Land Development & Transportation Committee - Regular Meeting

Five years we've really focused on repairing existing housing. Neighbors got together and really wanted to have just a grassroots contribution to neighborhood renewal. And one of the ideas early on was visual celebration of the neighborhoods rich history. Early on, folks were brainstorming really how to lift up the history of Parkland and to honor that history and the really incredible people that have come from this neighborhood and called this neighborhood home. Lots of ideas were bandied about and street banners were just one of them. The neighborhood leaders and their efforts involved citizens throughout the year in listing opinions about which people and places should be featured in these inaugural banners. So these street banners came together in about the last year. I've heard people say, oh, this is beautiful. What a way to welcome visitors. I've heard someone say, this really tells people, yes, you are here. Our neighborhood is important. We love our neighborhood. We hope you love it too. And I've heard people say this inspires me to get back into my walking routine because I want to enjoy this gorgeous display. People are just delighted in having something that really designates the neighborhood, honors the tradition. It's just something to celebrate. Every person in Louisville deserves to live in a neighborhood that is healthy and thriving regardless of zip code. To have a hand in whether it's building new housing, repairing existing housing, or creating opportunities for neighborhood celebration like this, then we want to be part of that because that is what knits a community together and keeps people strong and that everybody wins. I hope it's just the beginning of one of many ways to promote the beauty of this neighborhood.

The 70th anniversary art print.

It's one of the iconic events like the Derby and the Derby Festival in the entire community, and it is my great honor and privilege to support it. You don't see... Check this.

Check this. Metro TV, 30 seconds. Well, I brought every agenda of the day up here except for this one. Thank you.

All right, thank you for coming. This is the regularly called

meeting of the Public Works Committee. This meeting's being held pursuant to KRS 61.826 and Council Rule 5A. I'm joined in chamber by Councilman Bratcher, Councilwoman Best, my Vice Chair, Ken Herndon. Do we have anybody online?

Wow.

And it looks like we have Councilman Benson, Councilwoman Raymond, Councilwoman Chappell. And a few appointments. We have one small item of business to get out of the way, and then we'll get to the appointments. Item number one. A resolution authorizing the Mayor to accept up to $971,943 from the Commonwealth of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for the Goldsmith Lane Bridge replacement project to be administered by the Department of Public Works and Assets. Do we have a motion?

Motion. Second.

It's beginning to wonder there. Thank you for that. We have a properly formatted motion before us. Do we have anyone speak to this?

Yes, Bill Bell, Director of LUDOT. So the Goldsmith Lane bridge over the South Fork of Bear Grass Creek near the intersection of Peabody Lane is in very poor condition with a structural rating of one out of 10. LUDOT has been planning for the replacement of the bridge for several years, but with an estimated cost of 1.2 million and several other priorities, we weren't able to plan for construction until FY28. To expedite project delivery, LUDOT applied for state funding through the City-County Bridge Improvement Program earlier this year. In July 2026, LUDOT was notified of a grant award through the CCBIP. For 971,943, an agreement has been processed with all required signature approvals. Once the funds are available, LUDOT will begin the procurement process to secure a contractor to perform the work utilizing these funds and bridge structures program funds as well. But it will save us over $700,000. Or sorry. Yeah, that's about right, over $700,000 so that we can keep in our structures fund. All right. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, may I speak to this?

You have the floor. Thank you.

Thank you. So this is in District 10, and we're thrilled about it because this has been a problem for quite some time. I want to commend Director Bell for his team's resourcefulness in finding a way to get this done. You'll see the legislation as written only says the Goldsmith Lane Bridge. So another district and I had to say, is this yours? Because there's multiple Goldsmith Lane Bridges. But my question is, if it was a one out of ten, I mean, that's really alarming to hear. Director Bell, when is something deemed sort of too dangerous to drive on, and how would we know that?

Well, I would have to defer to our professional engineers to make that determination. If it was too dangerous, it would be closed.

Okay, so one out of ten is okay. Well, thank you for your all's help.

Anything else, Councilwoman Merriman? I guess not. All right, no one else in the queue. This is a resolution requiring a voice vote, is that right? All right, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it, and this will go to consent calendar. Okay, thank you. Thank you, sir. We had a request on the appointments if item number four could come first. So we have item number four, AP 050526BH, appointment of Brad Hershler to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires three years from the date of council approval. We have a motion.

Motion. Second.

Thank you. We have a proper motion before us. Do we have Mr. Hershler in the room or online? I'm sorry, I should recognize. Jerry Chesler or? Director Sidnor. You have the floor, sir.

Yes, so before you have a slot of, I'm sorry, Wes Sidnor, the Executive Director of Metro Public Works. So before you have a slate of reappointments, there are nine of these for the Complete Streets Coalition. Just took the feedback from the last meeting where we had this discussion. A lot of credit to Jeremy Schoeschler and Claire Yates and that team to take that feedback and do the work of trying to secure you know, alignment with the rest of boards and commissions with Metro. So appreciate that work. This group does a great job of reviewing plans for roadways, you know, as the name entails, looking at complete streets, all users, is there accessibility and you know, does a roadway project meet the needs of everyone that could potentially use that piece of infrastructure. And so volunteer board, they volunteer a lot of their time. We meet on a monthly basis to talk about these issues. And so just appreciate the hearing of these appointments today.

All right, so it's been a, if you'll excuse the pun, a long road to get here. Yes. And I appreciate the work that you and your staff have done to get us here. And just as some background, the first slate that was brought out didn't satisfy the diversity requirements that are set forth in ordinance. This current slate seems to do so. I appreciate the work done on that, but could you kind of walk us through how you verified the criteria that each person on the slate.

Not one by one, but just in general, high level, how you verified.

So comparing the demographics percentage of the group compared to that of Greater Louisville. So looking at each demographic category and trying to make sure that they're equally representative to what that percentage is of Greater Louisville. So, you know.

And that's based on applications? Right. Correct.

Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely, you know, doing everything I can to get the word out. But as far as like, you know, we can only do so much with who applies. So trying to.

So if they come in and say they're a 20, 21 year old, you just take their word for it.

Well, because of the fact that we are not an official board or commission, we don't do the background checks and everything that the full boards and commissions do. So that is- I'm sorry, what do you mean you're not an official board?

So it's- Yeah, this is one that was set up by ordinance by- the complete streets.

I'm sorry, I've been reminded to ask you to identify yourself for the record.

Oh, sorry. Jeremy Chesler, transportation planner with LUDOT.

Okay, sorry about that. So, yeah, this is sort of a unique one because this is one of the few boards and commissions that is set up, the public works director makes the appointments, which is somewhat irregular, and then it's guided by the ordinance that constructed it, so basically it defers to the bylaws of this group in terms of the makeup and things like that. So what we tried to do, was get that aligned with the metro boards and commissions so we don't have the same vetting process or we don't do background checks and things like that.

I would challenge you that you're not an official commission, though, because it's ordained by ordinance. I've seen the county attorney over here shaking north and south. It's an official commission, right?

Yes, I would say it is created by ordinance. It would be an official commission. Right. Michael Smetlow with the county attorney's office. Yes, I would say it's created.

Okay. So we've got to follow the same rules and regulations as every other board and commission in Metro Louisville, which is what got us into this quagmire that we're in. Right. But my question was how did you verify the information that was given? And what I think I heard you say was you just take their word for it.

Which is an answer. Yes.

Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

So we're ready to start going through them?

Ready when you are.

Yes. It does look like Brad is not here yet. Okay. So I apologize for that. Okay.

Well, we'll take him in order, and if he shows up, we'll take him when he gets here. Cool. Thank you.

I'd like to withdraw my motion.

What was the motion?

Because you have four on the floor.

Oh. Thank you. Thank you. OK, so now we can move forward. Go back. OK. Item number two, AP050526KA, appointment of Christie Ashby to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires three years from the date of council approval. Do I have a motion?

have a second or a second thank you um i assume you are christy ashby yes you have the floor ma'am you identify yourself for the record and um i'm christy ashby i'm a resident irish hill neighborhood in district 9 and i would like to be on the complete streets i walk everywhere i walk as many places as i can and i just feel like um walking is an important for all of us to keep a community healthy. So I feel like the best way to walk is if we have safe streets and safe sidewalks. So I'm interested in this committee and just trying to help promote safe streets. And as a reformed speeder, I should say, I would also like to maybe make streets a little bit slower, traffic a little bit slower as well.

All right. I have no one in my queue.

Chair recognizes vice-chair. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know Ms. Ashby. She has a storied history of community service, and if you have meetings with reform speeders, let me know when you have those.

Councilman Bratcher.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Christy. I couldn't agree with you more about walking. You know, I started walking about three years ago. I've walked quite a bit. I'm not going through my own personal thing, but it's meant a lot to me. I've walked, you know, door-to-door political, and then I really got serious a few years ago. I lost a lot of weight, and now I've gained it all back, but we won't talk about that part. But you're absolutely right. You know, I walk down here at Main Street, and it's such a beautiful area, and the whole city has great walking tracks, and It's just, I thank you for making that part of your objective because it's a great exercise and it's just a great way to meet your community and your neighbors. Where do you walk at?

Well, to be honest, my husband and I like to... visit a few breweries in our area so there you go cut down on any kind of yeah enforcement and then and restaurants we joke we don't we don't go much beyond our we're good for about a good mile and a half we yeah we look um but so we always joke we have to get in the car go somewhere we don't want to do that well thank you and all the all the guys on that committee thank you all right

Have no one else in my queue? This is a resolution?

There's appointment?

What kind of vote does it need? Requires a voice vote. All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Those opposed? Thank you for your service. Takes us to item number, I do see Mr. Hershler is online now. We'll skip to number four. at his request. Item number four, AP 050526BH, appointment of Brad Hershler to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires three years from the date of council approval. Do we have a motion?

Motion.

Second. Thank you. Mr. Hershler, if you identify yourself for the record, you have the floor, sir.

Hi, can you see me? Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Yes. Hi, my name's Brad Hershler and I'm a new member of the Complete Streets Coalition. I lived in Louisville 16 years. I'm an avid runner, walker, cyclist. I'm in the Louisville Bike Club and I'm the vice president of the community relations for the Louisville Bike Club. So I'm looking to get more involved with the community and how we can improve the local infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

All right. Thank you for that. I have no one in my queue. Is there anyone online that would like to speak? All right. This is a motion requiring a voice vote. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Ayes have it. This will go to the consent calendar. Thank you, sir. Back up to item number three, AP 050526AS, appointment of Adam Stegman. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Yeah, perfect, thank you. Do the Complete Streets Coalition term expires three years from the date of council approval. Do we have a motion?

Motion. Second.

Second. Second. Thank you. We have a properly formed motion before us. Mr. Stegman, if you'll identify yourself for the record, you have the floor, sir.

Yes, my name is Adam Stegman. I have been a Louisville resident now Coming up on six years, I live in the St. Joseph neighborhood. I came to the Complete Streets Coalition by way of my own project that I worked with Representative Chappell and her staff on. They were gracious enough to help me through the process of applying for speed humps on my street. Observe some some big issues with pedestrian traffic. I live near the dairy castle, which is the popular spot close to the edge of campus here on Eastern Parkway and Bradley. And it's, it's definitely a pedestrian superhighway. So it seems like the theme here is is creating safer streets for pedestrians and slowing traffic down. So. I took on that project, we were successful, and Complete Streets was helpful in helping us with half of the funding for that project. So I decided, why stop at my own street? I'm an engineer by trade, so I have some perspective to bring to these types of projects, and I have interest in expanding that experience as it is so far and um in in my interest in improving things at a wider reach around my neighborhood so beyond st joseph even uh so i recognize this is a good way to get to know my community um and become a productive part of it so thank you for your time and uh introducing me thank you sir i have no one in my queue is there anyone that wants to speak to this online

Seeing none, this is a motion requiring a voice vote. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed?

The ayes have it.

This motion carries and we'll go to the consent calendar. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Takes us to item number five on the agenda. AP 050526 MS, appointment of Myra Sullivan, again, I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that correctly, to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires three years from the date of council approval. We have a motion? Motion. Can we get a second? Second. Oh, thank you. Makes me nervous. All right, we have a properly formed motion. Is Ms. Sullivan online? Ms. Sullivan, if you could turn on your camera and introduce yourself for the record. You have the floor.

Yes, thank you. I actually can't seem to turn on my camera. It keeps on just saying that I have my camera open in another app, and I don't know what app.

Well, we can hear you clearly, so it's okay.

Okay, thank you so much. My name is Mira Sullivan. I live in District 4, and I just, I walk around a lot. I interact with streets a lot. I think design is a really cool tool to create safety and activation within an area, a neighborhood, a city, and I really want to be a part of that. I think it's cool what the projects they're working on is, and I want to be able to have my voice in the community and politics and whatever, and streets, yeah. That was my opinion.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

You're welcome. We have no one in the queue to speak. This is a motion requiring a voice vote. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? You guys have it. This will go to the consent calendar. Thank you for your service, ma'am. Item number six. RP050526JH, reappointment of Janet Heston to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires October 31st, 2027. Is this the one you were asking me about? No. Okay. All right. And looks like we have Ms. Heston online here. If you'll identify yourself for the record, you have the floor. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Wait, wait, wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. We need a motion.

Motion.

we have a properly formatted motion before us ms heston you now have the floor all right thank you my name is dana heston and i've lived in louisville my entire life um on november 20th um of 2020 my son matthew died um he was killed crossing the street into um going to iroquois park and so that is when i started working on road advocacy i am a member of a national executive member of family for safe streets and i also um frequent vision zero meetings and do a lot of advocacy i founded a non-profit in my son's name where we work um you know to just try to make roads safer through various ways. And I have been doing the CSC since it started here and I'm interested in continuing to do that. It is my passion and I firmly believe that we need to make travel safe for everyone in Louisville as well as people who visit here.

All right, thank you, ma'am. We have no one in the queue to speak. This is a motion requiring a voice vote. All those in favor?

Aye.

All those opposed? Motion carries. This will go to the consent calendar. Thank you. Item number seven. RP050526PS, reappointment of Patrick Smith to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires October 31st, 2027. Okay, thank you. Do we have motion? Second. Thank you. I do not see Mr. Smith in the chamber or online. Okay.

Yeah, there was a misunderstanding, and so several of the people on there were informed of the meeting at the last minute, so I believe that that is probably all the people that will be able to attend, and then I know that there's another appointment at an upcoming meeting, so hopefully those could go on that day as well.

Not a requirement.

So don't have them come to a different day if we pass it today.

Okay.

So unless you want to hold it.

We can't lump them together, can we?

All right, we are going to combine items seven, eight, and nine. I have previously read item number seven. Item number eight, RP050526KT, reappointment of Kenneth Thompson to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires October 31st, 2028. Item number nine, RP050526EV, reappointment of Estella Valdez to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires October 31st, 2028. We're gonna hold off on number 10 to do it separately because there's a technical change that needs to be made there.

Motion.

We have a motion, we have a second. All right, so to be clear, we're voting on items number seven, eight, and nine as a combined. Do I have anyone to speak to these? I don't have anyone in my queue. No one online seems to be holding up their hand. This is a motion requiring a voice vote. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. This will go to the consent calendar. And then the last item, item number 10, RP050526BW, reappointment of Bill Wright to the Complete Streets Coalition. Term expires October 31st, 2027. I understand there's a technical change that needs to be made here.

This is Sonya Harward, the clerk. Can we get the first motion?

Motion. Second. I have a second.

Sunny Horror, the clerk. So there needs to be an amendment made when this appointment was first sent to you all. Mr. Wright's expiration date was October 31st, 2027. We have been told by Jeremy that the date should have been 2028, so that is just a straight-up amendment, if you would.

Okay, so I need an amendment to change the date.

So moved.

We have a second. So the amendment is to change the expiration year from 2027 to 2028. Any discussion? I see no one in the queue. This is a voice vote. Okay, voice vote on the amendment. Did you have something new? No, I was just saying aye. Premature vote. All right. So this requires a voice vote. All those in favor of the amendment? Say aye. All right. All those opposed? The amendment carries. Now we have the amended motion before us. No one in the queue to speak to that. All those in favor of the amended motion, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? And that motion carries. And this will go to old business because it has been amended. Oh, we do have some more. Yes, so the last three items, do I need to read them in? No. The last three items were withdrawn. Uh, so those record will reflect that withdrawal and with no other items before the committee, we stand adjourned without objection. Thank you everybody.

Thank you to everyone. who believed so early. Thank you to everyone who invested in this dream for this community.

Our kids are so excited about coming home, about playing on these fields. And I know that there are people in the community who think How are they going to do that? Those are the same folks that thought, how is this campus going to be built in the first place? And I think everybody here knows, don't doubt Sadiqa. If she says she's going to get something done, if she puts her mind to it, she's going to get it done.

I've been with the ministries for 29 years. We are one of the 13 community ministries throughout Jefferson County.

What we do with each community ministry, we actually look at what the needs are within our community.