An article published recently in the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Louisville Metro Planning and Design Services’ staff are studying better zoning for homes in the Prewitt Acres subdivision. The merger of city and county zoning classifications that happened decades ago led to the subdivision near Southside Drive and New Cut Road zoning for industrial use instead of residential. Design Services staff members expected to report their findings to the Louisville Metro Planning Commission before a public hearing on the zoning issue. Homeowners in the subdivision are to receive notification by mail before the hearing, according to a spokesperson for the city planning staff. The proposed zoning change would affect 47 single-family lots on Lillian Way, Marytena Drive and Lora Drive that have M-2 industrial zoning, including three lots partially zoned for residential land use. An M-2 zoning designation permits a wide range of industrial uses—including railroad freight, lumberyards, automobile assembly plants, flea markets, food-processing plants and many other uses. The spokesperson said that the Prewitt Acres subdivision was approved for E-1 zoning outside the old Louisville city limits in 1959, a zoning classification in Jefferson County before it began using Louisville’s classification system. Currently, zoning prevents homeowners in the subdivision from adding on to their houses or erecting other buildings on their property. One Prewitt Acres homeowner—one of a few remaining original homeowners in the subdivision—said he had trouble getting a permit to build a garage a few years after he and his wife bought their house in 1960. However, he said he eventually was granted the permit “on a wink” after a county official told him he would need to state a business purpose for the building.