The purpose of this district is to protect and enhance the City's
attractiveness; protect the City's scenic, historic, architectural
and cultural resources; support and stimulate development which is
appropriate and complimentary to the numerous properties of historic,
architectural and cultural significance throughout the City; protect
and enhance the architectural and scenic character of significant
access routes to the City's historic downtown; promote orderly and
attractive development along these significant access routes; and
ensure that development within this district is compatible with these
resources through architectural control of development.
[Amended 2-2-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-02]
The entrance corridor overlay districts shall be the boundary
of the General Commercial District (C-2) and the Planned Development
– Mixed Use District (PD-MU).
A building and/or land shall be used for the following purposes:
A. Uses which are permitted in the underlying district shall be permitted
in the EC District.
A building and/or land may be used for the following purposes subject to the issuance of conditional use permit as authorized in §
420-1.11:
A. Uses permitted by conditional use permit in the underlying district
shall be permitted by conditional use permit in the EC District.
Uses, buildings and structures shall be subject to regulations
for lot area, lot width, street frontage, setback, height, yards,
parking and signs applicable in the underlying district in which they
are located.
A certificate of appropriateness is required for the following:
A. No building permit shall be issued involving construction or exterior modifications to a building until a certificate of appropriateness has been issued in accordance with §
420-6.7 for improvements subject to such building permit.
B. No site plan shall be approved until a certificate of appropriateness has been issued in accordance with §
420-6.7 for all buildings and improvements shown thereon.
C. No changes shall be made to the exterior color or colors of a building or sign until a certificate of appropriateness has been issued in accordance with §
420-6.7 for such color changes.
All applications for certificates of appropriateness must satisfy
the design standards contained in this section.
A. Landscaping.
(1)
Landscaping shall be used to soften the visual impact of development
and enhance the appearance of the area.
(2)
Landscaping shall be sufficient to soften the visual effects
of parking lots, reduce the effective visual mass of large buildings
and provide screening between development, the street and surrounding
lots.
(3)
Landscape buffers shall be provided adjacent to public streets
of sufficient size to permit street trees and plantings to be installed
to reduce the visibility into parking lots.
(4)
Landscaping shall be compatible with landscaping on adjacent
properties.
B. Signage.
(1)
Each parcel shall have an overall sign plan which reflects a
consistent style and specifies the size and color scheme for proposed
signage.
(2)
Materials used in signs and their support structures should
reflect the building served by the sign.
(3)
Sign colors should be harmonious with the building which they
serve.
C. Architecture.
(1)
Materials, colors and general style of buildings within a development
should be coordinated.
(2)
Heating and air-conditioning units, ventilation units, and mechanical
equipment shall be screened from view from public streets.
(3)
Loading docks, trash containers and mechanical equipment shall
be screened from view from public streets.
(4)
The effective visual mass of large buildings should be reduced
by variations in roofline, building angles, dimensional relief, color,
architectural detailing and landscaping.
(5)
Architectural styles, building and roofing materials, and colors
shall be reflective of the traditional architecture of Lexington.
This may be accomplished through building scale, materials and forms,
all of which may be embodied in architecture which is contemporary
as well as traditional.
(6)
Trademark buildings and related features shall be modified to
meet these design standards.
D. Site planning.
(1)
Parking lot layouts shall respond to the topographic characteristics
of the site.
(2)
The number of access points to parking lots from a street will
be minimized and shall relate to other existing curb cuts whenever
possible.
(3)
Parking lots will be interconnected on adjacent parcels whenever
possible.
(4)
Small, landscaped and interconnected parking lots, rather than
large, central parking lots, shall be encouraged.
(5)
Parking lots shall not dominate the image of a site.
(6)
Pedestrian access from the sidewalk into individual project
sites, as well as within sites and between sites, shall be provided.
E. Lighting.
(1)
Lighting should be of uniform style for each project site.
(2)
Lighting should be contained within the site and designed to
limit spillover and minimize the amount of light that is directed
to the sky.
(3)
Light poles shall not exceed 24 feet in height.
Appeals may be taken from any action or decision of the Zoning
Administrator and Planning Commission by granting or refusing to grant
a certificate of appropriateness pursuant to the provisions of this
article. Appeals shall be taken to the Lexington City Council within
30 days of the action taken by the Planning Commission. Appeals shall
be made by letter addressed to the City Manager noting the particular
action being appealed. Any owner or other party aggrieved by the decision
of the Lexington City Council shall have the right to appeal to the
Circuit Court of the City of Lexington within 30 days of the action
taken by the Lexington City Council.