Hanagriff takes stab at rezoning Garden City tract

Another wrinkle was thrown into plans Wednesday to construct an apartment complex in Garden City when an ordinance was introduced to revert the site property back to an agricultural zone.
The property on La. 3215 situated between La. 182 and U.S. 90 was rezoned by the St. Mary Parish Council in 2009 to high density residential.
Housing developer Lloyd Harris of Marrero is proposing to purchase the 11-acre tract for construction of a 168-unit upscale apartment complex.
Parish Councilman David Hanagriff of Centerville introduced the ordinance during the council’s regular meeting despite a plea from attorney Jim Percy to hold off until the property owner, Jim Bailey, can meet with the council.
Percy said that rezoning the property would significantly reduce the property’s value.
“With all due respect, I’m not here in any way to create an issue — my hope and my client’s hope is that we resolve a potential issue … there hasn’t been any discussion with the landowner … what we’re trying not to do is create a problem or an issue … it’s to try and resolve this in advance of anything bad happening to anyone and in particular to my client.”
Hanagriff told Percy that he and others on the council would welcome any discussions during the layover of the introduced ordinance and noted that a public hearing will be called on Aug. 13 prior to the council voting on its adoption.
As a reason for rezoning the property, Hanagriff said the council’s vote during its June 25 meeting to deny a development permit to Lloyd Harris essentially deems the property unsuitable for that purpose. The vote came after the council heard from Garden City residents opposed to the plan.
Harris has filed suit in 16th Judicial District Court to fight that decision.
The council was behind closed doors in executive session for 45 minutes Wednesday to discuss the lawsuit and exited to declare that it would continue to retain attorneys John Mouton and Eric Duplantis for the legal defense.