While the massive growth taking place through the Floyds Fork Greenway Project, from Shelbyville Road to Bardstown Road, has been dominating headlines, there are exciting park expansion efforts going on throughout the community.  As part of the Cornerstone 2020 community-wide planning effort in the 1990s, planners identified how much additional park land would be needed by 2020 to continue adequately serving Louisville’s citizens.  The City of Parks initiative was built around this urgent call to action.

Southwest Louisville Metro:

• Jefferson Memorial Forest – Metro Parks has added 605 acres to the Forest since the merger of city and county governments in 2003.  This will ensure that the Forest, at more than 6,000 acres, remains the nation’s largest municipal urban forest.
• Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing – this historic property has grown to over 300 acres, and a site plan has been developed to guide future investment of public and private funds.
• Riverview Park – the Waterfront Development Corporation is developing a new master plan for this park, which recently grew from 16 to 87 acres.
• Metro Parks will announce other park expansion opportunities over the next two years.

Elsewhere:

• Portland Wharf Park – this 56-acre park, currently under development, will serve a unique purpose by interpreting the history of the original Portland settlement.

• River Road Recreation Corridor – a master plan has been completed for the former River Road Country Club, which is being developed into public park land as part of the new Louisville Champions Park.  The plan also calls for improvements to nearby parks along a two-mile stretch of River Road.