gary Doernberg of Corner Wine (835 Euclid Ave.) will present tastings from his stock. Wilson’s will provide appetizers such as their house-made chicken salad, beer cheese, ham salad, and a charcuterie board with their house-made meats.
A $5 donation is requested to help cover event costs.
This is a great opportunity for adults in the neighborhood to socialize with neighbors and become more familiar with some of our fine locally owned businesses.
Schilling Properties’ application to rezone 706 Aurora Ave. from single-family residential to business will not be heard at Thursday’s meeting of the city Planning Commission. It has been postponed until the commission’s March 26 meeting because a participant in the case has the flu.
From Jim Ryder, leader of the MNA committee studying issues surrounding proposed city legislation about auxiliary dwelling units and short-term rentals:
After a short break to concentrate on the Blue Door issue we need to restart our Mentelle ADU committee. Our next meeting is scheduled for March 3, 7 p.m. at 716 Aurora Ave. We will revisit our work to date and plan for the future from there. We are close to reaching consensus that the committee favors a controlled introduction of ADUs into our neighborhood. However this issue is far from settled in the wider community.
Also, please come to the “after planning commission party” at 716 Aurora Ave. on Friday (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. We hope to celebrate a significant compromise with the Blue Door. If not, we will begin our next steps. In any case, we will have beer, wine and refreshments.
Shilling Properties is seeking to rezone 706 Aurora Ave., where it demolished a rental house, from single-family residential to business use.
Mentelle Neighborhood residents are encouraged to send letters to the city Planning Commission to oppose Shilling Properties’ proposal to rezone 706 Aurora Ave., where the company demolished a house last year, 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.
Please email a copy of your letter to MNA board member Jamie Lucke at jamiedlucke@gmail.com.
If you are interested in writing a letter, MNA board member Kim Naujokas has prepared the following information, which may be helpful:
Our Neighborhood
The Mentelle Neighborhood is a beautiful, diverse, walkable residential and neighborhood filled with friendly residents. Most of the neighborhood’s homes were developed between 1906 and 1930, although the oldest home dates to the 1790s.
With its charming Arts and Crafts-style homes, Aurora Avenue has experienced a renaissance in the past few years. The street has become increasingly popular with young families and a number of homes have undergone remodels and renovations. Many homes feature wide front porches that encourage neighborhood interaction and spending quality time outside.
Aurora Avenue fits the definition of an “enhanced neighborhood” as described in the city’s “PlaceBuilder” document.
Rezoning 706 Aurora will:
Add to the traffic congestion on Aurora Avenue
Produce noise from increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic
Unduly disrupt neighbors in the immediate area
Produce safety concerns to pedestrians
Present parking issues for residents
Decrease the number of residential sites available rather than increase housing opportunities, per the city’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan
Rebuttals to Rezoning Proposal:
Claim:“The zone change will allow a consistent depth of commercial along Walton Avenue, as established in the original plat.”
FACT: 226 Walton Avenue, the property adjacent to 706 Aurora, is directly across Aurora from a B-1 property that has a similar rear boundary. To rezone 706 Aurora would not keep a “consistent depth” of B-1 properties across Aurora. In addition, the two B-1 properties at the opposite end of the block (at the corner of Walton and Cramer avenues, parallel with Aurora) are the same depth as 226 Walton is now. It is clear that the corner B-1 properties were made shallower to accommodate the residential neighborhood.
Claim:“We are improving the parking situation by creating additional off-street parking…”
FACT: The majority of Blue Door Smokehouse’s business is “grab-and-go.” To identify a number of parking spaces based on restaurant seats (and to do so in a phased proposal) does not come close to the number of patrons that frequent this establishment and the number of parking spaces necessary to accommodate them. In addition, it is important to note that Schilling Properties could make more off-street parking available to Blue Door customers now, but they have not done so.
The Schilling Properties lot next to Blue Door Smokehouse has parking spaces for customers, but the lot is fenced off part-way back. If the fence were moved back to line up with the back of the building, more cars could be accommodated in this lot.
Claim:“…the proposal enhances the quality of life and promotes successful, accessible neighborhoods…”
FACT: Rezoning 706 Aurora will destroy the quality of life for its nearby residents, lower their property values, and add to the vehicular chaos that already exists when parents arrive to pick their children up from nearby Ashland Elementary. Based on the plans presented to the city, Blue Door customers will drive through the property directly toward one residence, then exit out on Aurora directly at two other residences. Car headlights will shine into home windows and vehicle and pedestrian noise will be heard in their front and back yards. As cars drive through the property to exit, their headlights will shine directly into this house directly behind Blue Door
Claim: “This zone change will promote pedestrian-oriented commercial opportunities in this residential area.”
FACT: A zone change of 706 Aurora is not necessary to accomplish this. The proximity of businesses on Walton and National avenues already provide plenty of “commercial opportunities” without encroaching directly into the residential part of the neighborhood. Residents can already walk to Blue Door Smokehouse as it exists now. In addition, contrary to the justification letter, Blue Door’s proposed expansion will only effect its kitchen, not its limited seating area. This is to increase its take-out business, not to accommodate more people walking to the restaurant.
Claim:“This proposal utilizes an underutilized, vacant parcel of land.”
FACT: The only reason this land is vacant is because Schilling tore down the house that used to be on 706 Aurora. A better use of this lot would be to rebuild a home in order to satisfy C-L16-2 of the Enhanced Neighborhood Development Criteria (“ADUs and/or affordable housing options should be incorporated into existing and new single-family residential development.”)
Claims: “Sidewalk improvements will provide safe access to this property” and “Improved sidewalks will provide safer facilities for users.”
FACT: If Schilling Properties actually improved the sidewalk at this corner and brought it out to where it should be, Blue Door could expand forward rather than back due to the significant amount of space this improvement would provide. As it is now, the corner is not up to current standards and is a safety issue for drivers and pedestrians. Coupled with expanded off-street parking on its existing lot next to Blue Door, this may be all that is necessary for an expanded kitchen and bathroom.
Rebuttal: The existing sidewalk in front of Blue Door Smokehouse sits back from the rest of the sidewalk on Walton. By bringing the corner out to match the corner opposite it on Aurora, this property would gain square feet.
Claim: “This proposal will increase the viability of the existing business at 226 Walton Avenue.”
FACT: While this may be true, to do so at the expense of the surrounding neighborhood goes against the city’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan, which calls for “preserving, protecting and enhancing existing neighborhoods.” Furthermore, Schilling Properties owns both 226 Walton and 706 Aurora, not the existing business which currently leases the space. As Schilling Properties does not intend to sell the property to Blue Door Smokehouse, there is no telling what type of business may occupy this space in the future.
Rebuttal: Rezoning 706 Aurora Avenue goes against the city’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan, Theme A: Growing successful neighborhoods:
It disregards “Goal 1: Expand housing choices” which calls for the city and its residents to, “Accommodate the demand for housing in Lexington responsibly, prioritizing higher-density and mixture of housing types” and “Plan for safe, affordable and accessible housing to meet the needs of older and/or disadvantaged residents.”
It disregards “Goal 3: Provide well-designed neighborhoods and communities” which calls for the city to, “Enable existing and new neighborhoods to flourish through…expanded opportunities for neighborhood character preservation” and “Strive for positive and safe social interactions in neighborhoods.”
Rebuttal: Rezoning 706 Aurora Avenue goes against the city’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan, Theme D: Improving a desirable community:
It disregards “Goal 1: Work to achieve an effective and comprehensive transportation system” by adding to existing traffic congestion on Aurora and making the street unsafe for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other drivers. It most certainly will not, “Improve traffic operation strategies.”
It disregards “Goal 3: Protect and enhance the natural and cultural landscapes that give Lexington-Fayette County its unique identity and image” which calls for the city to, “Incentivize the renovation, restoration, development and maintenance of historic residential…structures.” This rezoning will have the opposite effect, causing the surrounding neighborhood to become less-desirable.
Save our Neighborhood!
According to the Imagine Lexington Placebuilder, an “enhanced neighborhood” should have “context-sensitive development.” Rezoning a residential home site into a B-1 space will not accomplish the following stated goals:
A-DN6-1: Allow and encourage new compact single-family housing types.
C-LI6-2: ADUs and/or affordable housing options should be incorporated into existing … single-family residential development.
C-PS10-3: Over-parking of new developments should be avoided.
D-CO2-1: Safe facilities for all users and modes of transportations should be provided.
The street address marker for the home at 706 Aurora that Shilling Properties demolished before its rezoning application.
All Mentelle neighborhood residents are invited to a wine tasting social on Tuesday, March 3, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Wilson’s Grocery and Meat, 1010 Cramer Ave. Gary Doernberg of Corner Wine (835 Euclid Ave.) will present tastings from his stock. Wilson’s will provide appetizers such as their house-made chicken salad, beer cheese, ham salad, and a charcuterie board with their house-made meats.
A $5 donation is requested to help cover event costs.
This is a great opportunity for adults in the neighborhood to socialize with neighbors and become more familiar with some of our fine locally owned businesses.
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.
Mentelle Neighborhood residents are invited to a meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, to see and comment on the association’s planned presentation before the Planning Commission about the rezoning request for 706 Aurora Ave. The meeting will be at 829 National Ave., at the corner of National and Given avenues.
Also, we need letters opposing the rezoning 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.
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.
Columbia Gas of Kentucky will be upgrading the natural gas pipelines in the Mentelle and Bell Court neighborhoods beginning in February. The project will include Walton Avenue, Bullock Place, Franklin Avenue, Hambrick Avenue and Cramer Avenue. Customers included in the project will receive a letter and an email before the project begins. Additional information about pipeline projects is available on the company’s website at ColumbiaGasKY.com/pipeline. Follow the company on Facebook and Twitter for project updates.
The longtime minister of one of Mentelle Neighborhood’s three houses of worship has died. James B. “Bennie” Hill, minister of the Cramer and Hanover Church of Christ for 45 years, died Tuesday at age 74. 
Among the things commission members want to know is specific areas in neighborhoods that could be enhanced through public art. (Unfortunately, because of health concerns, a public meeting scheduled for March 26 has been canceled.)
Customers included in the project will receive a letter and an email before the project begins. Additional information about pipeline projects is available on the company’s website at ColumbiaGasKY.com/pipeline. Follow the company on Facebook and Twitter for project updates.