Blue Grass Community Foundation
Legacy Trail FAQs
Legacy Trail FAQs
Prepared by The Legacy Center
at Blue Grass Community Foundation
December 2008
What is the Legacy Trail?
The Legacy Trail is a nine-mile walking and biking trail leading from downtown Lexington to the Kentucky Horse Park. While in downtown, the Trail will be located on existing streets. The Trail goes off-street north of Loudon Avenue. In the short term, there will be only one major street crossing at Newtown Pike and Citation Boulevard. Eventually, the plan is to create a sculptural pedestrian bridge over Newtown Pike. Over time, this Trail will grow and link to Georgetown to the north and to the Kentucky River on the south as well as to the Town Branch Trail in downtown and other trails being developed in Fayette County.
This multi-use corridor will be a wonderful connection from urban Lexington to rural Fayette County - and over time it will tie into the other great trails being established as well as into our northside neighborhoods.
The primary Trail event in 2008 was “Legacy Trail Big Week.” The Center, working closely with the Trail consultants and the city, planned, organized and facilitated eight hours of direct stakeholder meetings, an information luncheon with community leaders, and hosted the “Party on the Trail.”
Over 350 stakeholders were invited to participate in the planning process. The “Party on the Trail” attracted over 125 people, who came to learn and provide input as to what the Trail should be. The consultants and city officials were extremely pleased with the outcome. The lead consultant on the project said, “I have never been to such a successful public meeting.”
The proposed Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden is located at the intersection of Midland Avenue and East Third Street, one suggested “terminus” for the Trail from the Kentucky Horse Park into the downtown area. The Garden is planned to commemorate the life and legacy of Isaac Murphy, a genius Thoroughbred Jockey and East End resident. This Garden will become a community icon and gathering space.
What is the status of the Legacy Trail?
The Trail is estimated to cost approximately $8-10 million. Currently, the City has received over $3 million in State and Federal Funds. The additional funds will be received from the City as well as private fundraising, which is now taking place.
The City has hired Trail designers, planners, and engineering consultants, who have begun work. In October, over 125 people turned out to help provide ideas for the designers on how best to plan the Trail.
The initial design concepts will be brought out for public review in mid-January 2009. Once finalized, detailed engineering planning will begin.
In order to have the Trail completed by the opening of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in September 2010, construction must begin in the summer of 2009.
What is the importance of the Legacy Trail?
The completion of the Legacy Trail is important to improving the community’s health by becoming a place for extensive recreation. The Trail will help the community prosper by becoming a vital component in our economic development efforts to attract young professionals, retirees, and the kinds of businesses that follow. The Trail will be a place for the community to learn about its past, heritage, and culture as well as our unique environment.
The Trail will enable all citizens to have access to the unparalleled beauty of our countryside. This is especially important to the youth who live in northside neighborhoods along the Trail route. For example, children living in Lexington’s historically ignored and disenfranchised East End neighborhood will be able to easily reach and connect with the Trail via the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden and the historic Third Street Corridor.
By strengthening connections between residents and the countryside, we believe support for the Urban Service Boundary planning concept will increase. This will have numerous positive benefits to our city, not just in the preservation of land, but in the redevelopment of many areas of the city.
The Trail will also be an important transportation mode during and after the World Equestrian Games. The Trail will be wide enough to accommodate both walkers and bikers, and plans are being discussed to include rental bike opportunities from the hotels that line the Trail.
Trail planning and building will involve a new generation of leadership in the city. For example, a Facebook site devoted to the trail has gathered over 220 supporters. Further, more young leaders will be engaged in the process of incorporating art, heritage, and environmental components.
Finally, successful completion of the Legacy Trail will instill a greater public faith that citizens can and should guide vital community improvements. This faith will result in greater civic engagement, leading to an ever stronger community.
What are the benefits to UK?
UK will gain extra acreage of valuable pasture land for grazing and animal housing on land that is currently leased from Vulcan in one year increments. This provides long-term security to research efforts.
UK currently owns much of Cane Run Creek. Gaining ownership to that portion of Cane Run Creek that is currently owned by Vulcan will allow for larger scale watershed management.
The Legacy Trail will allow UK to introduce the public to agriculture experimentation first hand, thus enhancing UK’s outreach.
What are the benefits to Vulcan?
Vulcan has the right to mine the surface and subsurface of the land they currently own.
The conditional use permit approval would lead the way to a land swap wherein Vulcan would trade their surface land to UK for subsurface mineral rights on the adjacent part of UK’s property. Vulcan would still retain the subsurface mining rights on the property they currently own.
The net effect is that Vulcan will retain an equivalent amount of mineral rights to what they currently have. But because the mining will occur underground, the operation will result in no environmental disturbance in addition to the other substantial benefits listed to UK and the Legacy Trail.
In total, though both UK and Vulcan gain something from the proposed application, the creation of the Legacy Trail ensures that this application has a larger public benefit overall, a rare occurrence.
Who supports the Legacy Trail?
The Legacy Trail has received significant public support. In addition to the hundreds of citizens that participated in the planning sessions, the over 200 supporters on Facebook, the list below and the attached booklet of letters of support should give some indication of the depth of community support.
What is the importance of the Vulcan Conditional Use Permit to the Legacy Trail?
For many years, the idea of a recreational trail connecting downtown to the Kentucky Horse Park ruminated with many people. The fortuitous location of the large tunnel under I-75 as well as the large expanse of the University of Kentucky’s Maine Chance Research Farm beckoned planners.
An “as the crow-flies” sketch would show a basically straight line between the tunnel and the front door of the Kentucky Horse Park. Conceptually, this is easy to understand: the land lies just right, and there are only two property owners in the vicinity.
The catch is that one of the property owners is a mining operation who owns a key segment along that straight line. Without being able to go through that portion, the concept falls apart.
This is the importance of the Vulcan Conditional Use Permit to the Legacy Trail. In order to safely traverse the portion of the route that is owned by Vulcan, there can be no surface mining in the area. Yet, the Vulcan property can be surface mined as currently zoned.
Recognizing this conflict, many people helped to create a compromise that benefits all parties. Vulcan, in exchange for giving up the right to mine the
surface and by transferring surface title to UK, would in exchange receive underground mineral rights in another area under the Maine Chance Farm.
This land swap would eliminate any further surface mining and thus clear the way for the construction of the Legacy Trail.
What are the alternative routes for the Legacy Trail if the Vulcan Conditional Use Permit is not approved?
Given the sensitive nature of the research that occurs on Maine Chance Farm, there is little likelihood of the Trail taking a different, more intrusive track through the farm. Further, the funding received to-date is based on the “straight-line” concept. Any significant detours, even if approved by UK, would add millions of dollars to the cost of the Legacy Trail. Obtaining these funds by the date needed to start construction would be unlikely.
Thus, without the approval of the Vulcan Conditional Use Permit, there is little possibility that the Trail will be completed by the beginning of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. And without the sense of urgency provided by the games to leverage funding and cooperation, the likelihood that the Trail will never be completed increases greatly.
What is the Legacy Center at Blue Grass Community Foundation?
The Legacy Center is the civic engagement arm of Blue Grass Community Foundation. This initiative of Blue Grass Community Foundation was initially funded by a $2.55m grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and operates with generous support from Blue Grass Community Foundation. The Center's initial purpose is to help oversee the development of two Legacy Projects that were selected by the community in late 2007. These projects are (1) the Legacy Trail, a recreational trail connecting downtown Lexington to the Kentucky Horse Park complete with associated mini-parks, rain gardens, public art, and educational and cultural features, and (2) the revitalization of the East End neighborhood in Lexington.
The Center will accomplish this by creating robust social networks, engaging the community and facilitating conversations about the Legacy projects. Over time through these activities and with the leadership of Blue Grass Community Foundation, Lexington will have a wonderful model for community collaboration that can be used to move us ahead in the 21st century. Please contact Steve Austin, Center Director, at saustin@bgcf.org or 859. 225.3343. For more information, visit the Center at: www.legacycenter.ning.com
Top Ten Reasons to support The Legacy Trail
1. Economic Development - Knowledge-based young professionals want a community where they can walk and ride bikes. When considering where they will relocate, this is a very important issue. Think of the special events such as marathons, walks and bicycle rides, which the trail could host. The possibilities are endless.
2. Health - 63% percent of Kentucky adults are likely to be obese or overweight. 35% percent of our low-income children are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, creating an obesity crisis which jeopardizes Kentucky's public health and economic future. Every $1 investment in trails for physical activity led to a $2.94 in direct medical benefit. (Health Promotion Practice: April 2005 Vol. 6, No. 2, 174-179)
3. Safety - Kentucky's traffic safety risks grow as the numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians increase, and Kentucky's Transportation Center, in 2004, reported that motorists in Kentucky had nine hundred six (906) pedestrian collisions, with fifty (50) of these resulting in fatalities, They also reported four hundred fifty-two (452) collisions involving bicyclists with six as fatalities. This trail is a safe alternative.
4. Branding Opportunities - Each property along the trail has its own unique characteristics. Maine Chance Farm has research, Lexmark has technology, downtown has history & architecture, and UK has education. With creative and out of the box programming, each has the opportunity to strut its stuff for the walkers and bikers who will use it. The trail will also be designed to have fencing and a “farm lane feel” that is so characteristic of our bluegrass region.
5. Quality of Life - If Lexington is going to compete in the future, we must create a world-class quality of life. Look at the top cities in the world…they are all walkable and/or bikeable.
6. Farmland Preservation - Driving by our farmland does not preserve it. Directly exposing people to the benefits and beauty of our farmland is the single most effective way to preserve this valuable resource.
7. Connectivity - Kentucky Horse Park to Spindletop Hall to University of Kentucky Experiment Station (Maine Chance Research Farm) to I-75 & I-64 to major hotels to Coldstream Research Park to Lexmark to WLEX-TV to YMCA to Transylvania University to historic downtown neighborhoods & parks to Rupp Arena to Vine Street Linear Park & downtown core to restaurants & retail shops to LexTran Transit Center to major hospitals to UK & the Arboretum to residential neighborhoods to Veterans Park (and possibly Waveland).
8. Traffic Mitigation - With the enormous crowds that Lexington will see during Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010, this trail will serve as an excellent alternative route from downtown to the Kentucky Horse Park.
9. Be a Change Agent - With the success of the Legacy Trail, individuals will soon realize what they have been missing and will demand more. This injection of advocacy is what will be needed to make our Community and Commonwealth a healthier more viable place to be.
10. Leave A Legacy - Give something to your children that their children and grandchildren will be able to use and enjoy. Remember the saying… Leave the world a better place than you found it.
If you are interested in making a tax-deductible contribution, please call the Blue Grass Community Foundation at 859-225-3343 and tell them you want to help support the
Trail Fund.
Prepared by The Legacy Center
at Blue Grass Community Foundation
December 2008
What is the Legacy Trail?
The Legacy Trail is a nine-mile walking and biking trail leading from downtown Lexington to the Kentucky Horse Park. While in downtown, the Trail will be located on existing streets. The Trail goes off-street north of Loudon Avenue. In the short term, there will be only one major street crossing at Newtown Pike and Citation Boulevard. Eventually, the plan is to create a sculptural pedestrian bridge over Newtown Pike. Over time, this Trail will grow and link to Georgetown to the north and to the Kentucky River on the south as well as to the Town Branch Trail in downtown and other trails being developed in Fayette County.
This multi-use corridor will be a wonderful connection from urban Lexington to rural Fayette County - and over time it will tie into the other great trails being established as well as into our northside neighborhoods.
The primary Trail event in 2008 was “Legacy Trail Big Week.” The Center, working closely with the Trail consultants and the city, planned, organized and facilitated eight hours of direct stakeholder meetings, an information luncheon with community leaders, and hosted the “Party on the Trail.”
Over 350 stakeholders were invited to participate in the planning process. The “Party on the Trail” attracted over 125 people, who came to learn and provide input as to what the Trail should be. The consultants and city officials were extremely pleased with the outcome. The lead consultant on the project said, “I have never been to such a successful public meeting.”
The proposed Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden is located at the intersection of Midland Avenue and East Third Street, one suggested “terminus” for the Trail from the Kentucky Horse Park into the downtown area. The Garden is planned to commemorate the life and legacy of Isaac Murphy, a genius Thoroughbred Jockey and East End resident. This Garden will become a community icon and gathering space.
What is the status of the Legacy Trail?
The Trail is estimated to cost approximately $8-10 million. Currently, the City has received over $3 million in State and Federal Funds. The additional funds will be received from the City as well as private fundraising, which is now taking place.
The City has hired Trail designers, planners, and engineering consultants, who have begun work. In October, over 125 people turned out to help provide ideas for the designers on how best to plan the Trail.
The initial design concepts will be brought out for public review in mid-January 2009. Once finalized, detailed engineering planning will begin.
In order to have the Trail completed by the opening of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in September 2010, construction must begin in the summer of 2009.
What is the importance of the Legacy Trail?
The completion of the Legacy Trail is important to improving the community’s health by becoming a place for extensive recreation. The Trail will help the community prosper by becoming a vital component in our economic development efforts to attract young professionals, retirees, and the kinds of businesses that follow. The Trail will be a place for the community to learn about its past, heritage, and culture as well as our unique environment.
The Trail will enable all citizens to have access to the unparalleled beauty of our countryside. This is especially important to the youth who live in northside neighborhoods along the Trail route. For example, children living in Lexington’s historically ignored and disenfranchised East End neighborhood will be able to easily reach and connect with the Trail via the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden and the historic Third Street Corridor.
By strengthening connections between residents and the countryside, we believe support for the Urban Service Boundary planning concept will increase. This will have numerous positive benefits to our city, not just in the preservation of land, but in the redevelopment of many areas of the city.
The Trail will also be an important transportation mode during and after the World Equestrian Games. The Trail will be wide enough to accommodate both walkers and bikers, and plans are being discussed to include rental bike opportunities from the hotels that line the Trail.
Trail planning and building will involve a new generation of leadership in the city. For example, a Facebook site devoted to the trail has gathered over 220 supporters. Further, more young leaders will be engaged in the process of incorporating art, heritage, and environmental components.
Finally, successful completion of the Legacy Trail will instill a greater public faith that citizens can and should guide vital community improvements. This faith will result in greater civic engagement, leading to an ever stronger community.
What are the benefits to UK?
UK will gain extra acreage of valuable pasture land for grazing and animal housing on land that is currently leased from Vulcan in one year increments. This provides long-term security to research efforts.
UK currently owns much of Cane Run Creek. Gaining ownership to that portion of Cane Run Creek that is currently owned by Vulcan will allow for larger scale watershed management.
The Legacy Trail will allow UK to introduce the public to agriculture experimentation first hand, thus enhancing UK’s outreach.
What are the benefits to Vulcan?
Vulcan has the right to mine the surface and subsurface of the land they currently own.
The conditional use permit approval would lead the way to a land swap wherein Vulcan would trade their surface land to UK for subsurface mineral rights on the adjacent part of UK’s property. Vulcan would still retain the subsurface mining rights on the property they currently own.
The net effect is that Vulcan will retain an equivalent amount of mineral rights to what they currently have. But because the mining will occur underground, the operation will result in no environmental disturbance in addition to the other substantial benefits listed to UK and the Legacy Trail.
In total, though both UK and Vulcan gain something from the proposed application, the creation of the Legacy Trail ensures that this application has a larger public benefit overall, a rare occurrence.
Who supports the Legacy Trail?
The Legacy Trail has received significant public support. In addition to the hundreds of citizens that participated in the planning sessions, the over 200 supporters on Facebook, the list below and the attached booklet of letters of support should give some indication of the depth of community support.
What is the importance of the Vulcan Conditional Use Permit to the Legacy Trail?
For many years, the idea of a recreational trail connecting downtown to the Kentucky Horse Park ruminated with many people. The fortuitous location of the large tunnel under I-75 as well as the large expanse of the University of Kentucky’s Maine Chance Research Farm beckoned planners.
An “as the crow-flies” sketch would show a basically straight line between the tunnel and the front door of the Kentucky Horse Park. Conceptually, this is easy to understand: the land lies just right, and there are only two property owners in the vicinity.
The catch is that one of the property owners is a mining operation who owns a key segment along that straight line. Without being able to go through that portion, the concept falls apart.
This is the importance of the Vulcan Conditional Use Permit to the Legacy Trail. In order to safely traverse the portion of the route that is owned by Vulcan, there can be no surface mining in the area. Yet, the Vulcan property can be surface mined as currently zoned.
Recognizing this conflict, many people helped to create a compromise that benefits all parties. Vulcan, in exchange for giving up the right to mine the
surface and by transferring surface title to UK, would in exchange receive underground mineral rights in another area under the Maine Chance Farm.
This land swap would eliminate any further surface mining and thus clear the way for the construction of the Legacy Trail.
What are the alternative routes for the Legacy Trail if the Vulcan Conditional Use Permit is not approved?
Given the sensitive nature of the research that occurs on Maine Chance Farm, there is little likelihood of the Trail taking a different, more intrusive track through the farm. Further, the funding received to-date is based on the “straight-line” concept. Any significant detours, even if approved by UK, would add millions of dollars to the cost of the Legacy Trail. Obtaining these funds by the date needed to start construction would be unlikely.
Thus, without the approval of the Vulcan Conditional Use Permit, there is little possibility that the Trail will be completed by the beginning of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. And without the sense of urgency provided by the games to leverage funding and cooperation, the likelihood that the Trail will never be completed increases greatly.
What is the Legacy Center at Blue Grass Community Foundation?
The Legacy Center is the civic engagement arm of Blue Grass Community Foundation. This initiative of Blue Grass Community Foundation was initially funded by a $2.55m grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and operates with generous support from Blue Grass Community Foundation. The Center's initial purpose is to help oversee the development of two Legacy Projects that were selected by the community in late 2007. These projects are (1) the Legacy Trail, a recreational trail connecting downtown Lexington to the Kentucky Horse Park complete with associated mini-parks, rain gardens, public art, and educational and cultural features, and (2) the revitalization of the East End neighborhood in Lexington.
The Center will accomplish this by creating robust social networks, engaging the community and facilitating conversations about the Legacy projects. Over time through these activities and with the leadership of Blue Grass Community Foundation, Lexington will have a wonderful model for community collaboration that can be used to move us ahead in the 21st century. Please contact Steve Austin, Center Director, at saustin@bgcf.org or 859. 225.3343. For more information, visit the Center at: www.legacycenter.ning.com
Top Ten Reasons to support The Legacy Trail
1. Economic Development - Knowledge-based young professionals want a community where they can walk and ride bikes. When considering where they will relocate, this is a very important issue. Think of the special events such as marathons, walks and bicycle rides, which the trail could host. The possibilities are endless.
2. Health - 63% percent of Kentucky adults are likely to be obese or overweight. 35% percent of our low-income children are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, creating an obesity crisis which jeopardizes Kentucky's public health and economic future. Every $1 investment in trails for physical activity led to a $2.94 in direct medical benefit. (Health Promotion Practice: April 2005 Vol. 6, No. 2, 174-179)
3. Safety - Kentucky's traffic safety risks grow as the numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians increase, and Kentucky's Transportation Center, in 2004, reported that motorists in Kentucky had nine hundred six (906) pedestrian collisions, with fifty (50) of these resulting in fatalities, They also reported four hundred fifty-two (452) collisions involving bicyclists with six as fatalities. This trail is a safe alternative.
4. Branding Opportunities - Each property along the trail has its own unique characteristics. Maine Chance Farm has research, Lexmark has technology, downtown has history & architecture, and UK has education. With creative and out of the box programming, each has the opportunity to strut its stuff for the walkers and bikers who will use it. The trail will also be designed to have fencing and a “farm lane feel” that is so characteristic of our bluegrass region.
5. Quality of Life - If Lexington is going to compete in the future, we must create a world-class quality of life. Look at the top cities in the world…they are all walkable and/or bikeable.
6. Farmland Preservation - Driving by our farmland does not preserve it. Directly exposing people to the benefits and beauty of our farmland is the single most effective way to preserve this valuable resource.
7. Connectivity - Kentucky Horse Park to Spindletop Hall to University of Kentucky Experiment Station (Maine Chance Research Farm) to I-75 & I-64 to major hotels to Coldstream Research Park to Lexmark to WLEX-TV to YMCA to Transylvania University to historic downtown neighborhoods & parks to Rupp Arena to Vine Street Linear Park & downtown core to restaurants & retail shops to LexTran Transit Center to major hospitals to UK & the Arboretum to residential neighborhoods to Veterans Park (and possibly Waveland).
8. Traffic Mitigation - With the enormous crowds that Lexington will see during Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010, this trail will serve as an excellent alternative route from downtown to the Kentucky Horse Park.
9. Be a Change Agent - With the success of the Legacy Trail, individuals will soon realize what they have been missing and will demand more. This injection of advocacy is what will be needed to make our Community and Commonwealth a healthier more viable place to be.
10. Leave A Legacy - Give something to your children that their children and grandchildren will be able to use and enjoy. Remember the saying… Leave the world a better place than you found it.
If you are interested in making a tax-deductible contribution, please call the Blue Grass Community Foundation at 859-225-3343 and tell them you want to help support the
Trail Fund.
Comment
-
Comment by Daphne on October 20, 2009 at 11:08am - Great post about Legacy Trail because this is important to improving the community’s health by becoming a place for extensive recreation because this is important to everybody I really enjoyed this post and I'd like to read a post about Buy Viagra and the benefits of this medicament.
About
Badge
© 2009 Created by steve austin on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of Legacy Center to add comments!
Join this Ning Network