Covington council upholds zoning commission approval for St. Tammany hospital parking garage after lengthy appeal

The Covington City Council denied an appeal of the Planning and Zoning Commission’s conditional‑use approval for a five‑story, roughly 400‑space parking garage serving St. Tammany Parish Hospital, sustaining the commission’s decision after a lengthy public hearing and hours of testimony from residents, attorneys, engineers and hospital officials.

Appellants argued the project’s traffic analysis and building‑height treatment were deficient and that the city code requires additional review before the council should allow the conditional use. The hospital and its consultants said they had conducted an appropriate traffic study, resolved multiple design concerns raised in earlier hearings and that the garage would improve safety and access, including for the hospital’s helipad.

Appellant attorney Rick Schroeder told the council the garage meets the municipal code’s own thresholds that require a full traffic impact analysis. “The Covington code requires a traffic impact study,” Schroeder said, adding the proposed structure is institutional space above the code’s 40,000‑square‑foot threshold and the garage footprint is roughly…