Ascension Parish, Louisiana Zoning Commission, 13 Jul 2022

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From YouTube: Zoning Commission - July 13, 2022

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Zoning Commission - July 13, 2022

A

The zoning commission meeting for july 13 2022 at 6 pm central parish courthouse, is now in session roll call of members. All members are present, with the exception of commissioner bailey staff introductions. Can I have staff introductions please.

B

Jamaica bankers, zoning secretary.

C

Jerry is cary information, technology, spencer,.

D

Long parish attorney.

E

Jerome funier, director of planning and development eric.

D

Poche parish, planner lance brock, zoning official. Thank you all.

A

uh Item four: uh we'll have the minutes for the june 8th 2022 zoning commission meeting. Can I get a motion to.

E

Approve second,.

A

Okay, we got a.

E

A

To approve by commissioner klubat second by commissioner miller, all in favor any opposed that motion passes. I abstained. Okay, let the record state that uh commissioner nasser has abstained on that motion uh item five chairman's comments. Chairman has no comments. This evening item six public hearing to amend the ascension parish planning development code for the recommendation for the approval or denial of the ascension power to the ascension parish council item: a is zoning review, pz288.26.

A

Track e1 for britco lc, located on the north side of la highway, approximately 1300 feet west of airline highway to amend the ascension paris zoning map from rural to mixed use corridor.

A

At this time, do we have any presentation by the applicant.

C

Good evening my name is greg bivin, I'm here on behalf of dorsey development, uh we're requesting the reason of this property. I'm here to answer any questions that you might have about. The rezoning okay.

F

A

Do we have any questions, commissioners, okay, commissioner, biller.

G

Yeah, it says uh it's going to be a commercial.

G

What building 10 000 square feet, something like that.

C

Yes, sir 10 640 square foot, retail store.

G

Okay, what give me an idea of the type of retail you're going to have there it'll.

C

Be a dollar general store, okay,.

A

Okay: okay, sir um real quick: we got to open up the public here and let the uh let the public meet and after we'll call you up so miss banker. Have we had anybody sign up to speak for the public hearing.

B

Yes, we got one lady, but shh. I don't think she wants to speak. So I'm just going to say her name.

B

I'm sorry, I can't speak for it. You want to speak okay.

C

B

Miss karen's jackson and she's, not in support you could step to the microphone.

H

What is this for? The zoning for what kind of store.

C

It's a neighborhood retail store, a dollar general store.

H

And it's going into a rural area where people homes are: is this what this is.

A

Well, well, ma'am, um if you don't mind, if you, if you have questions, we can potentially answer them, but, okay, you can ask the commission, okay.

H

I didn't know what was the letter about, but this is for dollar general he's saying in a rural area.

A

So the the letter that you received, that is, for a zoning change, so the applicant who owns the land has the right to request a change from the existing zoning, which is rural to a mixed use. Corridor, which is, which is what they are applying for.

A

The use that they, the actual use that they're asking for, is not necessarily up for what what they can debate about or what is to be debated, but what their use of the land. The classification of that use, is what we're here to discuss.

A

If that makes sense, it.

H

Does yes ma'am, but this is land that that's in a neighborhood where people have had quietness and now we got lots of traffic coming through it.

H

So the rule is going to be now changed to.

A

They're requesting a a change from rural to a mixed use corridor. That's that's the change in zoning that they are requesting.

H

Most people in this neighborhood feels that that's. That is not what we want.

D

H

Because we already have lots of business already surrounding us, so we we are against that. Okay.

A

Well, yes, ma'am. Thank you very much for your for your speaking.

A

Okay, miss banker. Do we have any further uh comments.

A

Okay, we're going to close the public hearing, sir, if you don't mind, come back and we'll open it up for discussion with the commissioners. So any further discussions.

A

I have some, I have some.

I

Points that I'd that I would like to make, I was going to wait until a motion was made uh to to bring this up, but I'll bring it up.

I

Nevertheless- and this is not really a discussion from me or a comment for me relative to support or oppose, I want to make sure that everyone understands that when you do change a zoning provisions from rural to mixed use, it creates this quandary in that now this property, while the the current developer, has good intentions of developing a dollar store or some facility of that type, mixed use allows for a lot more intense uses and some very different uses than that.

I

So once it's rezoned, if it is resolved, then that property becomes available for those types of uses unless it is again result. So I want to make sure that everyone is is aware that it's not unusual.

I

um You know virtually every every zoning has this type of potential implication, but that alone shouldn't be a reason to to deny an individual an opportunity to develop his property. I'm only I'm only making sure that everyone is aware that that caveat or that quandary, that we could end up in down the road. Yes, sir,.

C

We are fully committed to developing a retail store on this space. We have a lease signed with dollar general, um we're a preferred developer for them, so we are fully committed in a binding agreement to develop the store.

C

We have significant soft costs that we've been. You know invested in already to do a re-subdivision surveying costs testing.

C

So we are fully invested in moving forward with this as a commercial.

A

uh I actually have a few questions. um I'm pretty familiar with that area. um Number one. Is there already? Not a dollar general store less than oh, that's a family dollar. So it's a competitor just right. There.

C

In the city limits, there's a family dollar down the road. Yes, sir,.

E

Okay, there's a dollar in general right up the road, though right.

A

You know, and in sorrento as well, so um so that that is kind of strange that y'all are trying to put one so close. But that's you know that's neither here nor there number two um that area has always been prone to not necessarily flooding but uh definitely holding a little bit more water and with that proximity to the railroad tracks, um have you all surveyed it and you have a base flood elevation.

A

Do you are y'all aware that we do have limits of phil brought in and are y'all going to be able to achieve that type of height necessary for the codification for the flooring? Yes, sir, okay.

C

Absolutely we've: um we've had the property surveyed, uh the property is, is zone x, there was a small sliver that was a zone ae, but that's been redeveloped and that drainage has been moved to the back of the property. There are plans that were developed and all that work has already been accomplished.

C

A

And have you all gotten permission from the railroad company to to be right that that close with that type of establishment.

C

uh No syrup, it's just standard. You know commercial retail, space, okay,.

A

Usually, usually, the railroad company wants some type of permissions.

C

F

A

Zone so um and then uh question for staff: do we have any issues with uh with traffic if they have a certain amount of traffic counts? uh Do we have any ideas? What the traffic counts are looking like in that area, no.

D

So they would be required to do a traffic analysis. Okay,.

A

And if they do have a traffic analysis that shows that there needs to be some type of mitigative effects. They are required to perform those effects before building.

D

It would be at the time of construction. So yes, okay,.

A

um My other question is: is that y'all do have different facings facades that y'all can put on these stores? um Some of the general consensus of some members of our parish is we kind of get the the lesser facade?

A

Would you be willing to to entertain, go into a little bit more of a higher end facade for this, or is that something that's not within your scope? Right now,.

C

We could absolutely consider doing that.

A

I would recommend it: yes, it it, it goes, that's a good area, um and- and that would be something that would be a much more improvement.

C

Dollar general allows us some latitude or they have some latitude in their uh architectural standards, so we could make some upgrades to the building. Okay, not a problem. No, it's not appropriate. I do have a one question, commissioner.

A

G

Entrance way will be on to highway 30. Yes, sir,.

C

G

It's really close.

G

Question for you, looking at this property, there's a pond there already on this property, if I'm not it, so um is that going to sit in front, I mean: where is this going to sit position wise on this property.

C

It's it's a small triangular piece that the the pond itself is on britco owned property, that is off of our site. We will do storm water detention as needed to meet whatever requirements there are for the parish. It's.

G

Off of your site,.

C

G

The little triangle corner closest to the railroad track. Yes, sir.

A

So then, across the street there there's a pond. That's another.

G

A

Right and then to the west: that's the old uh price of alpine.

G

So your interest weight is only gonna be on highway 30, not on to airline.

C

Just on highway there, yes, sir, I see that being a major.

G

Traffic congestion.

G

I

No connection to.

F

Airline right right.

G

You guys spoke with dod as far as how many entrances and whatnot you can. You can do right there. I know it's pretty pretty stringent, you know they got some strip malls further down and I know they got some pretty. You know they don't want too many more entrances in and out different places. So yeah.

C

So we have one entrance.

G

In and out two.

C

Yes, sir, just a a single entrance: okay and we'll go through the full dotd process, and my understanding was- is that a traffic impact study is required by the parish now, regardless of whether it's on a state route. So we would do a traffic impact analysis, you know through dotd and through the parish and whatever they recommend. That's. What we'll do.

A

Any further comments by the commissioners or a motion.

I

I I would like to make a motion that we uh approve the rezoning or we I'm sorry. We we approve the recommend. We recommend to the parish council that we uh with for approval, okay,.

A

That way, we got a motion by councilman nassar to recommend approval to the parish council. Do we have a second.

A

We got a second by councilman, barnado, okay, we'll go to a roll call vote. All in fact make some.

I

A

Please, before we make a roll call.

I

Vote, my understanding is that is that the adjacent properties are all already zoned um multi-use corridors, that this would not be inconsistent with the zoning in in the with the adjacent properties.

G

The neighboring properties owned by them in its role.

I

Yes, yes, yeah, the the adjacent property is owned by them. The maybe mr fornier can explain it better, but but that that area is zoned as a as a multi-use corridor. In general.

A

F

In our master plan master plan and our master.

A

Plan we're recommending that area to be now. This is one question I did have in our master plan. We are recommending that area generally to be considered a neighborhood hub, the neighborhood hub, which we do not have a definition for in our code at all, but that is something that we did come up with uh with recommendation from uh cpex at our master plan discussions, so considering that our master plan is recommending that style of development, that's something that that we have discussed in the past. But, mr brock, could you answer his question about that?.

D

The underlining there is an underlining uh with the master plan as a retail commercial, and then there is a hub on that on that corner. um He is correct and property that is west of this property smith, tank and steel. They have our mixed use. That property is as existing as or currently in mixed use. So.

E

Can add to that? um Mr chairman, is that the the quarter along airline highway, which is on the other side of the tracks, is all mixed use right? The entire quarter is, is mixed use right.

A

So we're basically continuing what mixed use is: we're just bringing it across the railroad tracks along highway, 30, yeah, okay,.

E

And also in compat, it's compatible with the zoning designation for smith, tank and steel, correct.

A

So we have a motion in a second. um Can I get a vote all in favor aye aye. Do we have any opposition?

A

Okay, we have opposition, we'll do a roll call vote. um Councilman, villa nay, councilman miller approve, okay councilman, commissioner shak snyder. I approve commissioner nassar. I approve commissioner club yeah, commissioner varnado yay. Okay, the gays. Have it it's a five to one vote.

A

Thank you very much. Thank you, commissioner. This will be passed on to the council. Thank you. Okay,.

D

A

Seven, we have a staff report, no report, no nothing to report and item eight.

A

Councilman commissioner kluwat motion to adjourn. Thank you.