Lexington, KY Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Section 5-5 divides the urban county into three fire zones and sets construction and roofing standards for each. In District 1, the inner fire zone covering downtown Lexington, roof coverings on all new buildings or structures must be either class A or B Underwriters' Laboratories specification, and any replacement roof covering must also be class A or B; roofing on existing buildings there may remain class C. In District 2, the outer fire zone, roof coverings on both new and existing buildings may be class A, B, or C.

In District 3, everything outside the two fire zones, roof coverings may be class A, B, C, or vertical-grain wood shingles. A building counts as being within a given fire zone if more than one-third of its area sits inside that zone's boundary. The inner and outer fire zones are described in the code by lengthy metes-and-bounds legal descriptions running from downtown streets like Main, High, Broadway and Limestone outward, so a property owner has to check which zone a parcel falls in before choosing a roof covering, particularly for re-roofing work in the historic core where the class A/B requirement is strictest.

These fire-zone roofing standards apply on top of, not instead of, the Kentucky Residential and Building Codes that Section 5-1 designates the division of building inspection to enforce, and a permit and inspection from that division govern the actual re-roofing work itself.