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The Chamber of Commerce held its monthly luncheon with a speaker who provided updates on construction around the county. 

The chamber fed its visitors at the Jessamine County Extension Office on Tuesday, April 1. About 50 community members, including employees and owners of local businesses, and city and county officials mingled and ate before listening to Cross’ updates on construction around the county. 

Jeremy Young, the Jessamine County-Wilmore joint planning and zoning department’s former executive director, was originally supposed to lead this luncheon, but Nicholasville Planning and Zoning Director Tim Cross said that since Young vacated his position, he would be taking Young’s place at this luncheon. 

Cross told the audience that the county has 2500 acres surrounding the Urban Service Boundary, which is not in line for development. “This kind of creates some [difficulties] where we have to look at jumping over these areas if we want to continue development,” Cross said. 

According to Cross, the county’s active and pending construction projects include major commercial development happening at Stonedale, Menards, and Keene Landings. Major residential development includes heavy construction on the south end and more density planned for the north end.

Cross spent a good chunk of time discussing housing, as available housing has become an issue for individuals all over the country and Jessamine County. 

Single-family housing development currently in the works includes the following neighborhoods:

• At Burley Ridge, 70 lots are currently being built. When construction is finished, the total number of lots will be 452. Lot sizes are mostly 80 feet wide. Homes are estimated to cost $410-550k per home, and lots are estimated to cost $70-80k. 
• Halfhill Estates will include the construction of 125 lots, the smallest of which is 9,949 square feet. Home sales are estimated to be $420-500k. Lot sizes are mostly 80 feet wide. 
• The Arbours has 155 lots platted, and phase 2 is ready to start pulling building permits. The neighborhood’s streets and roads are in. Lot sizes are mostly 55 feet wide. Homes are estimated to cost $311-390k.
• West Place is currently submitting construction permits for its next phase, which includes 77 lots, mostly 70 feet wide. Home sales are estimated to cost $290-505k. 
• Brannon Meadows will have 114 more lots by phase 3 of the project and 102 more by phase 4’s completion. Houses in this neighborhood are estimated at $380-520k. 
• Hanley Place on Hoover Pike will have 483 lots, but construction has not started. “It’s one of those places where we had to jump over some stuff. But, the Southend is an important area to me. I want to keep life at the Southend of town, to hopefully inject some life into Edgewood. We have to keep new people in that area so we can keep the Southend Kroger and shopping and restaurants,” Cross said.
• According to Cross, the Saha property will have 96 multi-family units, 143 60-foot-wide lots, and 190 townhouse lots. This is a new development. 
• Although construction has not started, Fairfield Woods will have 85 lots, which will be 60 feet wide, similar to Fairview Farms. 

Multi Family Housing projects in the works include:

• 1050 Ashgrove Pike will construct 160 townhouses taking up 18 acres, and 15 single family units. This will include a pool with a 240 occupancy limit. 
• Brannon Reserve Phase 2 will bring 98 condominium units to 28 acres. 
• The W currently has 120 units on 7 acres. 
• Wichita Apartments will bring 38 units to 2.16 acres. Cross said these are now condominiums, so ownership of them by occupants will be available. 

Aside from housing availability, Cross spoke about ideas for lowering housing costs. 

“There are some things in here that are contrary to what most of us who were raised here want to do,” Cross said.

The first point was to speed up the process and for planning and zoning to work as a way to “facilitate construction, not provide roadblocks to construction.” But Cross said, “Everyone wants to speed up the process. There’s not a business owner in this room that doesn’t want it to go faster. That’s not a problem,” Cross then entered his second point, which he sees as a true solution: “The problem is offering more dense housing. That includes apartments. So that’s venturing away from the traditional neighborhood. I think it hurts a lot of people’s feelings when we start talking about this. But the reality is that the more dense the subdivision, the less the home cost. So more density, more supply.”

Point three is to remove unnecessary standards that raise home costs, such as the old brick vs. vinyl debate. “Again, these are all hurdles to overcome increased housing cost,” Cross said.

Lastly, Cross said short-term rentals are detrimental to lowering home costs. “People who buy short-term rentals can make more rent off of a flip of turning over their tenants on a short-term basis. They can produce more rent income. Therefore, they can pay higher for the home, which causes the values to go up in the rest of the neighborhood, another hurdle for home costs,” Cross added that instead of short-term rentals, auxiliary dwelling units and multi-generational living can also help with housing costs. “Lexington has had a lot of traction on auxiliary dwelling units [or ADUs]. Americans are traditionally not [living in mixed-generation homes]. But we’re slowly moving back that way. I would say auxiliary dwelling units and short-term rentals are probably the two biggest things we have to figure out,” Cross said. 

About these solutions which some people may not desire in their own backyard, Cross said it’s going to take sacrifice to make housing affordable again. “If we’re gonna sit and complain: ‘My kids can’t buy a house cause it’s too expensive!’ it’s gonna have to be a give and take.” 

Cross also discussed the multiple construction projects going on in the county– including transportation development, shopping and food, and industrial construction. 

Menards was approved for construction in 2021. “Covid hit, they took a pause and they have actually come back to us wanting to rejuvenate that project,” Cross said.

Stonedale development is a 130-acre mixed-use property that will include retail, hotel, and professional uses and 300 apartments. Homes on larger plots are also planned. “This got a lot of publicity. It is moving along at a snail’s pace, but it’s still active and moving forward,” Cross said.

Keene Landings, also known as Project Teater, is in the heart of town on U.S. 169. Earthwork has started, and turn lanes improvements are being made to accommodate it. When asked what is going into Keene Landings, Cross said that the only businesses with building permits for the development are Chipotle, Panera Bread, and Wawa. Wawa is also currently building another location closer to the north end of town. 

Phase 2 of the economic development park, the Jeanette Industrial Park. “Since this map was created, the industrial authority has acquired the property to the south, representing another 140 acres for phase 3,” Cross said. 

Cross spoke about the U.S. 27 access management plan initiated through the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Due to safety concerns, a center island is planned for U.S. 27 to restrict left turn movements. “All your officials are working diligently,” Cross said. 

On the shared-use path connecting middle and high schools throughout the county, Cross said that the gas company is the one thing the city is waiting for to continue at West Jessamine High and Middle Schools. Recently, a temporary four-way stop was placed in front of West Jessamine. Since this was a priority, the West Jessamine side of the project moved faster. Cross announced that the city did get approved for a real stop light there with a left turn. “We are ready to go to bid; we are just waiting for the gas company,” Cross said.