Category: Uncategorized

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.

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.

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.

Mentelle Neighborhood residents are invited to a meeting at Blue Door Smokehouse at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, to hear about the Schilling estate’s proposal to rezone 706 Aurora Ave. (the first property on the south side of Aurora) from residential (R1) to business (B1) to facilitate a major expansion of Blue Door and its parking.  The meeting has been called by Blue Door’s owners and their lawyer.

The request for rezoning was filed Monday and the city Planning Commission could act on the proposal within four-to-eight weeks.
After the meeting at Blue Door, neighbors are invited to gather at 716 Aurora, the home of Jim and Sarah Ryder, for chili and to talk about what they’ve heard, what they think about it and next steps.

A memorial service for Daniel Thomas Cook will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, December 28, at St. Augustine Chapel on Rose Street, across from the University of Kentucky’s Guignol Theatre.

The service and tribute will include musical selections, reminiscences and a simple dinner.

Cook, 71, a neighbor on Given Avenue, died peacefully in his sleep Dec. 17.

His widow, Elaine, is chair of the Mentelle Neighborhood Association’s tree committee and often donates her musical talents for neighborhood gatherings. She is the harpist with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the UK School of Music’s “Friends of Music,” the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, WEKU-FM or Central Academy of Music, where the Cooks’ grandsons, Jamie and Aaron, have taken music lessons.

“Any one of these would please Dan and would be a fitting tribute to him,” Elaine said.

Please join the Mentelle Neighborhood Association board in expressing our condolences to Elaine and her family.

 

 

The Mentelle Neighborhood Association board has authorized creation of a committee, headed by Aurora Avenue resident Jim Ryder, to study a controversial proposal by the city’s Division of Planning to allow “auxiliary dwelling units” — or ADUs — in single-family homes and on residential lots. Separately, but related, there has been discussion among neighborhoods and Urban County Council members about the regulation of Airbnbs and other short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods.

The committee will study these issues, gather and disseminate information about how these issues and proposals may affect our neighborhood, and make recommendations to the MNA board.

If you are interested in joining this committee or helping with the research, please contact Jim at jimryder1950@gmail.com.

As part of this effort, there is a new page on the MNA website with information, resources and news coverage about these issues. Read it by clicking here.

Thanks to everyone who came out for the annual membership meeting Wednesday evening at Ashland Elementary School. Here’s a brief summary:

• By a unanimous voice vote, members elected the slate of officers recommended by the nominating committee: Ann Olliges, president; Linda Worley, vice president; Tom Eblen, secretary; Todd Davis, treasurer; Will Jones, Jamie Lucke, Kim Naujokas, Shelby Reynolds and Ashley Sipple-McGraw, board members.
• Chad Walker of the Warehouse Block announced that all of his business tenants had paid to join the association. Several new neighborhood residents also joined at the meeting.
• Walker updated neighbors on plans to redevelop the vacant lot on National Avenue at the end of North Ashland Avenue with two small commercial buildings, community green space and additional parking for Warehouse Block patrons.
• The treasurer’s report noted an increase in funds to help with neighborhood social and improvement activities, including a $1,700 profit from the successful home and garden tour in September.
• Neighbors offered many ideas for social events and activities, including an Art Hop, progressive garden or porch party, an annual neighborhood-wide curb cleanup, a yard sale coordinated with the Kenwick neighborhood, a regular gardening and plant-swap group,  and new activities for the annual fall picnic.
• Members also expressed concerns, including some traffic issues, redevelopment plans for the Aurora Avenue lot behind Blue Door Smokehouse and the city’s proposal to allow Auxiliary Dwelling Units to be added inside and outside Lexington residences.

The Mentelle Neighborhood Association’s annual meeting is tonight at  6:30 p.m. at Ashland Elementary School. Association members will elect officers and board members for the coming year.

This is a good time to express your concerns and offer your ideas for social events and ways to improve our neighborhood.

Based on volunteers, the nominating committee has proposed a slate of officers and board members.  Nominations also may be made from the floor during the meeting. Also note: many association activists are not board members, and any member is welcome to attend monthly board meetings, which are the third Wednesday of each month, except July and December, at Local’s Craft Food & Drink, 701 National Ave.

The Mentelle Neighborhood Association’s annual meeting is Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 6:30 p.m. at Ashland Elementary School. Association members will elect officers and board members for the coming year.

This is a good time to express your concerns and offer your ideas for social events and ways to improve our neighborhood.

Based on volunteers, the nominating committee has proposed a slate of officers and board members. More information about each candidate is given below. Nominations also may be made from the floor during the meeting. Also note: many association activists are not board members, and any member is welcome to attend monthly board meetings, which are the third Wednesday of each month, except July and December, at Local’s Craft Food & Drink, 701 National Ave.

Only association members are eligible to vote and run for an office or board seat. If you live or own a business in the neighborhood (bounded by Mentelle Park and Walton Avenue, Main Street and National Avenue) and are not a member of the association, but would like to become one, click here for more information.

Nominating committee’s proposed slate

For President: Ann Olliges has lived in the neighborhood since 1996. She joined the board in 2014 and has been president since 2016. “I like to serve on the board to help us continue to grow in a responsible and sustainable way,” she says. “My interest for 2020 would be addressing the traffic issues we are experiencing.”

For Vice President: Linda Worley moved to 800 Aurora Avenue (the Poetry Box house) with her husband Jeff and two cats five years ago. She is set to retire from UK in a few months after 33 years (!) of loving being a faculty member in German Studies and Folklore/Myth. She is set to start all sorts of new endeavors.

For Secretary: Tom Eblen has lived at 52 Mentelle Park with his wife, Becky, since February 2012. He retired in March from the Lexington Herald-Leader, where he was the managing editor for 10 years and a columnist for 11 years. Tom now works part-time as literary arts liaison at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. An MNA board member since 2014, he created and administers the association’s website, Mentelle.org.

For Treasurer: Todd Davis moved to Lexington in 2007 after graduating from Centre College, where he met his wife, Catherine, a lifelong Lexingtonian. After more than a decade in banking, he has spent the past two years as a Realtor with The Brokerage. Todd and Catherine moved to Aurora Avenue in January 2019 and have fallen in love with the neighborhood. In his free time, you can find him playing golf, having a beer at Mirror Twin, or sitting on the front porch with his golden retriever, Scout.

For the five board seats:

Will Jones and his wife, Mary Catherine, recently moved to Franklin Avenue and have a newborn. Will works for Bullhorn Creative and is on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bluegrass.

Jamie Lucke moved into 914 Aurora Avenue in early 1994, just in time for the arrival of her daughter, Hollis Hubbard. She retired in March from the Lexington Herald-Leader where she was a reporter, editorial writer and editor for almost 32 years. You may have seen her and her partner Robert Pokorny walking his two oversized dogs and her tiny one.

Kim Naujokas has lived on Mentelle Park with her husband for more than three years. She is the Special Assistant to the Dean at Transylvania University, where she works on administrative matters related to Academic Affairs. She is a fan of great food, friendly dogs, and hanging out on the porch with wonderful neighbors.

Shelby Reynolds has lived on Aurora for 32 years and owns Morningside Woodcrafters, which has been on National Avenue for 30 years. Married to David Bartley, he spends most of his time on their never-ending list of projects around the house and garden. Shelby has been a board member for five years and enjoys being a part of the group to help make the neighborhood a safe and comfortable place to live.

Ashley Sipple-McGraw is a lifelong Lexingtonian and has lived in the Mentelle neighborhood for 10 years.  Ashley is a librarian, and previously worked at the Lexington Public Library. She is now the Middle and Upper School Librarian at Sayre School in downtown Lexington. She is an avid reader, pop culture expert and enjoys spending time with her neighbors.