Editors’ Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Council Member John Driscoll moved to Lexington in 2016 and almost immediately began serving on the city’s Planning Commission before running for City Council in 2024. After taking office in early January, Driscoll sat down with the Phi to explain his motivations and goals for his term.
Q: Why did community engagement motivate you to run for Council?
A: Engagement to me is broader than just coming to city council meetings. Usually, if you engage people early on in the discussion, then there are less surprises. It’s a work in progress to find a way that makes it work in Lexington. You can’t just copy and paste ideas from elsewhere. You have to tune them to what works locally. I’m not the kind of person that’s going to say, “This is my vision of what needs to be done.” I’m much more of a person that says, “How do we get everybody in the room to decide what needs to be done?”
Q: How have your fellow council members assisted you with the transition from the Planning Commission to the City Council?
A: They’re very welcoming and very open to the conversations. We have a strong City Council and really good members who each bring different perspectives and skill sets. On the Planning Commission, you have an opportunity to go in-depth on particular issues, and what everyone has warned me on council is that you are obviously dealing with multiple issues, and you don’t always have the time to go into the same level of depth.
Q: What are your thoughts on the relationship between Washington and Lee University and Lexington?
A: I think what’s important between the university and the town is to have forthright discussions about what is the plan, because then you can begin to make adjustments. You can say, “What are the implications for the city, and how do we adjust to them?” I think what happens is that kind of discussion doesn’t happen enough. The issue with the phrase “university encroachment” is that it is natural for universities to do that. I started out my career as a campus planner. I’ve worked in universities and watched them over the years, but they are also valuable to the town.
Q: What can be done to build a better relationship between Lexington and both Washington and Lee and the Virginia Military Institute?
A: I think forums where the universities and the city go through presentations to the Planning Commission and City Council on an annual basis where they say, “Here’s what we are thinking of, and here are the implications for the campus and the town.” I think that’s what we need more of and haven’t had enough of.
Q: What do you think are the main challenges facing Lexington?
A: Sewer and water will require major upgrades to the treatment plants in the future, and replacing the old pipes underground. That’s basically deferred maintenance and at one point you can’t ignore it. Those are basic functions that we need. That’s an ongoing challenge that the council members and staff have been working on for a long time. I think they are trying to find and will find a way to do it that’s fiscally sane, and people won’t be carrying the burden of it entirely.
Some of the short-term [challenges] are things that I call quality of life issues in Lexington. How do we become a more walkable city? How do we become a bike-friendly city? How do we encourage sustainable development? It doesn’t have to all be done at once, but at least you’re conscious of it and bringing it into your planning for the future.
Q: Why do you feel so strongly about improving walkability and bikeability?
A: It’s not only to reduce auto congestion but also to improve our health. People have come to understand now that walking and biking and other kinds of physical activities are things we need to do for our health. If you go to Kroger now, there is no place to park your bike. We have a good bike plan. We did the study. Let’s use it and tie it in to try to find money to do this. Since Lexington is a small municipality, it can be challenging to find money for issues that are not urgent.
Q: What is Lexington currently doing well?
A: We have a high quality of life here. It’s very interesting when you ask the older, retired community why they came here. They say they just drove through the town and really liked it. It seemed like a comfortable place. It’s a place where you can get easily involved in community activities and be an engaged citizen. Those are our strengths.