Metro Council denies rezoning for controversial southeast Louisville grocery development
A rezoning bid to allow a controversial grocery-anchored development on Tucker Station Road was denied Thursday by the Louisville Metro Council.
Council members voted nearly unanimously to reject the rezoning of about 12 acres at Tucker Station and Taylorsville Roads where Florida- and Illinois-based developer WMG Development sought to build a 51,000-square-foot grocery store and three smaller commercial buildings.
Rezoning was needed, as the planned grocery store — which council members said would be a Publix — was larger than the 20,000-square-foot maximum allowed under the area’s zoning rules.
The property is part of the 2008 Tyler Rural Settlement District Neighborhood Plan and the 2010 Tyler Town Center planned development district, both developed with public input that provides a framework for future development.
Cliff Ashburner, a Louisville attorney representing the developer, called the council vote "disappointing."
"They are taking time to process the statements may by the Council and will determine next steps in the near future," he said in a statement to the Courier Journal.
Councilman Kevin Kramer, R-11, said allowing the rezoning would set a precedent for development in other areas with planned development districts.
“I think there's a lot to be said for the work that the community does to make clear what our vision is,” said Kramer, who sponsored the rezoning ordinance. “I think it's a dangerous path for us to go down when we decide because of one project or another, because one grocery store or other, we're going to throw out those planned development districts.”
Councilman Brent Ackerson, D-26, meanwhile, voted “present” and stressed a desire to stay flexible.
“I hope this body will be open to the fact that we should not have our hands tied by things that were decided a decade-plus ago, in light of the future moving so fast,” Ackerson said.
The council’s decision Thursday upholds an April vote of 3-2 by the city’s Planning Commission, whose members said they heard resident concerns over the project’s size and were concerned about its departure from the area’s existing zoning district.
That vote came at the end of a multi-hour hearing at which nearly 20 people spoke in opposition to the development. They raised concerns over its size and its impacts on traffic and nature and questioned the need for another grocery store so close to the nearby Kroger in the Tyler Retail Village, comments that drew cheers from most of the 200-plus attendees.
Staff with the city’s Planning and Design Services department detailed similar concerns with the project in its report to the Planning Commission.
The staff found that the type of development, a grocery store, was in keeping with the area but concluded the scale of the project was inconsistent with area standards.
“This project has been rejected at every step of the process and it is frankly disturbing that there are now, at the eleventh hour, considerations to blow up this Planned Development District, an unprecedented step in the history of Louisville,” said Steve Porter, a local attorney representing the Tucker Station Neighborhood Association, in a statement ahead of the council vote.
In his pre-vote comments Thursday, Councilman Anthony Piagentini, R-19, encouraged fellow members to stick with existing guidelines while noting that council members can call for reviews of existing neighborhood-specific standards.
“They create certainty to all parties involved,” he said. “And I appreciate that times change. Then we should go ahead and initiate change in those area plans, but until we do, we need to abide by them.”
Reach growth and development reporter Matthew Glowicki at mglowicki@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4000.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Metro Council rejects controversial Tucker Station Road development
