Louisville Metro Labor and Economic Development Committee Meeting - June 16, 2026
Louisville Metro Labor and Economic Development Committee Meeting - June 16, 2026
The Labor and Economic Development Committee met on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, from 3:02 PM to 3:50 PM in Council Chambers and virtually. Chair Ben Reno-Weber presided. A quorum was present with 8 members: Chair Reno-Weber, Vice Chair Crystal Bast, Committee Members Donna Purvis, JP Lyninger, Paula McCraney, Josie Raymond, Jeff Hudson, and Khalil Batshon. Non-committee member Ken Herndon also attended. The committee considered five legislative items including a major mixed-use development on Slugger Field parking lots, a sole source contract amendment, a collective bargaining agreement for library employees, an industrial revenue bond inducement, and a surplus property transfer.
Consent Calendar
- R-047-26: Resolution approving a $190,000 amendment (new not-to-exceed amount $550,000) to a sole source contract with Public Consulting Group LLC for consulting services to assist analyzing and reporting costs under the state's ambulatory supplemental payment program. The Office of Management and Budget expects approximately $6 million in additional Medicaid reimbursements. The contract will be put out for bid in fall 2026. Approved by voice vote; sent to Consent Calendar.
- R-074-26: Resolution ratifying a collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME Local 3425 covering 281 positions in the Louisville Free Public Library. The five-year contract (FY2026-2030) includes average 18% wage increases in FY26 (retroactive to July 1, 2025) and 2% in each subsequent year, a shift differential increase from $0.25 to $0.50, and adjustments to step increases after the initial vote failed. Total cost is approximately $53.8 million with fringes. Unit vote was 80-17 in favor. Approved by voice vote; sent to Consent Calendar.
Discussion Items
- O-180-26 (Baseball New Development Area): Ordinance to amend the Louisville Arena Zone to carve out a new development area for the parking lots east of Slugger Field. Jeff O'Brien, Executive Director of Economic Development, presented the proposed $275 million mixed-use project including 242 residential units (10% affordable at 80% Area Median Income, $1,300-$1,500/month rent), a 150-room hotel, 50,000 sq ft of office, 15,000 sq ft of retail, a public parking garage (nearly 600 spaces owned by Parking Authority of River City), and a private residential garage (88 spaces). The project will generate 326 permanent jobs and 560 construction jobs. The site currently generates about $1,300 in annual occupational license fee; the ordinance caps local occupational license fee rebates at $30 million (approximately $1M/year) and property tax abatement through an industrial revenue bond at $91 million (approximately $2.2-$2.3M/year). JCPS will receive full payments in lieu of taxes. Council Member Ken Herndon (sponsor) expressed strong support. Committee Member Donna Purvis questioned the affordability of the 80% AMI rents and the city's financial exposure, noting that $1,300-$1,500 is not affordable in her opinion. Chair Reno-Weber noted this is typical workforce housing. Committee Member JP Lyninger noted only 24-30 affordable units out of up to 300 total and questioned the long-term structure of the IRB. An amendment corrected a street name and added an alley closure. The amendment passed by voice vote. The ordinance passed 7-1 (Lyninger opposed) and was sent to Old Business.
- R-076-26 (MGI Louisville Inducement Resolution): Resolution authorizing an inducement for industrial building revenue bonds for MGI Louisville, LLC (affiliated with Diamond Baseball Holdings and Machete Group) to finance the same Slugger Field development. Jeff O'Brien explained it is conduit debt, not direct Metro obligation. The 40-year property tax abatement is capped at $91 million; once reached, the developer pays full property taxes. The Parking Authority will own the public garage. Assistant County Attorney Laura Ferguson noted the conveyance structure: parking lot goes to developer, then returns to Metro for the life of the bonds. No appraisal was conducted as the land is under long-term lease to the Louisville Bats. The resolution passed by voice vote and was sent to Old Business.
- R-077-26 (Surplus Property and Transfer): Resolution declaring multiple parcels at 503 Franklin Street, Witherspoon Street, Jackson Street, Main Street, and Hancock Street as surplus and authorizing their transfer. Jeff O'Brien stated the conveyance will be for $1, subject to the existing lease with the Louisville Bats. An amendment matching the one in O-180-26 was adopted by voice vote. Committee Member Lyninger noted the one-dollar conveyance. The resolution passed by voice vote and was sent to Old Business.
Key Outcomes
- O-180-26: Amended and recommended for approval by a vote of 7-1 (Committee Member Lyninger dissenting). Sent to Old Business for full Council consideration on June 25, 2026.
- R-047-26: Approved by voice vote; sent to Consent Calendar.
- R-074-26: Approved by voice vote; sent to Consent Calendar.
- R-076-26: Approved by voice vote; sent to Old Business.
- R-077-26: Amended and approved by voice vote; sent to Old Business.
- Items on the Consent Calendar and Old Business will be heard by the full Metro Council on June 25, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
7071 73. Good afternoon. This is the regular scheduled meeting of the Labor and Economic Development Committee for Tuesday, June 16th. It is now 3.02 Apple Time. I am the chair, Councilman Benrena Weber. This meeting is being held pursuant to KRS 61.826 and Council Rule 5A. I am joined today by my vice chair, Councilwoman Bast, uh by Councilman Herndon, Councilwoman Raymond, Councilwoman Leninger, Councilman Batt Sean. Do we have anyone out councilwoman? Donna Pervis and Councilwoman Dr. Paula McCreaney. Wow, we have more than a quorum. It's exciting for all the things that we have to do today. Item one in ordinance A, amending the Louisville Arena Zone to remove the new development area. B establishing a new development area pursuant to provisions of K RS 65.490 through 65.499 to be known as the baseball new development area, approving entering into two grant contracts authorizing the payment of the released amount pursuant to the terms and conditions of the grant contracts requiring the submission of regular reports to Louisville Jefferson County Metro government and authorizing the execution and delivery of any other documents and taking of any other actions necessary to accomplish the purposes authorized by the ordinance right in full. Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second? I have a second. Seconded. Councilman Herden, this is your district. Do you want to speak to this? Jeff O'Brien will be uh uh thank you, Mr. Chairman, by the way. Uh, we'll be speaking to it. And uh I'm uh happy to comment after he's uh finished with the presentation. Excellent. Mr. Bryan. Thank you. Uh Jeff O'Brien, executive director for economic development. Um just uh running through. So I'm gonna do this one a little bit different than we normally do our uh our development deals because this is actually occurring on Louisville Metro property. So we'll be uh this will be a little bit different today. But uh this is the development of the parking lots immediately east of Slugger Field. So this is a view of um the site, you'll see the baseball stadium. The proposed development is there just to the right of the baseball stadium. This is a mixed-use development project um that will include um residents, uh parking garages, a uh commercial, and a hotel um next to the next to the baseball stadium. All in the um the investment is expected to be uh 275 million dollars. Um this project is a little bit unique. This is a carve-out from the um Louisville TIFF arena or sorry, Louisville Arena TIFF. Um, so then this will be the first carve out that's been uh that would be instituted since the um statute was amended in the uh 25 uh session. So uh the the development area here again, and this is the the site in red, and there's a view of the site, the current conditions on the parking lot. Uh this this uh the area in red is the development area and the area that is being carved out of the arena district. Um currently this site is generating very little in revenue in revenue for Louisville Metro or the arena district. There's a little bit of occupational license fee that's being generated here and uh a little bit of sales tax revenue that's being generated for the state. Um the arena TIFF, as you'll recall, was created uh to uh by the states uh by the state legislature to facilitate the construction of the Kentucky uh the Yum Center, uh the KFC Yum Arena downtown. So that's what it looks like before and after. So just a reminder this is a carve out of a TIFF that was used to create another transformational project in downtown Louisville. Um the statistics on this development. So as I mentioned, there are 242 um residential units. There is 150 one-room hotel, uh, there's 50,000 square feet of office, uh, and there's uh just about 15,000 square feet of retail and commercial uses.
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