Council rejects spot-zoning request to reclassify Magnolia Plantation lot for RV park

Plaquemines Parish Council voted unanimously against a proposed zoning change to reclassify a parcel in Magnolia Plantation for use as a mobile-home/RV park, the council confirmed after extended public comment and debate.

The proposal, brought before the council after a zoning-board review, would have changed the property’s designation from rural/agricultural to permit a concentrated RV/mobile-home development. The issue drew public testimony from property owner Hal Lamb and comments from several council members and residents about traffic, infrastructure and neighborhood character.

Hal Lamb, who identified himself as the owner of the property and a longtime resident, told the council he had owned the parcel for 25 years and described plans for what he called a “premier RV park,” including an estimated half-million dollar investment in infrastructure. “I’m asking for the Council to make a motion for me to move my property from rural agricultural to mobile home,” Lamb said during public comment.

Council members and residents raised concerns that the request amounted to spot zoning. Council Member Newsom noted that the zoning-board motion to deny had not achieved a definitive favorable recommendation and pressed that the council should be clear about how zoning-board recommendations are framed and recorded. “At the end of the day, what you care about is whether or not something favorably passed,” Newsom said, urging a change in how the zoning board’s recommendations are presented going forward.

Neighbors argued the area already had available RV capacity and that the parcel’s conversion would worsen local problems including litter, strain on water infrastructure and increased traffic on small residential roads. Residents said public services such as water pressure in nearby Diamond Park remain inadequate and pointed to recent illegal dumping and vandalism problems in the neighborhood.

Council members debated whether to remand the application back to the zoning board for reconsideration or vote on the change. Administration staff clarified that the application had been through the zoning board and that the council could either send it back or proceed with a vote. After discussion, the council held the final vote: the motion to change the zoning failed by a roll-call vote of 9–0.

The council also discussed a related procedural issue: some members asked staff to revise how zoning-board outcomes are recorded so future agendas reflect whether an item was “favorably recommended” rather than framed as a motion to deny, which some members said created confusion about the record and next steps.

With the motion’s defeat, the parcel remains in its current zoning category; council members said residents’ objections and infrastructure concerns influenced the result. No further council action on this specific application was recorded during the meeting.