Livingston Parish zoning commission approves series of rezoning requests; Neville Road developer seeks R1.5

The Livingston Parish Zoning and Planning Commission voted July 2 to approve a slate of rezoning requests affecting parcels across the parish, including a rezoning at 31533 Neville Road (case 26-42) from R1 to R1.5 and several Castle Road parcels from R2 to commercial designations.

Brandon Rice, who identified himself as the owner of Rice Development, told the commission he had purchased the Neville Road parcel two months earlier and asked the panel to rezone it from R1 to R1.5 so he could "possibly build a few houses on it" rather than leave it at the lower-density R1 standard. "It's actually zoned R1 currently and I would like to uh get it approved to zoned R1.5," Rice said.

Planning staff member Mr. Keane said the map provided for commissioners shows many 1.5-size lots in the area and suggested the neighborhood would likely have been zoned R1.5 if that designation had existed when the area was originally zoned. "If y'all look at the map I think you provided, right? It shows a lot of 1.5 size lots in the area," Keane said, arguing the requested change fits nearby lot patterns.

Commissioners debated density, traffic and consistency with the parish future land-use map. Commissioner Miss Ferris raised a specific concern about how the request fit the future land-use designation for the area, asking whether roughly half-acre lots matched the map’s "large lot residential" intent: "So, this is rural states on the future land use map, which says large lot residential. I'm just curious…what constitutes large lot," she said.

After discussion, the commission approved the Neville Road rezoning. The recorded vote listed Mr. Ingler, Mr. Clemens, Mr. Erie, Mr. Wax, Mr. Dana, Mr. Burns and Miss Long as voting yes and Miss Ferris voting no; the commission directed the applicant to "get with the department on the process moving forward." The motion was seconded on the record by Mr. Dana.

Several other cases were handled with little or no public comment. The commission described Case 26-43 (LA Highway 441, parcel 0177444A) as a zoning-correction request: planning staff said that section south of the interstate in Holden had been incorrectly zoned "Small Neighborhood Business" and the change to R1 was a cleanup of that mapping error; staff noted fees on similar parcels had been waived when the zoning was incorrect. The commission approved that rezoning unanimously.

Thomas Johnson of Alvin Farburn and Associates spoke for multiple Castle Road parcels (case 26-4410373 and related Case 26-45 entries), asking for R2-to-C1 rezonings to support commercial development near Juban Crossing and the Hobby Lobby area. Planning staff supported the requests as consistent with expected commercial growth along that corridor, and the commission approved those parcels; Miss Long recorded an abstention on one of the Castle Road votes.

Votes at a glance

- Case 26-42 — 31533 Neville Road (parcel 0497107): request R1 → R1.5. Recorded vote: Yes — Mr. Ingler, Mr. Clemens, Mr. Erie, Mr. Wax, Mr. Dana, Mr. Burns, Miss Long; No — Miss Ferris. Outcome: Approved. Next step: applicant to coordinate with planning department.

- Case 26-43 — LA Hwy 441 (parcel 0177444A): request Small Neighborhood Business → R1. Recorded vote: Unanimous yes. Outcome: Approved. Note: staff characterized this as a zoning-correction cleanup; fees on similar parcels were previously waived where zoning errors were found.

- Case 26-4410373 (Castle Road, parcel 0479956) and related Castle Road parcels (case 26-45 entries): requests include R2 → C1 and R2 → R1 for multiple adjacent parcels. Recorded votes: Majority approvals; at least one abstention (Miss Long) noted on one item. Outcome: Approved; staff said parcels are appropriate for commercial transition.

What this means

Commissioners and staff framed many of the requests as either consistent with adjacent lot patterns or as map cleanups where older zoning classifications no longer reflect on-the-ground conditions. The most substantive debate centered on the Neville Road parcel, where commissioners weighed neighborhood character and traffic concerns against nearby lot sizes and recent adjacent development. Several commissioners said they had inspected the area and noted a mix of small brick homes and mobile homes as evidence that the proposed R1.5 would fit existing patterns.

Next steps

Approved rezonings are to proceed through the parish planning department for any required administrative steps and permitting. The commission adjourned the zoning portion of its meeting after completing the addendum items.

(Reporting note: vote tallies and speaker attributions are taken from the meeting transcript; some speaker-name spellings appear inconsistently in the transcript and votes are recorded in the transcript as presented.)