Livingston Parish planning committee: master plan adopted, waits for unified code; drainage concerns raised
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Summary
The parish confirmed adoption of the master plan and outlined next steps — adoption by council is complete but implementation depends on a Unified Land Development Code, drainage master plan and traffic master plan. Commissioners and residents raised concerns at a drainage public hearing that a local wall may be worsening flooding.
The Livingston Parish Master Plan Review Committee met Dec. 1 and confirmed that the final master plan copy presented earlier has been approved by the planning commission and adopted by the parish council, but commissioners said implementation depends on related documents that are still pending.
Committee members said the master plan is effectively complete and that what remains are implementing documents — notably the Unified Land Development Code, the drainage master plan and the traffic master plan — which staff and consultants must finish before zoning changes or regulatory overlays can be enforced. "The final copy was presented and approved by the planning commission, and it went to the council who adopted it," one commissioner said during the meeting.
Why it matters: the master plan frames long-range land-use and infrastructure decisions. Commissioners said the plan’s language now relies on broader "commercial corridor" wording rather than the previous "economic corridor" overlay, a relabeling that removes hard boundary lines and leaves more flexibility for how zoning will be applied.
A commissioner asked whether the earlier economic corridor designation could be restored as an overlay district after the new year; staff replied the corridor label has been changed to "commercial corridor," and while zoning can still create overlay districts later, the lack of a hard-drawn corridor in the adopted plan reduces the commission’s ability to strictly define the exact linear boundary in the short term. "The term economic corridor is no longer used… the way the zoning is done, its intention is that we will be concentrating the economic activity along that corridor area, but we're not doing a bonafide economic corridor anymore," staff said.
Drainage and flooding: attendees also discussed the drainage master plan and recent public outreach events. A commissioner who attended a drainage public hearing said turnout was modest but the exhibits prompted local residents to raise specific concerns. In particular, residents and a commissioner reported that an existing wall near the interstate appears to be channeling water into some neighborhoods. One participant described photographic evidence of household flooding: "I got pictures of 6 foot of water inside my house through that," the speaker said during the meeting.
Committee members asked staff to ensure the drainage master plan process accounts for these localized concerns. Staff and commissioners also noted that the drainage master plan and traffic master plan are still "in play" and that the Unified Land Development Code remains to be drafted and adopted before the parish can put more prescriptive zoning overlays in place.
Next steps: commissioners said they will continue to coordinate with staff and the planning commission as the Unified Land Development Code and the drainage and traffic master plans are completed. They suggested revisiting overlay mechanisms after the new year and asked staff to monitor proposals that might intersect identified corridors so the commission can respond during project reviews.
The meeting record shows no formal ordinance or zoning action taken at this session; the committee’s next meeting is expected to include further implementation discussion and officer elections in January.
