Councilman opposes Highway 42 rezoning; planning staff says lot holds only one structure

Members of the Livingston Parish zoning commission heard public comment and applicant testimony on case 26-50 (26767 Highway 42) and voted to forward the request to the council with a recommendation to change the parcel from Small Neighborhood Business to R-1.5.

Councilman Joe Rorty, speaking in the hearing, said the parcel was incorrectly zoned and raised concerns about precedent, asking whether rezoning would open the door to mobile-home placement or other unexpected uses. "I've pretty much been against 11.5 most of the time since I've been in office... It was zoned wrong to begin with," Rorty said. Planning staff clarified lot-size rules: "The minimum lot size that you can have is 0.5 acre. So this is 0.495. So they could only get 1 structure on it," a planning staff member said, which the applicant, Berkeley Hasson, said addresses her family plans: "We're actually hoping to build a small house there instead." The commission voted to recommend the rezoning to R-1.5 and forward the matter to the council.