Parks and Recreation System Master Plan Update (2016) parks_and_recreation_system_master_plan_update_oct | Page 138

2.
An interconnected, multifunctional system of parks and open spaces linked by
greenway and parkway corridors should be developed to protect important natural
cultural and visual resources while providing appropriate opportunities for recreation
and improving health.
Parks and open spaces of a variety of sizes and uses should be linked by a
network of linear corridors such as streams, parkways, and bicycle paths. Included in the
system would be lands owned by public entities such as Louisville Metro Government
and the Commonwealth of Kentucky and land protected by private owners (e.g.,
easements dedicated as part of the development approval process). The system should
be designed to protect resources such as steep slopes, floodplains, natural habitat
areas, scenic vistas, and historic properties. Because they contain a concentration of
these resources, stream corridors should be the basic linear component of the system.
3.
The parks and open space system should help define future community form by
functioning as an environmental framework within which urban growth occurs as
discrete neighborhoods rather than undifferentiated suburban development.
In the past, some development has spread along existing roadways and
consumed vacant land with limited regard for visual or environmental resources.
Sufficient undeveloped land remains in the outer part of Louisville to permit
implementation of an alternative growth pattern in which an open space network
physically defines compact neighborhoods. Protected through a variety of mechanisms
such as clustering and transfer of development rights, the open space could include
stream corridors and other sensitive environmental resources, farmlands, viewsheds
from scenic roads, and large and small parks including neighborhood facilities.
4.
The design of public parks and open spaces should reflect the natural and
cultural character of the site and its location within the Louisville region.
The rich heritage of Louisville– its physiographic regions, native vegetation, and
historic pattern of urban, suburban and rural land uses – should be manifested in the
design of the public landscape. Different design treatments are appropriate for parks
located in different settings such as the Ohio River waterfront, scenic Knob Hills, or the
agricultural matrix of Floyds Fork to accentuate their distinctive ecological
characteristics, provide links to the past, and contribute to neighborhood and
community identity. Inspiration can be drawn from natural or cultural models such as
the native old growth forest, the floodplain and terraces of the Ohio River, and the
managed agricultural landscape of fields defined by fencerows. This principle does not
imply that parks should rigorously recreate historic landscapes, but rather that the
natural and cultural heritage of the region should inform a design process which is
equally responsive to contemporary needs and ideas.
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