Jeffersonville apartment complex

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Fifty people on one block in Jeffersonville will have to find a new place to live in order to make way for a new city project to fix flooding.

Jeffersonville plans to tear down an apartment building and several town homes near 8th Street and Indiana Avenue. Once the housing is cleared, the city plans to build giant catch basins underground to catch stormwater before it rushes into nearby homes. 

"We are confident in the next 30 to 60 days we will have control of those properties," Jeffersonville City Attorney Les Merkley said. 

It came as a surprise to almost every resident at the apartment building, located at 816 Indiana Ave., including Naomi Franklin, who's lived in the building for nearly 30 years. 

"I like the area and I've been here a long time because moving is expensive," Franklin said. " This is home."

Naomi Franklin

Naomi Franklin

This transaction has not been without a fight. 

WDRB obtained public records to find Sellersburg physician Dr. Jayesh Sheth. He owns the complex and five other townhouses on Indiana avenue, which were all lost to eminent domain in a court order signed last week

"This the worst abuse of taxpayer money," Sheth said. "This was not a just transaction."

Jeffersonville estimates the cost of the project near $2 million. Sheth said he offered the city cheaper alternatives that would keep people in their homes, including placing the basins one block north where the city redevelopment commission already owns much of the land. His ideas were rejected.

"Honestly, I didn't think that it would happen," said Elisha Webb, a resident of the apartment. "I thought they would care more about putting people out of their homes that have been here for years, but apparently they don't." 

Elisha Webb

Elisha Webb

You can see the other side of the story on the other side of the street, where flooding was so bad it evacuated elderly neighbors in the M Fine Apartments on Spring on Tuesday for the fourth time in a year. 

"We compensate not only the property owner, but we also compensate the residents and we relocate them," Merkley said. "Because, by law, we have to find them another place to live."

City plans also call for a park or green space to be built on top of the basins between 9th Street and 8th Street and Indiana Avenue and Ohio Avenue. 

Les Merkley

Les Merkley

Merkley said construction should start by the end of the summer, and the city hopes to complete the job by the end of the year.

"If they're going to do it, make sure that we're going to be taken care of," said Franklin.

The court appointed three appraisers to settle on a price with the property owner. 

Sheth said he didn't tell his tenants as he doesn't have a timeline or options yet for the move.

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