Council reactivates R-1.5 zoning after heated public hearing; measure passes 5-4

The Livingston Parish Council voted 5-4 on Aug. 14 to adopt an ordinance reactivating the R-1.5 residential zoning classification (proposed ordinance 25-09), a decision supporters said would give property owners an additional zoning option while opponents warned it could worsen drainage and increase density in rural areas.

"We changed the name the minimum lot size to a half acre, and we took out 2 and a half homes per acre to 2 homes only," Council Chairman said when describing key changes in the ordinance language at first reading. The ordinance also lists conditional uses including small utilities, schools, cemeteries, day care facilities, clinics, houses of worship, parks and small-scale maintenance activities; it also allows manufactured and modular homes as conditional uses under the updated rules.

Residents who live on or near JC Stewart Road and Pea Ridge Road testified at length against the reactivation. "The problem with R-1.5, especially on our road, is it can't take it," said Earl Deville, a JC Stewart Road resident. Deville described new pads and trailers placed on a nearby property and said, "No one's come and done drainage studies. No one's come and done where the sewage is gonna go. ... He's taking value away from our property because he's building up where he's at and pushing water on us." Other neighbors described recent water flowing into driveways after fill and pads were placed.

Supporters and some council members said reactivating the classification does not automatically rezone property; landowners must still apply for rezoning and the council must approve any change. Councilman Bruce Mangus and others emphasized that returning R-1.5 to the ordinance provides a tool that could benefit some areas while individual rezoning requests would be decided case by case.

Councilman Ricky Gough moved to "accept the 1.5 as presented." The motion passed on roll-call vote: Taylor, yes; Sandifer, no; Shavers, no; Mangus, yes; Wascomb, yes; Coates, no; Watts, yes; Goff, yes; Erdey, no—final tally 5 yes, 4 no.

Planning staff and the parish attorney noted that some preexisting R-1.5 areas remain grandfathered on older maps, and that any new rezone requests will be evaluated on the council's record and on legal grounds such as impacts to drainage, public health and safety. An attorney advising the council said denying rezoning in flood-prone areas on the basis of drainage and public-safety impacts is a legitimate legal rationale.

The ordinance as adopted reduces the previously allowed density to a maximum of two homes per acre in the R-1.5 classification and updates conditional uses; the council's vote reactivates the classification as an available zoning category but does not itself rezone any specific parcels. Several residents asked staff to enforce existing permitting requirements and to investigate unauthorized placement of trailers and pads.