Tammany Rezoning Starts Next Month
Unincorporated areas must follow new codes

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

By Charlie Chapple
St. Tammany Bureau

The long process to rezone St. Tammany Parish's unincorporated areas to conform with the new parish zoning codes will begin next month and conclude in October 2009.

That's the timetable laid out by parish planning director Sidney Fontenot, who said the project, initially expected to take two to three years to complete, has been put on the fast track and streamlined so it can be done as quickly as possible.

Instead of dividing the parish into eight geographical areas, officials will divide the parish into five regions for the rezoning of almost 700 square miles of properties, parcel by parcel, Fontenot said.

In mid- to late February, parish officials plan to schedule a Saturday hearing to get more public input on the first geographical area, across south central St. Tammany, that will be rezoned.

The first region or zone is generally bordered by Louisiana 59, Louisiana 36, U.S. 11 and Lake Pontchartrain. It takes in Big Branch and Lacombe and areas near Mandeville and Abita Springs eastward to near Slidell and Pearl River.

Fontenot said a survey of existing land uses in the first region has been completed by consultants. After the public hearing, parish planners will recommend a new zoning map for the region using the classifications in the new codes.

Fontenot said the recommendation will be forwarded to the parish Zoning Commission on April 15 for public hearings and review. The proposal then will go to the Parish Council for further review, with the schedule calling for adoption of the new zoning map for the first region by October, Fontenot said.

Work to rezone other regions will be occurring simultaneously, Fontenot said, so the entire project can by completed by October 2009. Consultants already are doing a land-use survey of the second zone or region, which takes in southwestern St. Tammany, including Goodbee and areas between Covington and Madisonville, and Covington and Mandeville.

The third region takes in the southeastern corner of the parish and areas around Slidell east of U.S. 11. The final two regions take in the more rural northern half of the parish.

The new zoning codes, adopted by the Parish Council in May, have not taken effect because state law requires that new zoning classifications be imposed in a systematic and uniform manner, looking at all property in a defined area or region.

As each of the five regions is rezoned, the new classifications and codes take effect.

Rural, suburban agriculture

The new codes eliminate two major zoning classifications, suburban agriculture and R-rural. Most undeveloped land in unincorporated areas is zoned rural or suburban agriculture, which are considered "holding zones" under the existing codes adopted in 1986.

Fontenot has said the "holding pattern" contributes to hodgepodge development. When most developments are proposed under the existing codes, a developer usually asks to rezone a rural or suburban agriculture tract to the classification necessary for his project.

That results in the parish reacting to "what's proposed instead of deciding where things should go. . . . And that's not zoning," Fontenot said.

The current codes also require conditional use permits for numerous uses ranging from mobile homes to large developments. Except for the most intense industrial uses, such as a nuclear power plant, conditional uses are eliminated in the new codes by adding new classifications specifically listing the uses allowed in each.

"Once you rezone the property (to the new codes), you'll have a list of things you can do," Fontenot said, "and you don't have to get a conditional use permit."

"More important, you'll know exactly what your neighbor can do," Fontenot said Monday night while outlining the parish's game plan to the Tammany Together citizens coalition in Lacombe.

Instead of one highway commercial classification, the new codes have four. Six neighborhood commercial designations replace the two districts of light and neighborhood commercial. The new codes also have 10 instead of four single-family residential classifications, including four new "estate" districts that require homesites of at least 7, 10, 15 and 20 acres.

95 percent correct

Fontenot said parish planners will consider numerous factors in recommending the new zoning classifications for property, including existing land use, the parish's land-use plan, the elements of New Directions 2025, drainage and traffic models, infrastructure and a "greenprint" plan that sets conservation and preservation priorities for the parish.

In most cases, he said, developed properties will be rezoned to the new classification that fits the existing use. The rezoning of undeveloped properties will likely spark the biggest debates, he said.

"We'll get most of the area zoned correctly," Fontenot said. "We'll argue over 5 percent. We'll get 95 percent correct."

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Charlie Chapple can be reached at cchapple@timespicayune.com or (985) 898-4828.

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