Courier Journal - May 7, 2004, By Bill Pike
Metro Council has final say on Shadow Wood
Planning officials yesterday recommended approval of Shadow Wood Towne Center, a large mixed-use development proposed at Outer Loop and Interstate 65 that stirred considerable opposition from some Okolona residents.
The Louisville Metro Planning Commission voted 5-4 in favor of Hagan Seay Development Co.’s proposal, slated for the northeast quadrant of the interchange. Shadow Wood would include a Wal-Mart with 203,622 square feet, two hotels with a total of 208 rooms, 50 condominiums, stores and restaurants with 166,500 square feet, and an 11-acre wetland.
The Louisville Metro Council will make the final decision on the project, which needs zoning and form-district changes.
“The people of Okolona would be well-served by this development,” said Dick Richard, the commission member who moved to approve Shadow Wood. Richard compared the center’s design with that of Springhurst and The Summit, two upscale shopping areas in eastern Jefferson County.
Commission member Rich Carlson, who is chief of the Okolona Fire District, also voted for it. He said Okolona needs more stores and restaurants, and the metro area needs more hotel rooms.
On the other hand, commission member Susan Hamilton said Shadow Wood’s intensity and scale would be inappropriate because it would border residential neighborhoods. And member Ken Thieneman said the site was better suited for “neighborhood – serving” businesses than “a regional center.”
Voting to recommend Shadow Wood besides Richard and Carlson were Mark Adams, Marshall Abstain and Sue Ernst. Voting against it were Hamilton, Thieneman, Barry Queenan and Yvonne Wells Hatfield. Commission Chairwoman Lula Howard was absent.
The commission did not take public comments yesterday. It had held four public hearings on the project, which primarily focused on questions about its effect on traffic and drainage.
Some neighbors feared it would generate traffic on their streets and aggravate drainage problems in the flood-prone area. The developers said they would add lanes on Outer Loop and make other road improvements that would handle any traffic the center generates. The wetland and other measures would provide more than enough drainage control, the developers said.
Longtime planners with Metro Planning and Design Services couldn’t recall another project that had four hearings. Shadow Wood, which has been in the works for at least three years, received unusual attention because of its size, complexity and notoriety.
Shadow Wood is the third project that Hagan Seay has proposed on the site since 1996.
The Army Corps of Engineers rejected the first in 1997, refusing to allow the developers to drain a wetland.
The old Jefferson Fiscal Court rejected the second proposal in 2000, but a judge voided that decision, leading to the current proposal.
The Metro Council’s zoning committee will review Shadow Wood before it goes to the full council, but no dates have been set.
The council has accepted every zoning or form-district recommendation but one from the Planning Commission since the council took office in January 2003.