Parks and Recreation System Master Plan Update (2016) parks_and_recreation_system_master_plan_update_oct | Page 183

acted on by the LMPRD. Both a driving range and a family and/or beginners golf center were
absent from Louisville’s range of recreational facilities and could become revenue generators in
the mid to long term.
Grants
In 1995, there was a great variety of gran t programs available through state and federal
government agencies. The LMPRD had traditionally pursued these funding sources, for example
through the federal Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program, and obviously expected to
continue doing so. Continued monitoring of upcoming grant sources was recommended to
provide the best opportunity for securing monies from programs which inevitably have financial
caps, are often competitive, and may expire once all the funds have been allocated. For
example, the monies then available for “enhancement” projects such as a trails or bikeway
improvements under the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act had almost all
been allocated. One potential grant source which emerged in 1993 was the National
Recreational Trails Fund Grant Program, funded through the Federal Highway Administration.
This program is still in effect and is intended to provide States with funds to construct and
maintain recreational trails. Other significant grant fund sources include Community Block
Grants, federal transportation reimbursements funds and competitive grants from the Kentucky
Land Heritage Conservation Fund.
B2. Development Controls and Regulations
Park Dedication and/or In-Lieu Fees
In many communities throughout the United States the provision of public park and
open space areas to serve new development is secured, at least in part, through requirements
for the dedication of land by the developer or the levy of an in-lieu fee where appropriate land is
not available within the parcel being developed. While land dedication or in-lieu fees are most
common for residential development, in some communities impact fees are also levied on
commercial and industrial development for the provision of recreational facilities which serve
the workforce.
The Louisville Development Code mentions public park land dedication as a possible
component of major new subdivisions, but does not make such dedication a requirement
(Article 3, Standards of Design for Major Subdivisions, Item 3.60, Public Areas). There is no in-
lieu park fee, or “development impact fee” currently levied in Jefferson County.
Parkland dedication requirements placed on residential subdivisions and related on-lieu
fees offer some potential for financing of capital projects in Louisville. The 1995 Plan noted that
such requirements would have to be kept to a reasonable level in order to minimize the
possibility of new development avoiding Louisville and moving “leap-frog” to adjacent counties.
Revenues or land dedication requirements would be determined by park standards and
average land values. As a rough estimate, if one assumed that 60,000 of the projected
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VII. IMPLEMENTATION | October 2016 Update