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Committee urges master plan overlay to list permitted uses for economic corridor
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Summary
The Master Plan Review Committee recommended that the comprehensive master plan’s economic-corridor overlay be updated to specify permitted uses — such as manufacturing, warehouses, high-density housing and research-and-development — and sent the recommendation to the planning commission and WSP for inclusion in the master plan.
The Livingston Parish Master Plan Review Committee voted May 5 to recommend that the comprehensive master plan’s economic corridor overlay be updated to list permitted uses and to forward that recommendation to consultant WSP and the planning commission.
Committee members said the current draft master plan lists non-permitted uses for the economic corridor (for example, adult entertainment and junkyards) but does not explicitly list the uses the parish seeks to encourage. The committee proposed populating the overlay with uses it described as job-creating or growth-oriented: manufacturing and light industry, major distribution warehouses, retail centers, training centers and research-and-development, and higher-density residential forms such as townhouses, garden homes and multifamily housing.
A committee member noted the corridor’s transportation assets — including the Canadian National Railroad, U.S. 190 and I-12 — and argued the overlay should present a clear long-term vision. Several members suggested an overlay stating permitted uses would help guide zoning and make decisions on rezoning requests more consistent with the master plan’s vision.
The committee discussed whether the land-use development code or an overlay would be the appropriate place to implement the vision; members said the Land Use Development Code and the eventual Unified Development Code effort are related processes and that the overlay could be used to inform those codes.
Action taken: Committee member Julie Daskin made the motion to forward the recommendation; Mr. Burns seconded. The motion passed by voice vote. The committee agreed to send the proposed permitted-use list to WSP and the planning commission for incorporation into the master plan’s overlay map and related design guidance.
What’s next: WSP and planning and zoning staff will receive the committee’s suggested language and mapping request; subsequent drafts will be reviewed through the planning commission and council adoption process. Committee members said the overlay should be used to communicate long-term expectations during rezoning deliberations.
Why it matters: An explicit list of permitted uses in the economic corridor would provide clearer direction to developers, planners and the public about which types of development the parish intends to encourage and where higher-density residential and job-creating uses are appropriate.
