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Garden City rezoning move tabled by P&Z

A decision to rezone a 50-acre parcel of land in Garden City from high density residential to agricultural will have to wait another month.
Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission moved to table the issue Monday after being notified by legal counsel that they could not go into executive session to discuss potential litigation since it was not on their agenda.
The controversial Garden City property on La. 3215 is being proposed as the development site of a 168-unit gated apartment complex.
The commission is being asked by the parish council to rezone the property without property owner Jim Bailey’s consent. Bailey is in the process of selling an 11-acre tract of the property to developer Lloyd Harris for construction of the apartments.
The development has drawn strong opposition from nearby residents of the rural area. Speaking against it Monday were Len Klutts and Randy Nixie who both said they feared the taxpayers would be stuck with the costs of infrastructure improvements.
The parish had previously declined to approve a P&Z recommendation to permit the development on the property that was rezoned from agricultural to high density residential in 2009 for a similar project by a different developer. That project fell through, as noted by Commissioner Deborah Tabor.
Jim Percy, attorney for Bailey, told the commission that their first objection to the rezoning is that the legally required notice of Monday’s public hearing “was sent to the wrong entity, it was not sent to the entity that owns the property,” he said.
He added that were other procedural objections that he advised the board to consult with its attorney on.
Also, he said, there was a substantive objection in that there was no showing for the necessity of the rezoning that would create a more restrictive zone.
“Residents standing up saying I don’t think this should be zoned such, I think it should be zoned something else, which would create a rezoning that is not substantively sufficient under the law,” Percy said.
“We all know what this is about,” Percy said. “This is about the project that is being proposed.” He then reminded the commission that he does not represent the developer but rather the landowner.
“We know that there is currently litigation involved with that particular project,” he said. “We have not filed any suit. At the moment we are not threatening any lawsuit because my clients property has not been rezoned. However, here’s the problem, if the parish council did what was right and did what was legal and that lawsuit has been filed as a result of that, the parish council is going to win that litigation … and nothing here tonight is going to help that litigation. However, if you rezone this property the potential end result of that is you’ve only added another plaintiff to the litigation … because my client has to defend their property rights.”
He then urged the commission to defer the issue to consult with its attorney.
Before voting to postpone the issue until the Oct. 20 meeting, Harris noted that Commissioner Kimberly Saucier who was recently appointed to the board to fill the expired term of Margie Luke, should not be allowed to vote on the rezoning issue since she was one of the first to sign a petition in objection to the development

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