Angela Impellizzeri and Paige Wagoner created the Louisville Wet Woods Preservation Society in response to persistent attempts by developers to rezone and develop a densely wooded, five-acre, single-family tract (R-4), into an expansive designation of R-7 (residential multi-family), which would have permitted the construction of 96 apartment units in five separate buildings in the Preston Park neighborhood.

Angela and Paige educated, organized, and communicated with their neighbors through social media, traditional door-knocking, and petitions. Together, they and their concerned neighbors attended the planning and zoning meetings, and through their collective concerns, they persuaded the Planning Commission to unanimously recommended to deny the change in zoning.

The proposed rezoning and intended development of the apartment complex would have had a devastating impact on the jurisdictional wetlands, ephemeral streams, and countless species of wildlife that inhabit the wooded area by transforming naturally occurring wetlands into paved and other impervious surfaces. The development would also have had a significant impact on the residents through increased traffic on a dead-end street, no safety infrastructure or sidewalks, and the removal of the mature, wooded greenspace, which would have decreased the buffering of noise and vehicle emissions pollution from Preston Highway, I-65 and the Louisville International Airport.

Angela and Paige’s purpose of creating and organizing under the Louisville Wet Woods Preservation Society is to draw awareness to the once-was Louisville Wet Woods and its connection to the historical Free Towns (Petersburg & Newburg) of Kentucky, the Wilderness Road and the Buffalo Trace that passed through South Louisville and across the Falls of the Ohio into Indiana.  

By engaging neighbors in the rich stories of buffalos, bandits, endangered bats, swamps and the Wet Woods of Louisville, they will continue to drive awareness as to the benefits of preserving existing mature, wooded spaces and how to engage within existing civic processes to band together to resist developmental pressures across Jefferson County.