| The Creation of "New Louisville"? |
The history of the StorageTek site. In fall 2003 StorageTek proposed build 1,080+ houses on its 390-acre campus by marketing the development as a "mixed use" housing project and by touting the development as a virtually self-contained city unto itself. The City Council fell for it, and five pro-growth Council members, including the only one running for reelection in November 2005, Michele Van Pelt, voted to amend that part of the Comprehensive Plan barring housing on the StorageTek site to allow for housing there. The citizens didn't bite. They turned up the political pressure and forced the City Council to put the StorageTek project on hold and to conduct a full review of the Comprehensive Plan. Although the pro-growth Council approved the new, pro-growth Comprehensive Plan, to date no new development plan for the former StorageTek (StorageTek is now owned by Sun Microsystems) has been proposed. Why building houses at the StorageTek site is a bad idea. For starters, take a look at a map of Louisville that shows the urban design of the city. Louisville's houses are placed in the center of the city. As one moves toward the edges of the city, there are commercial areas and retail stores. On the outer edges of Louisville are some 2,000 acres of open space. In addition to serving as places for us to view wildlife, enjoy nature and recreate, the open space makes our city a home. It feels good not to be jammed up next to other municipalities. "StorageTekville," as some have called housing developments at StorageTek, is completely at odds with Louisville's carefully thought out urban design. It creates a village outside our community for no apparent purpose other than to build. Most people call that sprawl. Louisville doesn't have it, and doesn't need it. But if urban design doesn't interest you, how about economics? Every house in Louisville is a financial loss for the city. Individual residents simply don't generate enough in sales tax revenue—the main source of revenue for the city—to pay for the high level of city services we receive. That financial deficit is paid for by sales tax revenue from regional retail stores like Lowes that attract nonresidents to our city. Houses on the outer edges of the city are a big problem, especially if they are near retail centers located in other cities. Because proximity of retail stores (e.g., grocery stores) plays such a large role in where people spend their retail tax dollars, residents on the outer edges of the city are likely to shop in neighboring cities. The result is that these houses generate even fewer sales tax dollars for the city than do houses located in the center of Louisville, and therefore these houses generate an even larger deficit for the city. Looked at another way, other residents will be subsidizing the city services going into homes on the outer edges of the city. Where are we on the idea of building houses on the StorageTek land? The Comprehensive Plan proposed by our pro-growth Planning Commission (Candidates Hank Dalton and Mike Deborski are members of the Commission) and adopted by our pro-growth City Council (Council member Van Pelt voted yes on the Comp Plan) calls for at least 175 houses in "StorageTekville." The pro-growth Council members have suggested, however, that they would consider approving significantly more housing at StorageTek. |
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