The housing market was sinking, and the design was not an option for people who wanted smaller homes on small lots with more land preserved, Dominion Homes land manager Jarrod Dowels said.
The company submitted a plan for a subdivision on the land, but sewer capacity issues and the declining housing market put the project on hold, Kentucky division manager Mike Archer said.
“There was a point where it would cost millions of dollars to run a sewer line there,” he said.
The sewer problems have been mostly fixed, and Dominion Homes will return to the Louisville Metro Planning Commission’s Land Development and Transportation Committee on Thursday with a new plan for a 129-home conservation subdivision at 6807 Mount Washington Road, south of McNeely Lake Park, Archer said. The subdivision will be called Woods of Penn Run.
Conservation subdivisions were not well-known when Dominion Homes bought the property, Dowels said. The market for the lots has only recently taken off. Dominion Homes plans for another conservation subdivision off Billtown Road.
A conservation subdivision’s goal is to preserve natural areas, such as creeks, trees and ponds, by allowing for smaller lots, Dowels said. Developers must preserve a certain percentage of green space per acre to get a plan approved. About 13 acres of green space are designed for Woods of Penn Run.
Archer said the lot size is not very different from a typical subdivision.
“Some properties, there’s nothing to conserve,” Dowels said. “Out here, it’s a heavily treed area. It made sense to save some green space.”
Dominion Homes hopes to start construction by the end of this year or early next. The company plans to commemorate a firefighter, Craig Edward Drury, who lost his life in a fire on the property more than two decades ago, by naming a street after him.
Reporter Bailey Loosemore can be reached at (502) 582-4646. Follow her on Twitter at @bloosemore.
Planning meeting
What: The Metro Planning Commission’s Land Development and Transportation Committee will discuss Dominion Homes’ plan for a conservation subdivision on Mount Washington Road.
When: 1 p.m., May 24
Where: Metro Development Center, 444 S. Fifth St., Suite 101
Comments are closed.