Housing is expensive for many Louisville residents. Could changing the city’s zoning laws help?

John Roberts had not planned to run for mayor, he said, but when no one filed in time for the deadline, he decided to run anyway.

The write-in candidate successfully won the 2022 election and now leads Windy Hills, a small town just west of Interstate 264, where he has lived for about three decades.

“I had never served in government at all. I had only attended one city council meeting in 30 years,” Roberts said.

Windy Hills is one of more than 80 independent towns outside of the original city of Louisville in Jefferson County. Roberts said the community celebrates Arbor Day and the Fourth of July and has an annual Shakespeare in the Park event.

“The city was incorporated in 1952. And it is currently considered a very mature area. There are very few properties left to be developed,” Robert said.

But it does not have full autonomy and could be affected by the Louisville metropolitan government’s efforts to redefine housing in local communities.

Many county residents, particularly those from low-income households, struggle to afford housing, according to a March report. As part of a years-long process to update zoning laws, Louisville’s Office of Planning is now working on changes that would promote more diverse housing options in areas that currently lack them — though they could take until next year to implement.

If city lawmakers approve, the changes would allow for the construction of “middle-income” housing in areas zoned for residential use, including districts currently limited to single-family homes. These comprise about 75% of the county’s land, according to Louisville Metro.

Mid-rise housing often refers to multi-family buildings such as duplexes and triplexes, which have separate living units and can resemble and be converted from single-family homes. But it also includes townhomes and group buildings such as cottage courts and walking courts, where units are arranged around a shared entry space.

Future zoning changes will not affect the twelve independent cities in Jefferson County with separate land development codes. These include densely populated communities such as Jeffersontown, St. Matthews and Shively.

But other independent cities without zoning authority aren’t immune. And Roberts said he thinks in Windy Hills, where nearly all of the residential land is zoned for single-family homes, families expect a typical suburban experience.

“When people talk about changing that environment, making it more dense, maybe — apartments instead of houses, multi-family instead of single-family — they get nervous,” Roberts said.

Create more options

While multifamily buildings, including middle housing, can be found in historic neighborhoods like Old Louisville and throughout the Highlands, single-family homes dominate the land farther from the city center. The Office of Planning attributes that to early local zoning laws, which restricted land use in then-unincorporated areas to help enforce racial segregation.

The Louisville Metro Council in 2020 tasked the office with recommending changes to the Land Development Code that would support “equitable and inclusive development.” The office’s Planning Commission must review proposed changes before recommending whether council members should approve them. The council can also make changes to the changes.

So far, the process has resulted in a few updates, including one that makes it easier for homeowners to create accessory dwelling units. The city promoted that change as a way to expand housing options, and its proposal for middle-of-the-road housing would build significantly on that, mirroring efforts in cities like Minneapolis and Salt Lake City.

Joel Dock, Louisville Metro Planning Supervisor, said the changes should give residents more choices about where to live and change policies that are based on discrimination.

“Now that we have thoroughly studied the land development code, we are looking at housing selection and breaking down the exclusionary zoning plans,” Dock said.

The Planning Bureau argues that middle-class housing not only improves housing affordability by increasing the supply of housing in an area, but it also costs less money to build.

Under the proposed changes, medium-rise residential buildings could be two or two-and-a-half stories high, depending on the residential district in which they are built. Multiplexes would be limited to a maximum of 60% of the buildings in a block and would not be allowed in suburban areas unless they are located next to a local road or near a TARC bus stop.

Dock said these guidelines would help promote a diversity of housing units and residents, while mixing middle-class homes with existing single-family homes. He also said that banning multiplexes in some areas is based on concerns about pedestrian safety.

“We made some exceptions because we recognize that many of our roads are not designed for walkability, which is one of the goals of middle-class housing,” Dock said.

Dock added that planners have not yet finalized the proposed zoning changes and plan to present them to the Planning Commission next month.

But it will still take some time before the plans can be further implemented.

House Bill 388, passed by state lawmakers this spring, temporarily prohibits Louisville from making changes to the Land Development Code that would increase the allowable density in residential neighborhoods.

That moratorium lasts until April of next year. Metro Council President Markus Winkler, a Democrat from District 17, said he has not sought legal advice on whether city lawmakers could pass legislation before the deadline if it went into effect afterward.

Republican Rep. Jason Nemes, whose district includes part of eastern Jefferson County, pushed for the controversial change.

“We view the moratorium on changes to the land development code that they’ve put in place more as a detour, not necessarily an obstacle,” Davis said.

The expected changes to zoning plans would also reduce the minimum lot size for many single-family homes in residential areas.

A far-reaching concern

While the Planning Department was implementing the changes to the mid-rise housing, they also organised information activities for the public, ranging from information sessions to open houses to interactive workshops.

The city collected more than 200 comments on the proposed changes. About a quarter of the comments came from the 40207 zip code, which includes Windy Hills and other surrounding communities, and most were opposed to the plan.

Dock said he is pleased that the office is getting feedback “from all corners of the county,” and acknowledged that many residents have concerns about zoning changes. He said he does not think the proposed changes to the middle housing development are comparable to controversial requests for zoning changes for densely populated buildings.

“It won’t make much of a difference because it will be spread throughout the community,” Dock said.

Davis said Louisville Metro planners have also had brief conversations with leaders of independent cities that have zoning jurisdiction, saying they could pass similar laws for mid-rise housing if they wanted to.

Roberts, the mayor of Windy Hills, said he and other Louisville Metro mayors have heard about the proposed changes to the middle housing. He hopes Louisville will consider residents’ input and explain the changes clearly to them, to help alleviate public concerns.

He cited issues such as increased noise pollution and commercial property ownership as examples of issues he said the community is concerned about.

“Will they take care of the property as well as an owner who lives there? That’s part of the fear,” Roberts said.

Middle-income housing development is also underway in Louisville, while Kentucky housing experts express concern about the lack of available and affordable housing in the state.

A recent report from the Kentucky Housing Corporation found that the state has a shortage of about 200,000 units of housing that are affordable to residents of all income levels, meaning they don’t have to spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs.

Wendy Smith, the group’s deputy director of housing programs, said she sees middle-class housing as a vital tool in closing this gap.

However, she said her organization, which finances and develops affordable housing, has not supported many middle-class homes to date and needs more money through the state’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund to make that happen.

According to Smith, KHC is on track to receive less than $4 million from the fund this year, which is below average.

“That’s not a lot of money to build affordable rental housing,” Smith said.

She attributes the decline to lower home sales, which means fewer fees are collected for registering property deeds.

Smith also said that mid-rise housing could be supported not only through zoning changes, but also by providing better financial support to small builders who want to build duplexes, for example.

“In cities and towns across the state, it’s very difficult for small builders to get a loan, and to get it now at an interest rate that makes it worthwhile for them,” Smith said.

Earlier this year, Republican Rep. Steve Doan introduced a bill to promote middle-class housing development in Kentucky, but the bill failed to gain support.