Lexington County limits type of housing, citing development emergency. Is it?
Lexington County Council added new restrictions for a type of high density housing, pushing the new rules to take immediate effect after declaring an emergency.
“An emergency exists as to an influx of development in the county,” Councilwoman Charli Wessinger said during the June 24 meeting as she amended the council’s agenda and made adjustments to the ordinance regulating patio homes.
Despite invoking a pending ordinance doctrine — which allows the rules to take effect before the county council has taken three votes — the county hasn’t seen any patio home subdivisions in the last two years, multiple council members confirmed. The doctrine is often used by municipalities to ensure zoning regulations are followed while a new rule is under consideration but has not yet been officially enacted.
“It’s more anticipating what’s coming. I don’t think we’ve actually had patio home neighborhoods in the last two years, but I think there’s talk of some coming and we want to make sure that we’re prepared and doing it responsibly,” Councilman Todd Cockrell told The State.
Patio homes are similar to townhomes, according to Pulte Homes. They’re typically smaller and built closer together than a traditional single-family home. The homes are generally targeted at an older demographic like retirees.
The effort to regulate the homes comes at a time when Lexington doesn’t have enough of those types of homes to accommodate the desire for them, Cockrell said.
“For somebody that lives on the lake in a 9,000-square foot house [who] wants to sell it and move to a patio home, there’s not a lot of options in Lexington for that,” Cockrell told The State. During a June 24 council committee meeting, Cockrell said there’s a growing desire for smaller yards.
But some council members disagreed, advocating for enough yard space for people to be able to enjoy a smaller home while still having a roomy outdoor area.
“Most people who want to live in a patio home … they still want all that beautiful outdoor entertaining space that would go with a 10,890 square foot lot. They want to have a covered area they can grill on, they sit out, they want to have a fire pit,” Councilwoman Beth Carrigg said during the council committee meeting.
In a 6-3 vote, the county council voted June 24 to simultaneously make regulations for patio homes stricter while in some ways easing the process for getting them approved. The new rules halved the number of homes allowed per acre from 12 to 6 and required similar zoning and street classifications as to duplexes and townhomes. They also made it easier for proposed projects to pass through the zoning board — now only requiring a majority vote as opposed to the previous super majority vote required.
But any proposed patio home subdivision will now be required to undergo concurrency review, an extra step during the planning commission’s review of a proposed development that requires input from various county agencies like local school districts and the county’s emergency management department. The county council enacted a concurrency review ordinance in June of last year.
Council members Michael Bishop, Clifford Fisher and chair Todd Cullum voted against approving the ordinance, all citing issues with the pending ordinance doctrine aspect.
“The pending ordinance means it takes effect even before all the readings and public hearings and I have an issue with that. I don’t believe this is a state of emergency enough in my opinion that it doesn’t go through due process,” Bishop said during the council meeting.
“I agree with this [ordinance], but it’s not an emergency,” Fisher added.
This ordinance isn’t the first time the council has invoked a pending ordinance doctrine for zoning or development rules. At a June 10 meeting, the council created a new overlay district and invoked the pending ordinance doctrine for that area. Bishop was the only council member to vote against that one.
This story was originally published July 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
