Some Louisville Kentucky home owners have taken to using a new idea for fighting urban sprawl and new development in their area by downzoning the real estate.
Home owners in the Thixton Lane area in southern Jefferson County near the Bullitt County line, have banded together and filed for a zoning change that would restrict approximately 475 acres in their community. The effort is being headed by one of the area residents, Mark Durbin who serves as president of Thixton Lane Neighbors – and that group are the applicants for the real estate zoning request.
What prompted this action, was the fairly recent approvals of 4 new real estate developments for this Louisville Kentucky suburb that could mean as many as 600 additional homes being constructed in the area.
Residents have joined together with concerns that these real estate developments would destroy the rural character of the area and are seeking to downzone the remaining properties so that minimum lots would be 5 acres or larger. [Currently, lots can be as small as 9000 sq.ft. (approximately 1/5 of an acre).]
The approximate 475 acres that is slated to go before a hearing to get downzoned is located west of Bardstown Road / Little Spring Farm subdivision and east of Cedar Creek Road.
Unfortunately for the applicants, not everyone in the area is supporting the cause – and it has created a somewhat mix/match of zoning change requests.
As such, the Louisville Kentucky Planning and Zoning Commission is unlikely to approve sporadic zoning changes for the area – preferring to keep entire areas zoned a particular way, to ensure continuity for a particular type of zoning and real estate development.
Additionally, part of the concern from the residents seeking this real estate zoning request downzone, are concerned about the inferior roadways that service the area, and their inability to adequately support new developments, and the increased traffic that would accompany such developments.
The applicants maintain that a zoning change for the area would send a message to potential real estate developers that they don’t want the additional real estate developments in their area and that there would potentially be additional time and monetary costs if a developer decides to try and get something new approved through the system.
The director of the Louisville Metro Planning & Design Services, Charles Cash, has stated that this is the first time that he’s recalled of any group of residents in an area banding together to downzone their properties collectively.
The Metro Council representative for this area is District 22 Robin Engel, and Engel has advised the applicants to NOT pursue the request because of the mix/match makeup of the application because its not an uniform area that is seeking the down zoning since there are pockets/holes of residents not wanting the down zoning.
He has recommended that individual owners make application rather than the entire neighborhood association – as its very hard to deny a person wanting to restrict their own home.
It should be interesting to see how the commission handles the request. It is likely that because of the mix/match makeup without complete uniformity for the area, that the collective real estate zoning effort will be denied. This will force the individual owners that are wanting to proceed to file as individuals for the additional restrictions to be placed on their properties.
Louisville Kentucky Home Owners Fight Real Estate Development
Home owners in the Thixton Lane area in southern Jefferson County near the Bullitt County line, have banded together and filed for a zoning change that would restrict approximately 475 acres in their community. The effort is being headed by one of the area residents, Mark Durbin who serves as president of Thixton Lane Neighbors – and that group are the applicants for the real estate zoning request.
What prompted this action, was the fairly recent approvals of 4 new real estate developments for this Louisville Kentucky suburb that could mean as many as 600 additional homes being constructed in the area.
Residents have joined together with concerns that these real estate developments would destroy the rural character of the area and are seeking to downzone the remaining properties so that minimum lots would be 5 acres or larger. [Currently, lots can be as small as 9000 sq.ft. (approximately 1/5 of an acre).]
The approximate 475 acres that is slated to go before a hearing to get downzoned is located west of Bardstown Road / Little Spring Farm subdivision and east of Cedar Creek Road.
Unfortunately for the applicants, not everyone in the area is supporting the cause – and it has created a somewhat mix/match of zoning change requests.
As such, the Louisville Kentucky Planning and Zoning Commission is unlikely to approve sporadic zoning changes for the area – preferring to keep entire areas zoned a particular way, to ensure continuity for a particular type of zoning and real estate development.
Additionally, part of the concern from the residents seeking this real estate zoning request downzone, are concerned about the inferior roadways that service the area, and their inability to adequately support new developments, and the increased traffic that would accompany such developments.
The applicants maintain that a zoning change for the area would send a message to potential real estate developers that they don’t want the additional real estate developments in their area and that there would potentially be additional time and monetary costs if a developer decides to try and get something new approved through the system.
The director of the Louisville Metro Planning & Design Services, Charles Cash, has stated that this is the first time that he’s recalled of any group of residents in an area banding together to downzone their properties collectively.
The Metro Council representative for this area is District 22 Robin Engel, and Engel has advised the applicants to NOT pursue the request because of the mix/match makeup of the application because its not an uniform area that is seeking the down zoning since there are pockets/holes of residents not wanting the down zoning.
He has recommended that individual owners make application rather than the entire neighborhood association – as its very hard to deny a person wanting to restrict their own home.
It should be interesting to see how the commission handles the request. It is likely that because of the mix/match makeup without complete uniformity for the area, that the collective real estate zoning effort will be denied. This will force the individual owners that are wanting to proceed to file as individuals for the additional restrictions to be placed on their properties.