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 204,900 square feet with more than 400 parking spaces. Schroeder also questioned the traffic consultant’s report date and counting methodology, and he argued the structure’s elevator penthouse and rooftop access mean the building’s effective height is 65 feet and therefore would require a variance from the 45‑foot limit in the IH district.

Representing St. Tammany Health System, attorney Jeff Shane and hospital CEO Joan Kaufman defended the process and the study. “We determined that we needed a traffic impact study to evaluate if this was a sound economic investment,” Shane said, then noted the project’s materials were reviewed repeatedly by city staff and the zoning commission. Kaufman summarized the hospital’s rationale: “To sustain quality of care and minimize patient wait times, we must expand bed capacity… The parking garage remains necessary to support our ongoing service to the community and safety for our colleagues, our patients and their families.”

The hospital’s traffic consultant, Lawrence Lambert of Vector Consulting Services, described the firm’s methodology and said a reporting error in the draft narrative (an incorrect calendar date) had been corrected. “We know how to do a traffic study. We do them all day long,” Lambert told the council, and he said the study modeled the fully occupied garage and found no operational intersection failures under the modeled conditions.

Opponents raised other code and process concerns: that the garage is not located on the same parcel as the hospital (raising questions about whether it qualifies as an “accessory” versus a “service” building for height exemptions), that setback calculations should be larger if the effective building height is greater than 45 feet, and that the study used a single‑day count that might understate peak traffic near nearby schools and side streets. Supporters, including economic development and community leaders, said the garage and a relocated, elevated helipad will improve clinical access and public safety and will support the hospital’s future service needs.

Council members debated the technical issues at length. The motion before the body was to deny the appeal and to leave in place the conditional use permit and the conditions previously approved by the zoning commission. Roll call recorded votes as follows: Councilman Botsford — yes; Councilman Barrett — yes; Councilman Lewis — yes; Councilman Bushnell — yes; Councilman Roberts — yes; Councilman Inman — no; Councilman Burrell — yes. The motion carried, and the council sustained the zoning commission’s approval.

Council members and the hospital each said they expect follow‑up work. Hospital representatives told the council they will monitor garage use and coordinate with the city on traffic mitigation measures; the hospital also offered to participate as a stakeholder in corridor studies and said it would contribute consultant support to that effort. Several speakers and members urged the city to continue or accelerate a broader Tyler Street corridor study that could recommend signal timing changes, lane reconfigurations or other capital work to improve traffic flow.

The council’s decision sustains the permit; construction and building permits are separate processes. Opponents said they may pursue further legal or administrative options; hospital officials said they will continue with design and permitting while coordinating with city staff.