Livingston Parish panel debates zoning-code amendments, WSP timeline and moratorium dates

The Livingston Parish Master Plan Review Committee on Feb. 11 discussed proposed zoning-code amendments, WSP’s demographic work and conflicting timelines for a moratorium extension as members prepared to send revisions and a public package to the parish council.

Committee members spent the largest portion of the meeting on a packet of land-use materials sent to a task force, including a condensed “land development code” summary and a zoning chart. Nathan, a consultant with WSP, told the committee the firm was starting demographic projections and wanted to understand the committee’s starting numbers: “there’s not 1 standard way to project your population,” he said, and that WSP planned coordination with committee members before finalizing projections.

The discussion also covered draft land-use language that removed a separate “vegetable and flower garden” entry from certain residential designations. Nathan said the change was for clarity only and did not remove residents’ ability to grow gardens: “we remove that just for clarity, but it is not changing the actual use or the approved use of the property.” Committee member Gerald Burns asked whether the change would bar home gardens; Nathan replied it would not.

Members raised recurring problems with the zoning maps. The committee was given multiple “official” map sets that did not match, producing what one member described as maps that looked like “wheel of fortune colors” for some parcels. Nathan said staff had contacted the assessor, developers and engineering firms to reconcile discrepancies.

Several members pressed for more public outreach and time for residents to request rezoning. Nathan said WSP had held three public meetings specific to the master plan: “the first meeting had by a hundred people out,” while two later meetings drew perhaps 20–30 attendees each. He said all changes and zoning requests collected through the task force would be presented in writing to the parish on Feb. 14 and that he would ask the parish clerk to post the materials to the parish website.

Committee members also debated the status and end date of a zoning moratorium. Members said the original 12‑month moratorium ended Jan. 31 and that the council approved a 90‑day extension. During the meeting, members reported conflicting interpretations of that extension’s end date—some citing April 9 and others April 30—and noted the extension could also be triggered by the implementation of zoning code. The committee discussed asking the council or administration for additional time to solicit more public input, but Nathan and committee members said the planning and zoning commission had voted not to request a WSP contract extension; the commission declined the committee’s request to extend WSP’s contract to add more outreach time. Nathan said WSP’s contract included scheduled deliverables and a shortened timeline, and that the council had chosen not to lengthen that schedule.

Committee members agreed the task force would review a packet of amendments and return recommendations to the committee. The packet included a summary of the land-development code that one member said was about 65 pages; earlier in the discussion someone had referred to “about 200 pages,” and members clarified the condensed summary and the full code were both being circulated.

The committee approved other routine items by voice vote and closed the discussion by inviting WSP to present future updates to the committee as stakeholder meetings continue.

Ending: Committee members set a schedule to review the task force’s recommendations at the next meetings and said public materials from WSP and the task force would be posted after the Feb. 14 package distribution.