East End Boom
The terms 'reorganization' and 'regionalism' are being used more and more frequently as leaders in Louisville and Jefferson County determine how to best deal with growth

Jeffersontown is Jefferson County's second oldest and second largest city, with more jobs than residents, yet its future as an independent entity is threatened by a concept called 'reorganization.' Prospect is a bucolic bedroom community alongside historic Harrod's Creek and the Ohio River, yet its future also is threatened by the twin concept of 'regionalism.'

Despite these very real threats, both Jeffersontown and Prospect are thriving and mark the south and north boundaries of a corridor of growth and development that seems to have no temporal end and apparently is being enhanced by reorganization and regionalism. The 10-mile corridor alongside the Gene Snyder Freeway now has more jobs and hotel rooms than downtown Louisville -- which is itself enjoying a major development period -- and is experiencing an unprecedented surge in home-building.

'Commercial development always follows the rooftops,' one involved observer notes. Reorganization and regionalism, the twin engines of growth, are intertwined concepts and euphemisms for harsher political realities. Both are encouraged by Jefferson County's two major governmental leaders -- Jefferson County Judge-Executive Rebecca Jackson and Louisville Mayor David Armstrong -- and by its major economic spokesman, Greater Louisville, Inc.

'Reorganization' refers to the proposal to create a new government entity, an urban county government named Louisville, which most locals call 'merger.' Jackson and Armstrong have just submitted a joint plan to a task force of elected officials, which in turn may submit a formal proposal to the state's General Assembly. Upon approval -- an uncertain prospect -- the expanded City of Louisville would absorb all of Jefferson County and have a nominal population of 675,000, virtually ensuring it would remain Kentucky's largest city for the next century.

Proponents of reorganization stress that Louisville and Jefferson County, with 93 incorporated cities, need to speak with 'one voice' in the competitive environment of economic development. They also advocate regionalism, which refers in principle to increased cooperation with the fragmented governments of neighboring southern Indiana, which account for almost 200,000 of the metropolitan population of almost one million. But regionalism is more than a principle; it refers specifically to a bridge that would link the Gene Snyder Freeway with Interstate 265 across the Ohio River and at Prospect.

'We are one community, divided by a river,' Judge Jackson has said. Of course, reorganization and regionalism are controversial and may never occur. The most optimistic supporters of both say Louisville and Jefferson County will not merge before 2002 and the bridge will not be built before 2010. But development is proceeding anyway, away from the current City of Louisville, and sparked by several noteworthy projects. Three of these projects -- Bluegrass Industrial Park in Jeffersontown, and Lake Forest and Springhurst communities further north alongside the Gene Snyder Freeway -- now seem settled and permanent, but they were startling a few years ago.

Bluegrass Industrial Park Bluegrass Industrial Park, Kentucky's largest, is home to 35,000 workers and is the primary source of Jeffersontown's growth and prosperity. (The city has grown from 5,000 residents in 1980 to 25,000 today, with a total of 40,000 jobs.) Daniel H. Ruckriegel, Jr., mayor of Jeffersontown for virtually this entire period, is a firm supporter of regionalism and the bridge and an outspoken critic of government merger.

'We are definitely pro-growth,' he told The Lane Report, 'but we try hard to keep the small-town atmosphere [of Jeffersontown].'

John Cosby, his economic development director, agees. 'Mayor Ruckriegel's single best accomplishment is not permitting the city to be overrun by the [Bluegrass] industrial park.' And they want to maintain that atmosphere and prosperity by keeping Jeffersontown independent.

'We support the whole region and the regional economy,' Mayor Ruckriegel stresses. 'We are community players. But we believe all cities in Jefferson County should be equal.'

Planned communities

North of Jeffersontown are Lake Forest and Springhurst, two planned communities that will eventually reach capacity with 5,000 residents each. Neither is likely to be duplicated in the future, according to William Bardenwerper, mayor of the similar but older planned community of Hurstbourne and an attorney who frequently represents developers.

'We've had enormous development' alongside the Gene Snyder corridor, he explains, 'but without the consequent population growth.' Bardenwerper attributes this growth to several factors: an increasing percentage of home ownership along with an increase in non-traditional families; good road transportation throughout the area; the economic activity and displacement caused by the expansion of Louisville International Airport and a variety of housing choices and styles. But giant projects like Lake Forest, Springhurst and Hurstbourne are clearly a thing of the past, he believes, because of a lack of large parcels and a 'frequently hostile atmosphere' toward additional growth and development.

"Clearly a bridge is needed," Bardenwerper maintains, if the 'urban county' is to continue managed growth and avoid sprawl. But he isn't an advocate, either, of reorganization or merger. "The great virtue we have now [in Jefferson County] is a patchwork of local communities -- a hundred choices and opportunities" for housing and small-business development.

Whatever their opinions on reorganization and regionalism, observers agree that future growth will focus on three current projects: Blankenbaker Crossings, north of Jeffersontown; East Point Business Park at Anchorage and an unnamed development just announced by David Jones (co-founder of Humana) just north of Springhurst.

Blankenbaker Crossings

Blankenbaker Crossings is an NTS development project adjacent to Bluegrass Industrial Park. Its centerpiece is the new headquarters of Papa John's International and its most eye-catching feature is the giant Southeast Christian Church, with its copper-clad sanctuary that seats 9,100. With more than 12,000 close-knit members, the church is itself spawning upscale housing developments in its neighborhood. (Blankenbaker Crossings and Papa John's headquarters are in Jeffersontown, but the church is not and the city is barred from annexing the church by the 'compact' governing relations between Jefferson County and the City of Louisville. Reorganization or merger would end the compact and the area would become part of the City of Louisville.)

East Point Business Park

East Point Business Park is the new home of Sykes Health Plan Services and its 3,500 well-paid employees. It is reaching capacity itself. Apparently to protect the rural New England atmosphere of Anchorage, John Schnatter, founder of Papa John's, is buying up historic buildings in the center of his new hometown. While Schnatter's personal effort is unique, preservation and conservation are limiting growth and development alongside watersheds in the area. The River Road district immediately west of Prospect has been entered into the National Register of Historic Places and has been declared one of the nation's 10 most threatened historic areas by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a direct response to the bridge proposal. The Cornerstone 2020 county development plan creates a vast Floyd's Ford conservation area east of Jeffersontown (and curtailing eastward development of Blankenbaker Crossings) and northward to Anchorage. A similar district has been proposed for Harrod's Creek and could have a profound influence on the proposed bridge.

Keeping up with Jones

Much attention is now being focused on Jones' as-yet-unnamed mixed-use project north of Springhurst and bounded by the Gene Snyder Freeway and I-71. Many, including Bardenwerper, believe it may be the last large-scale project in eastern Jefferson County.

'I believe we should preserve sensitive areas and develop appropriate areas,' he says, noting that much of the remaining vacant land is either heavily wooded or contained in watersheds.

Bruce Traughber, now the economic development director for Mayor Armstrong of Louisville (and who held the same position previously for then-County Judge Armstrong) agrees with Bardenwerper and urges developers to utilize existing in-fill and brownfields areas for future projects. There are very few such areas in eastern Jefferson County. One potential site is the 236-acre Shelby Campus of the University of Louisville. It is bounded on the north by Hurstbourne Green, a business park owned jointly by the City of Louisville and Jefferson County and on the east and south by the cities of Jeffersontown and Hurstbourne. But many eastern county residents regard Shelby Campus as a park -- it is dotted with soccer fields -- and the university's proposal to consider a sale to developers as one possible use has already generated strong reaction.

'If you want people out here [in eastern Jefferson County] to forget merger and the bridge,' Bardenwerper says, 'tell them you're going to turn Shelby Campus into an industrial park.'

With or without reorganization and regionalism, things are happening in eastern Jefferson County.

Robert Carter is an associate editor for The Lane Report.

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