Ordinance committee urges rewrite of proposal to require R‑5 housing in economic corridor be part of mixed‑use or PUD

The Livingston Parish Ordinance Committee on July 15 discussed a proposal, placed on the agenda by Councilman John Manges, to require high‑density residential developments in the parish’s economic corridor to be part of a planned unit development or mixed‑use project.

Councilman John Manges said the change is meant to protect limited corridor land and increase the local tax and sales base. “If you build it, then industry will come,” Manges said, but he argued that apartments alone do not generate the same revenue or commercial activity as combined developments. He told the committee that local fire protection districts “are telling me that with an apartment complex, they get $32 a year,” and the parish assessor had shown that a 400‑unit complex produces far…