Publisher's Note: This Section has been AMENDED by new legislation (Ord. 063 passed 6-27-2024). The text of the amendment will be incorporated below when the ordinance is codified.
(a) Intent. The intent of this zone is to provide for retail and commercial uses, which are necessary to the economic vitality of the community but may be inappropriate in the more neighborhood oriented zones. Development in this zone should front on an arterial or major collector roadway and should serve the needs of the broader Lexington community. Consideration should be given to the relationship of the uses in the zone to the surrounding land uses and to the adequacy of the street system to serve the traffic needs. Developments should avoid nuisance impacts of light, air, and sound that may be caused on adjacent neighborhoods. Where necessary, developments should include service roads to reduce the impact on highway movement, while also providing appropriate frontage to meet the needs of businesses. This zone should be established in accordance with the Goals, Objectives, Policies, and Development Criteria of the Comprehensive Plan.
(b) Principal Uses. (Other uses substantially similar to those listed herein shall also be deemed permitted.)
1. Establishments and lots for the display, rental, sale, service, and minor repair of farm equipment, contractor equipment, automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, boats, travel trailers, mobile homes, or supplies for such items.
2. Automobile service stations, subject to the conditions of Article 16.
3. Restaurants, cocktail lounges and nightclubs, with entertainment, dancing, and/or sale of alcoholic beverages.
4. Car washing establishments, provided that surface water from such use shall not drain onto adjacent property or over a public sidewalk, and that adequate on-site storage lanes and parking facilities shall be provided so that no public way shall be used for such purposes.
5. Motel or hotel.
6. Indoor amusements, such as billiard or pool halls; dancing halls; skating rinks; miniature golf or putting courses; theaters or bowling alleys.
7. Self-service laundry, laundry pick-up station, or clothes cleaning establishments of not more than forty (40) pounds capacity and using a closed-system process.
8. Garden centers.
9. Kennels, animal hospitals or clinics, including offices of veterinarians, provided that such structures or uses, not including accessory parking areas, shall be at least one hundred (100) feet from any residential zone.
10. Drive-in restaurants, provided that all outside food service areas shall be at least one hundred (100) feet from any residential zone.
11. Establishments for the retail sale of merchandise as permitted in the B-1 zone, unless prohibited by Subsection (e) of this section.
12. Minor automobile and truck repair.
13. Banks, credit agencies, security and commodity brokers and exchanges, credit institutions, savings and loan companies, holding and investment companies.
14. Beauty shops and barber shops.
15. Shoe repair, clothing alteration, tailoring services and tattoo parlors.
16. Carnivals, special events, festivals and concerts on a temporary basis, and upon issuance of a permit by the Divisions of Planning and of Building Inspection, which may restrict the permit in terms of time, parking, access or in other ways to protect public health, safety, or welfare; or deny such if public health, safety or welfare are adversely affected. A carnival, special event, festival, or concert may not displace more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the minimum required parking for the site it occupies.
17. Offices and medical clinics.
18. Taxidermy establishments.
19. Quick copy services utilizing xerographic or similar processes, but not utilizing offset printing methods.
20. Business colleges, technical or trade schools or institutions.
21. Schools for academic instruction.
22. Kindergartens, nursery schools and childcare centers. A fenced and screened play area shall be provided in an area, located a minimum of twenty (20) feet from a collector or arterial street, and shall contain not less than twenty-five (25) square feet per child. An indoor play area which meets the same size requirements may be utilized.
23. Pawnshops which:
(2) Had on file with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, prior to August 31, 1990, an application for a business license or certificate of occupancy.
24. Indoor athletic clubs and recreational facilities.
25. Parking lots and structures.
26. Adult arcades, massage parlors, adult bookstores, adult video stores, adult cabarets, adult dancing establishments, adult entertainment establishments, and sexual entertainment centers, provided that none shall be located within a 500-foot radius of any agricultural or residential zone, any elementary or secondary school, any park attended by persons under eighteen (18) years of age, or within a 1,000-foot radius of any other similarly regulated adult business.
27. Commissaries for preparation of food for restaurant use.
28. Retail sale of automotive parts with storage and distribution of inventory to other local establishments under the same ownership, when such use is at least two hundred (200) feet from a residential zone.
29. Automobile and vehicle refueling stations, provided such uses conform to all requirements of Article 16.
30. Commercial farm markets and market gardens.
31. Banquet Facilities.
(c) Accessory Uses. (Uses and structures which are customarily accessory, clearly incidental and subordinate to permitted uses.)
1. Wholesale, warehouse, and storage facilities.
2. Parking areas and structures.
3. Swimming pools.
4. Newsstands and retail shops when accessory to a motel or hotel, provided there are no exterior entrances or signs visible from outside the structure in which they are located.
5. Not more than one (1) dwelling unit for owners, operators, or employees of a permitted use, provided that such dwelling unit shall be a part of and located above or to the rear of such permitted use.
6. Major automobile and truck repair, when accessory to an establishment primarily engaged in the sale of automobiles and trucks.
7. Drive-through facilities for sale of goods or products or provision of services otherwise permitted herein.
8. Satellite dish antennas, as further regulated by Section 15-8.
9. Pawnshops which are accessory to an establishment primarily engaged in the retail sale of jewelry. Not less than fifty percent (50%) of the gross revenue of such establishments shall come from the retail sale of jewelry.
10. Micro-brewery, when accessory to a restaurant permitted herein; and shall be located at least one hundred (100) feet from a residential zone and shall be soundproofed to the maximum extent feasible by using existing technology, with noise or other emissions not creating a nuisance to the surrounding neighborhood.
11. Retail sale of liquid propane (limited to twenty-pound (20 lb.) containers), when accessory to the retail sale of merchandise or an automobile service station permitted under Subsection (b) of this section.
(d) Conditional Uses. (Permitted only with Board of Adjustment approval.) Required conditions for any conditional use permitted herein shall be as follows:
(1) Any conditional use shall be located, in relationship to the arterial roadway system, so that the conditional use has a minimal effect on the adjoining streets and the surrounding uses.
(2) Any outdoor theater screen or illuminated scoreboard or other similar surface shall not be visible from any street for a distance of one thousand (1,000) feet from said structure.
(3) Entrances of ingress or egress, acceleration lanes, and deceleration lanes shall be provided in conformance with requirements as established by the Urban County Traffic Engineer.
1. Outdoor athletic facilities that would be compatible in a Highway Service Business (B-3) zone, such as a football stadium; tennis courts; a soccer or polo field, and a baseball field.
2. Amusement parks, fairgrounds, or horse racing tracks, if all buildings are located not less than two hundred (200) feet from any residential zone; and further provided that all buildings for housing animals shall be two hundred (200) feet from any residential zone, residence, school, place of religious assembly, hospital, nursing home, or personal care facility.
3. Outdoor theaters, provided that all facilities, other than highway access drives, are not less than one thousand (1,000) feet from any residential zone, residence, school, place of religious assembly hospital, nursing home, or personal care facility; and further provided that a vehicle storage area equal to thirty percent (30%) of the capacity of the theater be provided between the highway and theater ticket gate.
4. Outdoor recreational facilities, including go-cart tracks; archery courts; skate-board and roller skating tracks; trampoline centers; rifle and other fire-arm ranges; swimming pools; water slides and other water-related recreational facilities, and other similar uses.
5. Passenger transportation terminals.
6. Pawnshops, except as permitted herein.
7. Mining of non-metallic minerals, but only when the proposal complies with the requirements of the Mining/Quarrying Ordinance (Code of Ordinances #252-91) and the conditions and requirements as set forth therein. The Board of Adjustment shall specifically consider and be able to find:
a. That the proposed use will not constitute a public nuisance by creating excessive noise, odor, traffic, dust, or damage to the environment or surrounding properties;
b. That a reasonable degree of reclamation and proper drainage control is feasible; and
c. That the owner and/or applicant has not had a permit revoked or bond or other security forfeited for failure to comply with any federal, state or local laws, regulations or conditions, including land reclamation, pertaining to the proposed use.
8. Adult arcades, adult bookstores, adult video stores, adult cabarets, adult dancing establishments, adult entertainment establishments, and sexual entertainment centers, except as permitted herein, provided none shall be located within a 500-foot radius of any elementary or secondary school, any park attended by persons under eighteen (18) years of age, or within a 1,000-foot radius of any other similarly regulated adult business.
9. Places of religious assembly and Sunday schools.
10. The above- or below-ground storage of any flammable material in gaseous form, including compressed natural gas; except as permitted herein, or except in conformance with the Kentucky Building Code and all applicable fire safety codes. Except in association with an automobile and vehicle refueling station, total above-ground storage of gas is limited to six hundred (600) square feet. There may be no filling or re-filling of gas containers in this zone.
11. Temporary structures designed for use or occupancy for sixty-one (61) to one hundred eighty (180) days per 12-month period on a single property, calculating said period by cumulative consideration of the use of any and all such structures on a single property.
12. Circuses, provided all structures are located not less than two hundred (200) feet from any residential zone; and further provided that all structures for housing animals shall be two hundred (200) feet from any residential zone, residential use, school, hospital, nursing home or rest home. A circus may not displace more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the minimum required parking for the site it occupies.
13. Ecotourism activities to include campgrounds; commercial hiking, bicycling, equine and zip line trails; tree canopy trails; canoeing and kayaking launch sites; fishing and hunting clubs; botanical gardens; nature preserves; and seasonal activities.
(e) Prohibited Uses. (All uses other than those listed as principal, accessory, or conditional uses or substantially similar to principal, accessory, or conditional uses shall be prohibited. The uses below are provided for illustration purposes and for the purpose of limiting permitted uses, and are not intended to be a total listing of all the uses that are prohibited.)
1. The prohibited uses in the B-1 zone, items 1 through 5 (Sections 8-16(e)1 through 5).
2. Automobile, truck, ATV, motorcycle, bicycle motocross, or other vehicle or bicycle race tracks.
3. Establishments for cleaning, dyeing, and the like, except as permitted herein.
4. Dwellings, except as accessory uses herein.
5. Major automobile and truck repair, except as permitted herein.
6. Boardinghouses.
7. Outdoor retail sale of merchandise, unless accessory to a permanent retail sales establishment that conducts most of its activities within a completely enclosed building or group of buildings.
8. The above- or below-ground storage of any flammable material in gaseous form, including compressed natural gas, except as permitted herein.
9. Hospitals.
10. Museums, including historic house museums.
11. Farm tours, hayrides, corn mazes, outdoor rodeos, riding stables, horse shows, fishing lakes, hunting or trapping, sportsmen's farms, and zoological gardens.
(f) Minimum Lot Size. No limitation.
(g) Minimum Lot Frontage. Forty (40) feet.
(h) Minimum Front Yard. Twenty (20) feet.
(i) Minimum Each Side Yard. No limitation, except as provided in Subsection (o) of this section.
(j) Minimum Rear Yard. No limitation, except as provided in Subsection (o) of this section.
(k) Minimum Open Space. See Article 20 for open space regulations.
(l) Maximum Lot Coverage. No limitation.
(m) Maximum Height of Building. Seventy-five (75) feet, except where a side or rear yard abuts a Professional Office or a Residential zone, then a 3:1 height to yard ratio.
No minimum requirements.
Conditional Uses: The Board of Adjustment may establish additional requirements, as needed.
(o) Special Provisions.
1. Landscape buffer areas shall be required as set forth in Article 18.
2. No building to be used principally as a single store selling food, produce, grocery items or general merchandise shall exceed eighty thousand (80,000) square feet in floor area unless:
a) Approved by the Planning Commission prior to April 27, 2000 for a larger area; or
b) The building is designed to meet the design guidelines for "big-box" retail establishments (Section 12-8), unless specific guidelines are waived by the Planning Commission through its approval of a final development plan.
(Code 1983, § 8-19; Ord. No. 263-83 , § 1, 12-15-1983; Ord. No. 234-85 , §§ 1, 2, 11-12-1985; Ord. No. 89-86 , § 18, 5-29-1986; Ord. No. 152-91 , §§ 2, 4, 7-18-1991; Ord. No. 30-92 , § 11, 3-3-1992; Ord. No. 30-95 , § 1, 2-9-1995; Ord. No. 85-96 , § 3, 5-30-1996; Ord. No. 222-98 , § 1, 8-27-1998; Ord. No. 261-98 , § 1, 10-1-1998; Ord. No. 325-2000 , § 1, 11-9-2000; Ord. No. 217-2006 , § 1, 7-11-2006; Ord. No. 129-2009 , § 23, 7-2-2009; Ord. No. 99-2011 , § 6, 8-25-2011; Ord. No. 155-2013 , § 2, 12-10-2013; Ord. No. 137-2016 , § 2(8-19), 7-7-2016; Ord. No. 22-2017 , § 3(8-19), 3-2-2017; Ord. No. 166-2017 , § 3(8-19), 11-16-2017; Ord. No. 079-2022, § 1, 8-30-22; Ord. No. 113-2022, § 3, 10-27-2022; Ord. No. 004-2023, § 21, 1-31-2023; Ord. No. 020-2023, § 14, 3-9-2023)
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