LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A heavily-opposed affordable housing complex proposal near Prospect will move on to the next phase.
A developer is reviving plans for an apartment complex for low-income renters near Prospect that the Metro Council rejected in 2017 by denying a zoning change.
During Tuesday night's public hearing at Kentucky Country Day School, the Louisville Metro Planning Commission said the development meets the required criteria, and recommended the project for Metro Council's final approval.
The latest plan for Prospect Cove calls for a three-story complex with 178 one- and two-bedroom units. It’s scaled down slightly from the 2017 plan of 198 units and four stories.
LDG is no longer designating the units as “senior” housing for those over 55, but “most if not all” of the apartments would still be reserved for tenants who meet low-income guidelines established by federal Department of Housing & Urban Development, Lanier-Robinson said.
That means tenants could earn no more than $47,450 for a single person to $67,750 for a family of four, according to HUD’s 2022 guidelines.
Similar to the 2017 hearing, Prospect residents highly opposed the project during Tuesday's night's public hearing. Prospect’s mayor and other residents have said their ongoing opposition to Prospect Cove has to do with the scale of the complex, not the people who would live there.
Developers argue a development like Prospect Cove is necessary to diversify housing near Prospect, where more than 91% of residents in the zip code own their homes.
LDG claims, and filed a lawsuit in late 2017, the real motivation is illegal discrimination against people of color and low-income tenants.
"The people who decide to live in Prospect just like you all choose to live in Prospect, understand the commute to downtown is kind of a pain, but it's good enough to like where I live," Cliff Ashburner, the attorney representing LDG Development, said. "They're going to decide on their own, I know what Prospect is, I know what's available there, where I work, where my children go to school and have made this decision for myself to move there."
Neighbors argued there is a lack of services in the area that low-income people rely on, such as public transportation and healthcare.
The main point of the concern was the size of the complex and the lack of infrastructure to support a high dense area.
"I recognize the fact it is totally absolutely incompatible, incompatible with the neighborhood it's in, no question about it," Prospect City Attorney Chris Gorman said.
The project has now been sent to Metro Council for final approval. It is LDG’s second attempt to rezone the land. In 2017, the Louisville Metro Planning Commission unanimously recommended the change, but in a rare move the Metro Council voted against it in a 14-11 decision.
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