Winter is here!

And with the coming of winter we have also received the good news that the city has approved our matching funds request.  I'll be heading to City hall to pick up the check this Friday, and we'll be meeting soon to look at the style and location for a new neighborhood sign!

Please also make note of the following events:

12/12 - hearing downtown regarding the conditional use permit for one of our neighbors to offer day care to an additional 4 children.  You have all received fliers on this matter in the mail.

12/16 - Pot Luck with Gainesway and Tatesbrook neighborhood associations.  7:00 p.m. at the new Gainesway Community Center, which is on Milano Rd. (the back entrance to the Tates Creek Schools), off Centre Parkway.  All are welcome!

October Update

We've applied for funds from the city to purchase a new sign, and to do some landscape work. Once that is approved (and we anticipate it will be), we will have a meeting to discuss what kind of sign to purchase. We will also need to meet with Kentucky Utilities to get the sign location approved.

An unfortunate note to add, I received a report recently of some vandalism in the neighborhood to automobiles. Anytime you see suspicious activity in the neighborhood, or wish to report vandalism, call the Lexington Police non-emergency number at 859.258.3600.

We will be scheduling a fall meeting soon, and may try to coordinate (as we did last year) a pot luck to coincide with a televised UK football game. Watch this space!

Summer meeting August 5th

I reserved the community room at the library for our summer meeting on August 5th. It will be at 7pm. Please bring your ideas for projects/activities!

Great News!

I have great news, neighbors. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government has seen fit to give us $575.00! We can use this money to make neighborhood improvements or throw a picnic - whatever we'd like. The other good news is that I got a letter this week from Mayor Newberry about the Neighborhood Action Match Program. This great program allows us to apply for matching funds from the city for any improvement projects we'd like to do. Applications are due by August 25th, and the maximum award to any one neighborhood association is $10,000.

I will be contacting the board members this week to set up our summer meeting so that we can decide how to make the most of these opportunities. Once the meeting is set up, we will pass out fliers around the neighborhood with the date and time. Until then, start thinking about what projects or activities we should plan!

Upcoming events

Two upcoming events for the neighborhood:

• June 9th (Monday), 7pm, Tates Creek Library Branch - Neighborhood Association meeting
• June 21st (Saturday) - Neighborhood Garage sale

The meeting on the 9th will be a general meeting. Topics will include:

• Garage sale promotions
• Treasurer's update
• Gainesway community center update

The annual garage sale will be held on June 21st and will be advertised both with signs and in the paper. This is a great opportunity to get rid of the clutter in closets, garages and attics while making a buck or two.

The signs have been posted

Those of you on Narrow Lane may have noticed that the city traffic engineering department has posted 4 "no parking anytime" signs between approximately 1147 and 1161. These signs mark the no parking zone that the fire marshal deemed necessary for safety. If you have any questions about Lexington parking ordinances, call LexCall at 311 or 425-2255. To report parking violations, call the Lexington Police non-emergency number (258-3600) and simply provide them the address where a vehicle is parked illegally, and a description of the vehicle.

City News

A couple items of note from the LFUCG.

• Our sanitary and storm sewers need help, so the city will raise rates. Details here.
• Division of community development 2008 consolidated plan is available for review and comments
• St. Patrick's day parade is March 15th at 1pm downtown

Narrow Lane Update

I met with Brad Frasier today. Brad is an engineer with LFUCG's traffic engineering group. Both Brad and a Lexington Fire Inspector have confirmed that Narrow Lane is out of compliance with current city ordinance regarding street width. Specifically, the end of Narrow Lane is only 21 feet wide, and the city requires 24 feet to allow parking on both sides of a street.

What this means for our neighborhood is that one side of the narrow portion of Narrow Lane will be getting some "no parking" signs. Again, this does NOT apply to the whole street, just the narrow part. This approach will minimize inconvenience to residents. The Fire Inspector proposes that we make the no parking zone on the side of the street that has a fire hydrant, which makes sense to me.

Neighborhood association members will be discussing this, among other issues, at our upcoming meeting - March 3rd, 7pm, Tates Creek library branch. Come join us!

Community Matters

Hello neighbors. Here is a collection of news items relevant to our community. Also, please note that we have scheduled our winter meeting for March 3rd, 7pm, at the Tates Creek branch of the library. This is a key meeting because we will be soliciting input from our members on what projects to tackle for 2008, so bring your thinking caps! Don't forget to bring your $40 dues money to the meeting as well!

Here are some recent items I've received in the mail:

1. There will be an "infill and redevelopment" meeting on 2/20/08 from 6:30 to 9pm at the LFUCG Phoenix building, 3rd floor, 101 E. Vine St. This is a 2nd meeting on this topic in case the snow kept you away from the 1st one on 2/11. More info here.
2. The LFUCG planning commission has also initiated several text amendments to the zoning ordinances. The purpose of these amendments is to "add extended-stay hotels to the listing of allowable conditional uses in the Professional Office (P-1) zone..." and to "revise the location and minimum size criteria for the Planned Unit Development (PUD-1) zone." A public hearing on these matters will be held Thursday February 28th, 1:30pm, 2nd floor council chambers, Government Center building, 200 E. Main St. Call 258-3160 for further information on this issue.
3. UK Cooperative Extension Service would like me to tell you that they offer a FREE monthly horticulture newsletter to residents of Fayette County. The newsletter can be viewed online here. Check it out!
4. The division of streets is looking at Narrow Lane to determine if it is too narrow (no joke). Once I hear back from them, I'll update the neighborhood here. The most likely remedy would be to prohibit street parking on some portion of Narrow Lane.
   

That's all for now. See you on March 3rd. Go Cats!