Parks and Sustainability Committee Meeting – March 23, 2023

The Louisville Metro Council Parks and Sustainability Committee met on Thursday, March 23, 2023, from 3:09 p.m. to 4:14 p.m. in Council Chambers and via video teleconference. Chair Jecorey Arthur presided; a quorum of eight committee members was present. The committee discussed contracts for two Metro Parks golf courses, approved a $100,000 sole-source contract for the Louisville Zoo carousel, and voted on a resolution opposing a natural gas pipeline through Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest.

Special Discussion: Metro Parks Golf Contracts

• Nathan Maiwald, interim assistant director of the Metro Parks Revenue Division, said Metro Parks issued RFPs for vacant golf professional positions at Cherokee Park and Sun Valley. He noted eight of the city's ten golf courses currently have golf professionals; Cherokee and Sun Valley are the two vacancies. Cherokee received two responses and Sun Valley received three; Metro Parks selected Christopher Wilson for Cherokee Park Golf Course and D Fowler Golf LLC for Sun Valley Golf Course.
• Committee Member Cindi Fowler noted Sun Valley had been without a pro since November 1 and Cherokee without one for about two to two and a half years. She said filling the positions will restore services, such as beer sales, and clarified that D Fowler Golf is not related to her.

Public Comments & Testimony

• No separate public comment period was held; invited speakers testified under the pending legislation items.

Pending Legislation: R-014-23 Bernheim Pipeline Resolution

• Committee Member Phillip Baker moved and Committee Member Khalil Batshon seconded a motion to untable R-014-23, which had been tabled on March 9, 2023. The motion carried.
• Andrew Berry, Bernheim director of conservation, stated Bernheim's opposition to LG&E's proposed 12-mile, 12-inch underground natural gas pipeline in Bullitt County, including roughly eight-tenths of a mile across Bernheim's Cedar Grove Wildlife Corridor. He said construction would require clearing 50 to 100 feet of forest, endanger species such as the Kentucky glade cress and the hidden spring snail, disturb unstable karst and knob terrain, and create a permanent safety and environmental threat.
• Berry said Bernheim had worked on the acquisition for more than a decade before LG&E's route became known. The 494-acre tract cost about $1.4 million, with roughly $706,000 from the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund and $76,000 from the federal Imperiled Bat Conservation Fund, and is under a conservation easement. He said a condemnation trial occurred in January and a ruling is pending.
• Berry also said the project's estimated cost has risen from $25 million to more than $75 million. He called the pipeline unnecessary and said LG&E proposed it for redundancy in its existing gas lines.
• Committee Member Betsy Ruhe and Committee Member Batshon read portions of LG&E's March 23, 2023 letter into the record. LG&E argued the pipeline will not run through Bernheim Arboretum itself, is on property north of and not physically connected to the Arboretum, was purchased after pipeline plans were already established, and all 4.461 acres of the route across Bernheim property would be co-located with an existing East Kentucky Power Cooperative transmission line.
• Berry disputed LG&E's letter, saying Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest includes all Bernheim-owned land, the corridor is contiguous with the original tract, and co-locating the gas pipeline with the transmission line worsens the land's known instability. He cited correspondence from East Kentucky Power warning LG&E about stability concerns. He said even if wildlife can cross above the pipeline, the easement is permanent and could be used for future unspecified transport.
• Deborah Potts Novgorodoff, Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition, said the pipeline was originally intended to serve Jim Beam, which is now moving to biogas and projects earning almost $1 million by selling excess electricity back to the grid. She highlighted Kentucky pipeline explosion risks, including an Estill County rupture caused by land movement, and cited a Center for Biological Diversity letter describing about five miles of steep terrain with 20-40 percent slopes, 39 acres of forest removal, and high soil slippage potential. She urged the committee to pass the resolution, saying 'we really don't want to be the next East Palestine.'
• Councilman Andrew Owen argued Metro Council and Louisville ratepayers have a legitimate interest because LGE/KU holds a monopoly and its energy production affects Louisville's air and water. He said LG&E's claim that the council should stay out of the issue is flawed and that the pipeline could become a stranded asset as renewable costs decline. He also criticized the environmental record of LGE/KU's parent company, PPL.
• Committee Member Batshon expressed concern about higher ratepayer costs if LG&E must reroute the pipeline. Berry responded that rerouting can be cheaper and safer and called the project 'the wrong pipeline, the wrong place, at the wrong time.'
• Committee Member Fowler noted the resolution is only a resolution, but that hearing both sides remains important.
• A motion to call the question by Committee Member Baker, seconded by Committee Member Hudson, carried by voice vote.

Pending Legislation: R-021-23 Zoo Carousel Sole-Source Contract

• John Bechter, Louisville Zoo guest services manager, explained the $100,000 sole-source contract with Carousels and Carvings Inc. for the zoo's antique conservation carousel. The carousel was built in 1919 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC 49), has 46 hand-carved figures, and Carousels and Carvings is the only U.S. vendor with parts specific to it.
• Bechter said the contract is a one-time spend with annual renewal. He reported that a single carousel ticket costs 350 and an all-day pass costs 450, the carousel's capture rate is between 50 and 55 percent, the zoo had over 800,000 guests in the past year, and the carousel is currently the zoo's highest revenue-generating attraction.
• Committee Member Pat Mulvihill moved and Committee Member Fowler seconded approval. The motion carried by voice vote, and R-021-23 was sent to the full Council consent calendar.

Key Outcomes

• The golf contracts were discussed as a special informational item; no vote was taken.
• R-014-23 was untabled and recommended for approval by a roll call vote of 3 yes (Arthur, Baker, Ruhe), 2 no (Hudson, Batshon), 2 present (Fowler, Parker), and 1 abstention (Mulvihill, citing his wife's employment with LG&E). It was sent to Old Business for the Metro Council meeting on April 13, 2023.
• R-021-23 was recommended for approval by voice vote and sent to the consent calendar for the April 13, 2023 Metro Council meeting.
• Chair Arthur adjourned the meeting at 4:14 p.m.