TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/988448
permits himself an interjection in those deep, considered tones of his. "It's a bal- ance between maintaining the uniqueness of Lexington and accepting growth, and asking how does that growth look?" he says. "We have to keep in mind those sur- rounding counties with less expensive land, which allows them a broader base for de- velopment—all being feeder communities for Lexington. You can't lose sight of the fact that 12 miles from this town is the larg- est Toyota manufacturing plant in North America, in Georgetown, Scott County. The University of Kentucky is a huge base, not just with its students but also the hospital and so on. "Fritz Farm was 58 acres on a key intersec- tion on Man O' War. It was one of the first developments in the country after the '08 recession, and no small thing: $120 million. And we had prospective retailers come here to Mill Ridge to hear about the uniqueness of Lexington; to hear that we remember who we are, and what we are, yet with- out burying our heads in the sand; that we wanted people who could improve our city with something sophisticated and fitting." "We want this to remain Lexington, Ken- tucky, as opposed to Anywhere, U.S.A.," stresses Price. "You don't want to commod- itise your entire town. To me, that's what's important about the Urban Service Bound- ary: it makes you more creative how you use space. "We see the thoroughbred as represen- tative of Lexington, Kentucky; if you pave us over, you pave over the identity of Lex- ington. But unless that is a shared identi-