City Council Minutes 1998 09 01 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Sisk asked Sam Light, City Attorney, whether the City could continue to accept applications with the understanding that the Downtown Design Guidelines, once approved, would apply. Light replied the City would need to enact an ordinance that requires compliance or to adopt a moratorium, which is a message that there will be new regulations in place at some future time that will apply. In absence of a pending or effective ordinance requiring compliance or a moratorium, applications would likely be allowed to proceed under the law in effect at the time they came forward. Sisk stated that he felt a moratorium sends a negative message to the business community, which he does not want to do. He suggested that a private/public partnership for a parking garage might be a successful alternative in the future. Howard stated that he is normally opposed to moratoriums; however, he is concerned about the number of applications Council is currently facing. He would prefer placing the applications on hold until Council works out all the issues. He did not feel an impact fee could be fairly distributed. He felt the entire community should be involved in making decisions for downtown Louisville. He believes the issues can be solved without resorting to extreme measures. Lathrop stated that he is not in favor of a moratorium and would prefer to resolve the building height limitation tonight. Davidson stated that the time for a private/public parking garage partnership has yet to come. While he believes a special tax district is a good idea, he did not feel there would be a consensus of business owners in support of one. He suggested that Council take a 'straw vote' to determine which suggestions they would choose to pursue. The votes were as follows: Number of Councilmembers Proposal Moratorium Applying CDDSG Building Height Limitation Ordinance Parking Plan Impact Fee Establishing FAR for Downtown Expressing Interest Action One Discarded Two Discarded Five Discussion Seven Discussion Seven Discussion Seven Discussion Keany suggested that Council, at an upcoming work session, discuss imposing an impact fee for new or expanded businesses to provide parking. He would like to have a parking plan presented to Council by the first meeting in November, and put into place by the beginning of December. He did not feel the parking issue affects the Business Answers building. Mayer felt that the critical issues of traffic and FAR have also been raised. He stated that a preliminary parking study indicates there is room for approximately 160 additional surface parking spaces. That amount could easily be used up by three or four applicants, leaving the options of no more 6