by Kelly L. Kinahan, Ph.D., AICP

On Wednesday, October 31, Mayor Fischer announced a Request for Proposals, through the Office of Advanced Planning, for the creation of a neighborhood plan for Smoketown. The specifications in the Request for Proposals makes direct reference to the work of the fall 2017 PLAN 652: Neighborhood Planning Studio course, which created “A Document to Inform the Smoketown Neighborhood Plan,” noting that the new plan "should continue and supplement the process that was initiated by [A Document to Inform the Smoketown Neighborhood Plan]. Much of the background data, community input, visioning and draft recommendations may be incorporated into the new plan document and/or serve as the foundation on which to build upon in creating a new Smoketown Neighborhood Plan.” At last week’s press conference, Mayor Fischer specifically thank the MUP students for their role in creating this important foundational document. This marks the first instance of a student plan moving forward as a component of the official neighborhood planning process for Louisville Metro. Congratulations to all of the students that were part of the 2017 Neighborhood Planning Studio course: Jamie Crawford, Hannah Crepps, Willow Dietsch, Kendra Harruff, Grant List, Eric Matravers, Wyatt Kunzman, and Brian Wortinger.