Realizing a Community Vision
Lexington’s civic commons 2022 in pictures
Kick off your new year with inspiration from a dozen cities transforming civic assets to deliver more engaged, equitable and economically and environmentally resilient communities. Today, the third in our series of photo essays reflecting on the past year of progress features the civic commons work in Lexington.
An opening celebration for Town Branch Commons
A 10-year, 2.2-mile journey ended with an official snip of a ribbon and a celebration to officially open Town Branch Commons Trail on October 13, 2022.
“This trail is a path to economic vitality, to healthy living, and to our beautiful Bluegrass countryside. It’s the kind of quality of life investment that people in Lexington treasure, and visitors travel here to enjoy.” — Mayor Linda Gorton, City of Lexington
The design of the trail celebrates the Bluegrass by bringing iconic elements through the heart of the city, with inspiration from the limestone fences and karst geology found across Kentucky. While the project is mostly known as a transportation project, it is also a green infrastructure project. The project features native plantings and over 300 trees, tripling the urban tree canopy on this stretch of downtown roads. It adds nearly two acres of planting areas along the corridor. The design addresses storm water runoff with the implementation of urban rain gardens and bioswales, engineered planting areas designed to collect and soak up rainfall while cleaning pollutants from the water.
The trail has already received national recognition for its accomplishments and was awarded the 2022 Environmental Excellence Award by the Federal Highway Administration. At the helm of the design was Kate Orff, a celebrated landscape architect, who called the finished Town Branch Commons a “love letter to downtown.” She said the trail, which takes travelers past businesses, entertainment venues, restaurants, and parks, is already the envy of other communities. The trail will ultimately connect to the planned Town Branch Park near the Central Bank Center. That final piece is set to begin construction next year.
Changing daily life in Lexington
“I wanted to thank you, and all involved, for the walk/bike Town Branch path. It is an excellent addition to downtown. My husband and I often visit places with great walking paths and wished Lexington had such a place. And, now, thanks to all of you, we do. We are grateful for the trail, and for those with the vision to create it and dedication to getting it completed. The path was the final push my husband and I needed to buy new bikes. We never felt we could ride our bikes downtown, safely, until the path. Now, I commute, almost daily, from my home to my office downtown by using the path. Thank you! Hopefully Lexington’s trail system can continue to grow.” — Andrea William, Lexington resident
Final designs for a world-class park
Town Branch Park unveiled the final design plans for the community’s new world-class park in downtown Lexington. The design, which incorporates input gathered from more than 16,000 people through forums, surveys and meetings, is the next key milestone in the creation of the 10-acre green space adjacent to the new Central Bank Center. Through private fundraising, this former parking lot will be transformed into a large permanent stage and amphitheater, unique children’s play areas, water features, a dog park, food and beverage offerings, art installations, and the emergence of the Town Branch Creek flowing through the space.
Town Branch Park will be Lexington’s living room — a place where everyone is welcome. The community has embraced and invested in the positive impact Town Branch Park will have on our region as an inclusive catalyst for music, arts, recreation and economic development in the heart of our city for generations to come. In a celebration that saw their input come life, over 200 people gathered to take part in the initial design unveiling, and hundreds more were able to view the design and comment what aspects of the park they most look forward to through community pop-ups at the farmers market and Thursday Night Live concert, as well as presentations to community groups such as the Senior Services Commission, People with Disabilities meeting, and Rotary Club, among others.
Elevating local history in the East End
Breaking ground for Splash! at Charles Young Park is a dream more than a decade in the making. Splash! will be a large, interactive water feature telling the story of Brigadier General Young, who was born in Mays Lick, Kentucky, and educating visitors about the rich cultural history of the East End neighborhood and the park, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Through thoughtful design, signage, public art and other features, the park will celebrate the life and work of a local African-American leader who, despite the racial challenges of his time, accomplished and contributed so much for our country, and still serves us today as a role model and inspiration.
Located near a trail celebrating Lexington’s first original water source, Splash! will also draw inspiration from the rural Bluegrass landscape, mimicking karst, creeks, and streams through the design of the water play area which will include water bubbling up from stones, crossing water arches, and a constant shallow stream surrounded by stepping stones and artificial turf mounds for play or sitting.
“Splash! will be treasured and enjoyed by the families of the East End because they helped design it. Like the new playground in Charles Young Park, every aspect of this water play feature was envisioned and developed by neighborhood residents through community engagement and partnership.” — City of Lexington Councilmember James Brown
As week of conversations on the future of the city
In April 2022, CivicLex, Lexington’s Division of Planning, and an advisory group of 30+ local organizations conducted On the Table, a city wide public input process for Lexington’s next comprehensive plan, Imagine Lexington 2024. This process engaged approximately 6,000 residents in a series of conversations about Lexington’s transportation, housing, environment, and growth. These conversations, and a survey taken during them, shaped the public input of Imagine Lexington 2045.
Most public input in Lexington is defined by residents sending email for phone calls to the councilmembers or showing up in council chambers during city meetings. On the Table was a different kind of opportunity, one that brought neighbors together in parks, libraries, community centers, and coffee shops. The conversations were designed to help people see outside their own perspectives and learn from one another, producing some of the most thoughtful and rich public input that the City of Lexington has ever seen.
Embarking on public policy for park equity
“We know that our work isn’t done until every neighborhood has safe, welcoming, intentionally designed, and equitably located parks and greenspaces that support social and physical health, build environmental resiliency, and restore connections to nature.” — Valerie Friedmann, senior planner and greenspace planner for the City of Lexington
The Lexington Park Equity Accelerator (PEA) launched in 2023. Supported by the national non-profit Trust for Public Land, this new collaborative project aims to leverage public policy to address disparities in access to parks and greenspaces, help residents most impacted by these inequities understand how the city creates park and greenspace policies, and build new ways to bring these residents into the decision-making process. The project centers on the belief that park and greenspace equity is not only about the equitable distribution of resources but equitable access to decision-making. The PEA is a collaboration between Lexington’s Division of Parks & Recreation, Division of Planning, and local nonprofits CivicLex and Seedleaf.
Through focus group conversations with underrepresented communities and citywide pop-up listening sessions conducted in 2022, the PEA team is learning that safe, beautiful public spaces for all ages are important to community members.
“What we keep hearing in conversations with residents is that people want to visit their neighborhood parks, but they don’t feel safe there, so if they have the means and ability to do so they travel to safer feeling parks on the outskirts of town,” said Christine Smith, executive director of Seedleaf.
Megan Gulla, director of programs at CivicLex adds “along with safety, we’re hearing a lot that residents would prefer to be able to walk to a beautiful neighborhood park that has a variety of well-maintained amenities for adults and children, alike. These spaces exist in some areas in Lexington, but certainly not all.” Following an initial research phase, the PEA will conduct education and advocacy, and the culmination of the project will be a series of policy recommendations and on-the-ground experiments to build stronger connections among residents, public officials and their parks.
Leveraging public space for learning
The first public event was hosted along the Town Branch Commons in early November to celebrate the city’s newest trail and to launch the Town Branch Water Walk website, a virtual tour of the Town Branch Commons in downtown. During the Isacc to Oliver Family Stroll, held in conjunction with the Breeder’s Cup Festival, all were encouraged to walk, bike, or ride along the newly opened Town Branch Commons Corridor in downtown while learning about water and the history of Lexington. A free Lextran Bus Tour was also provided to ensure all were able to explore and learn along the 3 mile event route.
The primary focus of the website is to engage and educate the public about the waterway on which Lexington was founded, steps being taken to improve water quality and the green infrastructure features associated with the new Town Branch Commons development. Reaching people of all ages from Lexington and beyond via the online platform, locals and visitors alike can access the educational content. The site hosts an interactive map that allows users to explore 15 points of interest along the downtown trail, from which can be found educational content, photos, diagrams and short videos. Five of these points of interest have permanent signage on the Town Branch Commons along with trail wayfinding maps. Visitors to the Town Branch Commons can access the online information by scanning the QR codes located on the signs or by visiting the website directly.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration of The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and local partners.
