Smart Growth
2014 Louisville Solar Tour
CART is a proud promotional partner for the Louisville Solar Tour once again in 2014! This year’s tour features 34 sites with solar installers at two locations to deep dive into the technology options. To download the 2014 Solar Tour Guidebook please click here.
While solar energy is not directly related to transportation solutions, any future electric rail or trolley system will be agnostic to the source of the electricity and the more renewable energy on line will improve the air quality and greenhouse gas emissions performance of the system.
When: Saturday October 11, 2014 from 10 AM to 3 PM
Where: Throughout Louisville. Mostly inside the Watterson on the east side but there are many excellent sites to visit in other locations including Bernheim. Three opportunities for your Tour Experience:
- Guided Bus Tour
- Guided Bicycle Tour
- Self Guided Tour
Bike and Bus tours begin at 12:00 noon at the APCD parking lot at the corner of Breckenridge St. and Barret Ave.
To register for the Bus Tour click here.
The bike tour is free to all participants and will also be leaving from the APCD parking lot (at the corner of Barret and Breckinridge) at 12 PM.
For more information go to http://www.kentuckyipl.org/2014-louisville-solar-tour/
Suburban Walmart Design on West Broadway
Big Box Retailer Wants Suburban Big Box in Traditional Workplace Form District
After months of speculation, intrigue, rumors and political controversy, Walmart is now preparing to build a super store in West
Washington DC Area Urban Walmart (Photo: Courtesy of Ed McMahon, Senior Fellow, Urban Land Institute. )
Louisville. The Walmart property located at the corner of 18th (Dixie Highway) and Broadway falls within a Traditional Workplace Form District, a designation defined by Louisville’s Land Development Code. According to the LOJIC Online Map, this Traditional Workplace is adjacent to the Broadway Traditional Marketplace Corridor and in close proximity to the Town Center Form District centered at 28th and Broadway and Traditional Neighborhood Form Districts both north and south of the Traditional Workplace. The Traditional Workplace Form District is described as follows:
“The Traditional Workplace Form District applies to older established industrial and employment areas that contain primarily small-to-medium scale industrial and employment uses. These uses are often historically integrated with or adjacent to residential neighborhoods, especially traditional neighborhoods. District standards are designed to encourage adaptive reuse and investment in these areas while ensuring compatibility with adjacent uses and form districts, to ensure adequate access and transit service, and to retain distinctive land uses and patterns such as connected street grids.” (LDC 5.2.5)
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Move Louisville Project Could Guide the Future of Louisville Transportation and Urban Character
The Move Louisville project began as the outcome of massive public input to Mayor Greg Fischer’s Vision Louisville project. A top community priority based on the number of public comments received by the city was for a better metro area transportation system. The mayor’s office of Economic Development and Innovation is the lead department and Metro Government is investing $775,000 ($600,000 federal grant, $125,000 city matching funds, $25,000 from TARC) to develop a comprehensive transportation infrastructure plan including roads, public transit, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure. At this time there are over six hundred discrete projects on the candidate project map. The implementation timeline on the Vision Louisville website says <5 years to completion but considering the number and scope of potential projects, implementation is likely to stretch out to 20 years with projects ranging from bicycle lanes to freeway relocations and mass transit. It’s not that any single project would take 20 years but there are so many and with a comprehensive city-wide scope, the requisite public battles over individual plans, and the competition for limited local, state and federal money progress won’t be quick. We will be guided by the Move Louisville plan for a long time. On the other hand, if the city’s intention is to only select projects that can be built in five years then most of the ambitious projects will not make the cut. We will know soon.
CART to Present Oral Arguments in Bridges Case
The following is a guest post from Clarence Hixson, CART’s Legal Counsel. Oral arguments appealing the 6th District’s dismissal of CART’s law suit will take place before the US 6th District Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on June 25th. We asked Mr. Hixson for a status report and asked him a couple of key questions. Below are his responses.
Why did the Appeals Court agree to hear oral arguments?
The final decisions of Federal District Court, ( in this case Judge Heyburn’s Final Order earlier this year dismissing all 20 of CART’s claims made in the Complaint) can be appealed to the Court of Appeals as a matter of right. The appeal has to be taken in compliance with federal civil Rule 4 and other rules providing a time limit for filing. CART’s appeal is not frivolous and states the jurisdiction and cause of action under the Administrative Procedures Act, NEPA and Title VI. Generally, the Appeal alleges that Judge Heyburn committed error in dismissing all the NEPA Claims and in denying the Motion for a Trial on the issue of intentional discrimination on the basis of race
by the decisions the states made and the subsequent project approval by FHWA.
All through Judge Heyburn’s Opinion he referred to the LSIORBP as an exceptionally significant project: The Court had serious questions as to CART’s standing through member Mattie Jones to make discrimination claims, but, “Again, due to the public nature of this suit and the import of CART’s Title VI claims, the Court will nevertheless address their substance.” Continue reading
Author Ben Ross Coming to Louisville June 1st
CART Presents Author, Passenger Rail Advocate and New Urbanist Ben Ross
Ben Ross Will Be in Louisville Jun 1, 2014 at Carmichael’s Bookstore to discuss his new book:
DEAD END, Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism