Parks and Recreation System Master Plan Update (2016) parks_and_recreation_system_master_plan_update_oct | Page 70

the community. On an overall basis, however, Louisville’s existing parks and open spaces are
fragmented and occur mostly as isolated islands surrounded by developed or undeveloped
private lands.
Development Pattern Summary
• The 1995 Plan warned that the then prevalent development pattern if continued threatened
to convert most of Louisville’s suburbs into a relatively homogenous landscape. However, it
noted that an alternative future was possible in which a comprehensive, integrated open
space system of parks and greenway corridors helps to define a sustainable growth pattern
in which important environmental resources are protected, diverse recreational
opportunities are available for the public, and development occurs in the most suitable
locations.
• Although the middle zone from Interstate 264 to the Gene Snyder Freeway is substantially
developed, opportunities existed in 1995 within the predominant land use pattern to
preserve some open space in areas possessing valuable natural or cultural resources, The
1995 plan identified areas along the upper segment of the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek as
possible targets for park and open space acquisition. Most of those areas have since been
committed to development, but the 2014 acquisition of a 27-acre greenway along the
Middle Fork adjacent to A. B. Sawyer Park is one area where LMPRD was able to expand.
• The 1995 Plan noted that the greatest opportunity to influence the future form of
development existed in the outer part of Louisville, where significant amounts of vacant
land remained albeit under increasing development pressure. Multiple strategies such as
cluster development, easements, scenic road protection, and targeted acquisition were
recommended and could still be used to shape future growth in this area to protect
environmental quality and preserve key elements of landscape character, thus enhancing
the future livability of the community. The Parklands of Floyds Fork project has acquired and
protected 3,800 acres of parks and open space which will likely serve this function of
shaping development in the eastern part of Louisville.
• Overall Cornerstone 2020 and the 1995 Parks and Open Space Plan recommended targeting
land acquisition and protection in several areas that were considered to have special natural
or cultural resources. Those areas were primarily along the Ohio River Corridor, the
Jefferson Memorial Forest and the Floyds Fork corridor. LMPRD added 560 acres in the Ohio
River corridor, 1,560 acres in the Jefferson Memorial Forest and about 3,800 additional
acres have been acquired and opened as public parkland in the Floyds Fork area as part of
the Parklands.
• In addition, Cornerstone 2020 and the 1995 Parks Plan recommended implementation of a
“County Loop” and a system of greenways that would connect these special areas with
paths and parkways. The Louisville Loop projected to include about 113 miles when
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III. CONTEXT AND COMMUNITY INVENTORY | October 2016 Update