City Council Minutes 1999 04 06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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been between 3-5 traffic studies conducted on McCaslin Boulevard. He explained that each succeeding study found the prior study in error because it predicted too little traffic. He stated that no traffic study predicted the current high level of traffic on McCaslin, even at build out. He felt that all traffic studies are in error and underestimate, substantially, the amount of traffic for their study area. He explained that if traffic is not a problem after the 52,000 sf is developed, Council could allow more development to occur. He stated that on the other hand, if 52,000 sf of developable area were an overestimate, it would result in the inability to maneuver down Main Street. The vast majority of Louisville citizens who have expressed their opinions regarding downtown development do not want it to expand at all. He felt Council was being fair to all property owners by only allowing expansion within the limits of what Main Street can accommodate. He explained that the alternative would be to impose a transportation improvement fee. Howard agreed that a transferable development rights program would be too complex for in this situation. He questioned where the required parking spaces would be located. Davidson asked Wood for clarification that the proposed second reading amendments are the ones which limit it to 354,000 sfby area and not by FAR. Wood replied, yes. Davidson explained that if Council is in favor of the overall area with FAR, Ordinance No. 1294, as amended, should be adopted. If Council is not in favor of the overall area with FAR, the Ordinance without the amendments should be adopted. Sam Light, City Attorney, requested to comment on the second version of the Ordinance. He stated that based on the discussion about the ultimate square footage of 354,000, he was uncertain if that was going to be an ultimate number for downtown. If it is an ultimate number, as a permanent number of the amount of square footage in downtown, Council may ultimately be faced with the situation of telling someone that there is no more square footage available. If they have undeveloped property, they may have no use of the land left, other than a parking lot or some other surface use. This could result in Council wrestling with a potential claim of a taking, should Council have to say no to someone who has no other reasonable use of their property. The other effect of the second version is that it segregates the westerly portion of the CC district from the easterly portion. He felt that, ultimately, this leans towards an overlay district of the west half. This is due to Council putting in place a limitation that applies only to the west half of the district. Ultimately, that issue will need to be addressed through an overlay mechanism, in addition to the square footage requirement. What Council is really doing is separating the two sides of the tracks for regulatory purposes, and ultimately, that probably would need to be done by an overlay of some sort. Sisk asked Wood for the method used to deduce the 354,000 sf for downtown. Wood replied that it is the gross square footage. 23