Development near Cherokee Park draws support and opposition ahead of crucial hearing

Chad Mills

Chad Mills
Reporter
Sep 25, 2019
Sep 25, 2019 Updated Sep 30, 2019

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- "One Park. Too Big. Too Tall."

A series of yellow signs with those words are peppered along Payne Street, Grinstead Drive, Lexington Road and beyond.

"Those are recently printed up, and I believe there were only 100 made up," said Phil Samuel, who lives off Payne Street.

Samuel is one of the voices against a proposed nearby development called One Park, a sizable development — 18 stories tall in one corner — that could be built on a triangle of land at Grinstead Drive and Lexington Road near Cherokee Park.

"This is not the appropriate development to be there," he said.

Next Monday, when the Planning Commission gets input before eventually voting on the project at a later date, Samuel will be there to share his concerns about the size of the building and the traffic it'll create. Steve Porter, an attorney who successfully challenged a Walmart in west Louisville and is current challenging TopGolf in east Louisville, will also be there. He's been hired by the Lexington Road Preservation Association to voice objections to One Park.

One Park Signs — Signs opposing the project have popped up in surrounding neighborhoods. (WDRB Photo)

Louisville's chamber of commerce, Greater Louisville Inc. (GLI), will also be there but with a very different take.

"We have other groups out there, and we're ready to go toe-to-toe to make the case," said Iris Wilbur, vice president of government affairs & public policy for GLI. "And for this one, we know that there's a clear ROI."

Wilbur and GLI are lobbying hard for the project. On Monday, it sent a letter to members of both the Planning Commission and Metro Council, both of which will have to approve the rezoning of land before the project can proceed.

"The mixed-use proposal that's currently out there on One Park accounts for retail, restaurants, cafes, hotel, on top of work and office space and then private residences," Wilbur said. "For GLI, it's important that we are vocal and support projects like this so we can have a clear sign, not only to Louisvillians but outside our region, saying, 'Louisville's open for business.'"

Wilbur reminds that the developer has made plenty of compromises — after numerous meetings with the neighborhoods — and even shrunk the size and height of the development multiple times.

If leaders don't approve One Park, GLI and neighbors like Bob Osborne believe it could set Louisville back.

"Growth is not the enemy," said Osborne, who lives in Cherokee Triangle. "I hearken it to what happened to Delta Airlines in Birmingham. In Birmingham, Delta tried to do so many things, and the city kept turning them down. They packed up shop and went to Atlanta, and we know the results there."

The Planning Commission's public hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Kentucky International Convention Center.

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