5 hours Ago
Zachary City Hall. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Two days before Thanksgiving, the Zachary City Council took the first step toward doing something that local political candidates and elected officials have flirted with on and off for the past decade: imposing a moratorium on residential development. The council, on a 3-2 vote that came after a lengthy debate, introduced an ordinance Nov.
26 that would ban many homes from being constructed in Zachary for up to one year. Council member Brandy Westmoreland, who put the measure on the agenda, stipulated that the moratorium could be lifted sooner if certain conditions are met — such as adopting a new master plan, which is in the works and could clarify several planning and zoning questions the council has raised at recent meetings. The moratorium would apply only to new residential developments of more than five lots.
The ordinance states that “this moratorium will not affect the issuance of individual building permits for constructing residential single family structures, buildings and/or sheds.” Planned unit developments and traditional neighborhood developments also would be exempt. The council must vote to formally adopt the moratorium ordinance at its next meeting, Dec.
10, when it also will entertain public comments on the matter. If approved, this won’t be Zachary’s first moratorium. The city halted residential construction during a period of growth in the late 2000s.
In the ensuing years — during which the city’s population doubled — the idea of enacting another moratorium has been tossed around regularly as a possible way to give the city time to come up with solutions to infrastructure woes like traffic and drainage problems. During election seasons, it has been common for candidates to take a stand on the controversial tactic. It has been all talk — until now.
A lot has led up to this point. The current and previous councils have passed ordinances aimed at slowing the pace of development, such as increasing minimum lot size requirements and holding developers to strict construction and design standards. They seem to have worked: Bryant Dixon, planning and zoning director, noted that just one subdivision inside city limits — the Americana Crossing planned unit development — has been approved since he began working in Zachary in late 2021.
Still, with its population approaching 20,000, Zachary is feeling the effects of a surge in newcomers the area. Longtime residents have become frustrated with the strain being put on roads, schools and other resources as they watch new houses go up, many of them in subdivisions authorized years ago under a prior administration. The city also has been impacted by projects cropping up along the La.
964 corridor outside city limits. In these areas, developers don’t have to adhere to Zachary’s building standards — but they are still able to offer sought-after homes within the boundaries of the Zachary school system, which was No. 1 in Louisiana for two decades until dropping to a still-high rating of No.
5 earlier this month. More recently, council members clamped down further on residential development, barring the construction of both single- and multifamily homes in the city’s primary commercial zone earlier this month. Backers said the move was needed to ensure commercially zoned properties are available to businesspeople who want to bring sorely needed variety to Zachary’s limited retail scene.
Westmoreland said the city needs to stop allowing homes to be built until leaders can answer a key question: “What are we doing?” “I think there’s a lot of things that need to be looked at ...
to prevent any kind of ill development,” Westmoreland said. “I don’t want to keep putting the cart before the horse. I think we need to do this the right way.
” Ambre DeVirgilio and John LeBlanc joined Westmoreland in voting for the moratorium. Jennifer Landry and James Graves opposed the measure. Discussion preceding the vote featured a significant amount of back-and-forth between Westmoreland and Landry, who urged her colleagues to do research and seek community input to ensure that such drastic action is truly necessary.
“Moratoriums are used ...
when there are serious infrastructure problems and when there are serious threats to health, safety and welfare,” Landry said. “I’ve not heard from anybody that the City of Zachary is in an emergency situation with infrastructure or with welfare.” Westmoreland and DeVirgilio disagreed.
“I feel like I’ve gotten the facts from my citizens, and I do not think I will have very many who do not agree with this,” DeVirgilio said. “They don’t want any more houses.” She added that other municipalities and parishes, including neighboring West Feliciana Parish, have instituted moratoriums.
“I think they are thriving,” she said. Unmoved, Landry said the moratorium could worsen housing shortages, especially when it comes to affordable options and rentals. She also worried the move could backfire and harm the local economy — a point Graves also made.
“I would like to slow down the residential as much as possible — which has happened. I mean, we haven’t had any major subdivisions since we took office in the last two years,” he said. “I don’t want to put a big closed sign on the City of Zachary.
” Mayor David McDavid didn’t take a side on the issue but voiced concern about causing confusion for commercial developers, whose projects would not be subject to the residential moratorium. “We’ve got several commercial projects that are right here about ready to go,” he said. “I just don’t want them to get spooked.
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