Redtail Ridge plans headed to voters

Lucas High

LOUISVILLE — After two years of bouncing between elected and appointed Louisville bodies, the city’s voters will be the ultimate arbiters in determining the fate of Redtail Ridge’s development plans.

After a last minute change of heart by a member of the Louisville City Council, the board reversed course Tuesday night on a preliminary decision to repeal the approval for the large-scale commercial development and opted instead to allow voters to decide the matter on April 19.

The decision to send the matter to a special election was decided on a 4-3 vote, with Councilman Chris Leh changing his tune and casting the deciding vote.

The council, which has a slightly different makeup than it did prior to the November election, had previously approved the project with a 4-3 margin.

Mayor Ashley Stolzmann joined council members Kyle Brown and Maxine Most (a new councilwoman) in favor of repealing approval.

Leh was joined by council members Dennis Maloney, Deborah Fahey and Caleb Dickinson in opposing the repeal. Leh had voted in favor of repeal during the first reading of the measure two weeks ago.

Leh said initially he thought repeal would be “less divisive and less expensive” than a special election, but ultimately decided it best that voters make the final call on the highly controversial development proposal. 

Denver-based developer Brue Baukol Capital Partners LLC plans to build as many as 3 million square feet of office, industrial and flexible-use buildings at the long-vacant, former Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) site off U.S. Highway 36. 

“We’re grateful for the Council’s reconsideration on the future of Redtail Ridge, and we look forward to a positive discussion on the community benefits that the rezoning would bring,” Brue Baukol co-founder Geoff Baukol said in a statement provided to BizWest.

Throughout the city’s development-plan approval process, which was put on hold last year after city leaders balked at the scope of the ambitious proposal at the roughly 400-acre site that formerly housed the Storage Technology Corp. headquarters, concerns have been raised both by officials and residents about loss of open space, economic viability, traffic congestion and environmental degradation. 

The City Council placed a series of conditions on approval of the plans, such as a 3-million-square-foot cap on development, increased public-land dedications and a minimum of three megawatts of solar power on site.

While these conditions were enough to initially win over the support of a majority of the council, some in Louisville remained unconvinced. 

Almost immediately after the project was approved, opponents began circulating a petition seeking to overturn the decision.

The petition garnered more than 700 signatures, nearly double the amount required by the city. 

Discussion Tuesday turned testy at times as public commenters and members of the City Council discussed ways to make the process less divisive. 

Brown said he was “disappointed” in Leh’s change of heart, suggesting that Brue Baukol will pour money into the special election and create a “David versus Goliath” situation against Redtail Ridge’s opponents. 

Speakers during public comment sessions suggested that Most ought to have recused herself from Tuesday’s vote because she wasn’t party to initial approval and was outspoken about her opposition to the project prior to her election. 

“Already, we’ve lost Medtronic and their hundreds of high-paying jobs,” public speaker Richard Morgan said, a reference to a prior iteration of the Redtail Ridge plan that included a corporate campus for the medical-device maker. 

Medtronic Inc. skipped town for a nearby site in Lafayette when the approval process hit a snag last year, and Brue Baukol was sent back to the drawing board.

Should Louisville voters decide to roll back approval of the Redtail Ridge masterplan, the developer would once again be facing that same drawing board. 

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