October
7, 2001
Aldermen
Delay Vote on Towhead
SHAFER
SHELDON
Courier-Journal
Riverfront
land and island will be appraised
Louisville aldermen will delay any vote on swapping 10 acres of
riverfront land for Towhead Island until an appraiser can assess the
value of the two tracts.
``Determining the value . . . will help us make a decision'' on whether
to approve the trade proposed by Mayor Dave Armstrong, said Steve Magre,
president of the Board of Aldermen.
Under the plan, the cityowned land would be exchanged for the 13-acre
island, which is owned by Nugent Investments, an affiliate of Nugent
Sand Co.
Armstrong wants to keep Towhead, just upriver from the Big Four Bridge,
as a nature preserve and environmental laboratory for schoolchildren. It
also would complement his vision of turning nearby Beargrass Creek into
a recreational waterway, Armstrong said.
Nugent
has said it has longterm plans to develop the riverside property with
low-density housing.
Under the deal, the city would receive about $100,000 a year that a
barge company pays for the right to tie up barges on the north side of
Towhead.
Nugent would get about $6,000 a year in income from boat slips rented at
the Louisville Municipal Boat Harbor.
Bruce Traughber, Armstrong's development director, said Tuesday that the
appraisals should be completed by the end of the month.
Several aldermen and some environmental interests have expressed concern
about the city swapping valuable riverfront land that could be developed
for an island that would be kept as a nature preserve.
The aldermen would have the final say on any swap.
Tom Power, president of the Louisville Boat Harbor Association, which
has about 120 members who rent slips at the municipal harbor, said he
considers the trade a bad deal because the city would give up prime land
for an island ``that is washing away.''
The western edge of the island once extended below the Big Four Bridge,
according to photos dating to the 1940s.
But several dozen feet of the west end of the island have disappeared,
apparently due to flooding or erosion from the river current. The Army
Corps of Engineers says the erosion has slowed in the last half-century
since the river's lock and dam system was fully developed.
Power said people who rent slips at the harbor - under the current deal
with the city - have concerns about ``what's going to happen'' if the
harbor transfers to Nugent.
Rick Northern, the attorney who represents Nugent, said Nugent wouldn't
try to develop the riverfront property for at least several years.
``There will be no change in the ability to moor boats there for the
foreseeable future,'' Northern said.
Despite the questions, Traughber said the administration is sticking to
the proposed land swap.
``There is a strong case for why this makes sense,'' Traughber said.
Mayor Dave Armstrong wants to trade 10 acres of city-owned riverfront
land for Towhead Island, then designate it a nature preserve.