Master Plan committee pins outside communications to chairs as final draft nears Planning and Zoning

At a short meeting on July 7, 2025, the Livingston Parish Master Plan Review Committee adopted the June minutes and agreed to a new communications protocol that funnels outside questions through committee chairs rather than multiple individual members.

Mister Clemons, communications director for the committee, said the administration and consultants raised concerns about multiple calls to WPS and to the committee’s attorneys. “WPS was gonna have a point of contact with planning and zoning,” Clemons said, and the committee should use a single spokesperson: “We only have 1 spokesperson per committee.”

The directive grew out of complaints that committee members and community participants were contacting consultants and attorneys individually, creating duplicate questions and increased legal billing. Clemons said the committee had been instructed that “all committees should be directing their questions to the chair, and the chair will either handle the questions external to the committee or appoint a spokesperson.”

Members recalled the earlier task force that began with roughly eight members but swelled to “almost 40,” which some described as making the task force unworkable and increasing outside contacts with consultants and attorneys. A committee member said the group’s public meetings and town halls had limited attendance and voiced concern about whether stakeholders’ voices remained represented as the process narrowed.

Clemons also summarized state statutory procedure for preparing a master plan, saying, “state law is pretty specific on how a master plan is arrived at. It says very plainly that planning and zoning shall write the master plan. It doesn't say that a task force is gonna write the master plan … It says planning and zoning will write the master plan.” Under that description, he said, once Planning and Zoning adopts a master plan resolution, copies go to the administration and the clerk’s office.

Committee members were told consultant work is closing and that a final copy of the draft master plan should be turned over to Planning and Zoning in about six weeks. Clemons said there was no longer a point to calling the outside contractor repeatedly because “WPS will be finished in a few more weeks.”

The committee recorded a motion to adopt the June minutes; the motion was made by Mister Burns and seconded by Mister Klein and was approved by voice vote with two ayes and one abstention.

A scheduled presentation on the sustainable development code by Dias and Norris did not occur because the presenters were not present and was removed from the agenda. The committee adjourned and listed July 7, 2025 as its next meeting date.