Planning & Zoning - Regular Meeting

Please stand for the pledge. to call the role. Mr. Boone absent. Mr. Davidson here. Mr. Wards here. Mr. Celesteine absent. Mr. Dubic here. Mr. Bullock. Mr. Hudson here.

We have the approval for the last month's meeting. Anybody have any questions, sir? None. So moved as approved. Second. Roll call. Mr. Davidson. Yes. Miss Words. Yes. Mr. Duick. Yes. Mr. Bullock. Yes. Mr. Hudson. Yes.

The first and only planning meeting case is case number 25-08-12. Administrative subdivision. An administrative subdivision referred to the planning commission by the planning department. An application to subdivide lots 67 and the east half of lot 8, an adjacent portion of revoked alley square 1301 in the division of New Coington into lots 6A and 6B located at the corner of East 14th Avenue and South Janie. subject property has the address of 318 South Jenkee Avenue is a Jelligrini at all. Does the city have any comments?

So I think the address is 813 South I may have typed it wrong.

I have 813. Okay. Yes. You all noted from the information the map essentially diagonal that's causing us to determined.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Davidson. Paul Marone, PO Box 1810, Covers, Louisiana 70434. and I represent the owners of the property subject to the request. Um, as was noted when the case was read into the record, we've got four different parcels here. Uh, two lot six and seven, half of lot eight, and then the u half of the revoked alley as well. Uh, we're asking to take those four parcels, resubdivide them into two more uniform parcels. Um, each will have the required 75 foot frontage along Jankee Avenue. Uh, as Mr. Rotary mentioned we did receive variances for the lot width and the lot area uh from the board of adjustments. Uh so we would appreciate your consideration and allowing us to clean up these lot lines uh and make more uniform lots that would be consistent similar to other lots in the area. Uh as I mentioned to the board of adjustments, if you look down 14th Avenue going toward Jefferson, you will see uh probably three or four lots of similar size. If you look at Massachusetts Street going toward 15th, there's two or three. Vermont Street moving back toward Ninth, uh there are lots there as well that are that are consistent with this. So, uh granting the resubdivision uh will allow us to clean these lot lines up, make them more uniform, uh and make a more consistent uh consistent parcels in this area. So, we thank you for your consideration. Be happy to answer any questions at the appropriate time.

Commissioner, any thoughts? I think we did this right across 14th Street a few years back when we had three houses on one lot and we ended up dividing them and they had smaller lot sizes. But um Mr. Morone, uh do they plan on developing the the lot I guess as far as south? Is that what the purpose of this is? Yeah. So what um the way the lot lines fall uh you would have two lots. the lot to the south, I guess. Uh that would be vacant and the existing home would sit on what uh what would be the lot at the corner. Is it the intention to build another home there?

Um the intent is to is to probably sell the sell the lots. Uh both both Mr. and Mrs. Ferrett are deceased. Uh Miss Ferret's succession is open now. Uh and this is part of that process of trying to bring that to a conclusion. Good. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? I just want to concur that I believe it's consistent with the surrounding areas and this has come to this commission quite often even as it as they are approved from the BOA come to us. So this is a unique property in itself but it's consistent throughout the city of Coington. So um I'll make a motion to approve.

No other comments. We have a motion. A second. Bridget. Mr. Davidson. Yes. Mr. Wards. Yes. Mr. Celesteine. Mr. Duvik. Yes. Mr. Bullock. Yes. Mr. Hudson. Yes. A motion made and seconded and carried. Alan. Does the city have any further business? Um, just that I'd like you guys to review the 2026 calendar that's in your paperwork and we'll vote on it at the you guys will vote on it at the next meeting. The commission will decide then. So, make sure you check the dates.

Okay, this meeting is adjourned. I'm going to call the zoning meeting to order. We'll dispense with the pledge of allegiance. You call the role bridge. Mr. Boon absent. Mr. Davidson here. Mr. Wards here. Mr. Celesteine. Mr. Dubic here. Mr. Bullock here. Mr. Hudson here.

I believe everybody has received a copy of the minutes from the last meeting. Are there any corrections?

If none, do I have a motion to approve? I move to approve. Second. Mr. Davidson? Yes. Miss Wards? Yes. Mr. Celesteine? Yes. Mr. Duick? Yes, Mr. Bullock. Yes, Mr. Hudson. Yes.

We have three items on the agenda tonight. The first one is case number 25-07-06 ZC. A request to reszone lots 8, 9, and 10, square 2803 in division of New Coington, located at the corner of West 29th Avenue and North Jackson Avenue from a single family residential existing small lot RSL to the neighborhood commercial CN having a municipal address of 321, 319, 317, and adjacent lot number 10 on West 29th Avenue in Coington. The petitioner is Gavin Gidri and he's also the owner. Does the city have any comments?

So, historically these lots were zone commercial and then in 2010 they were zoned residential. The square on either side of this square um they're commercial. They're either CO for office commercial or directly across the street is CN. And um that's why the applicant has selected Mr. Gry, would you like to come forward? Please state your name and address for the record.

My name is Gavin Gry, address 79583, Highway 25, Falsam, LA. That's my home address, but I'm here for the request of 321, 319, and 317 West 29th. And um I think as Miss Ellen said, I'm here because historically the property was always used as commercial buildings. Um in the history in the past they had a lot more commercial buildings on each corner from the lot and during the subsequent zoning change the property is designated residential. At the time it was a church and uh the church could operate as a residential zoning. And since I bought the place, I've been paying all the electricity as a commercial rate as the trash at a commercial rate, the water as a commercial rate, and a set of petition and all that. I figured the best use for the building would be a commercial use. And uh a lot of the community has came by since I've been in the space and offered support and a lot of requests for people who would uh be possibly interested in leasing the space for a commercial use. And uh typically that area seems a little underserved and I'm here to request the zoning change to have the possible services of you know a small grocery store with healthy food, possibly a fitness center and uh plenty other uses, a cafe. The middle lot, which is 319, was a cafe and the church was using it for storage. and the smaller house that's on 317 was always kind of the little house that somebody lived in and operated a business and I kind of envisioned bringing that back and uh I hope you'll give it into consideration and if you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them.

Certainly I went by and looked at this today um and it appears your rendering is appealing to the eye very much so. Yes, ma'am. Um, and they look like they're small cinder block buildings with um that could that could stand to improve the area. Um, that would make everything look a lot more uh appealing. Um, and that's going to be the same facade or the same exterior on all three.

Yes, ma'am. The plan is to keep the look the same. Um, I have a vision to get into building one day in my future. So, I figured during the uh facade of these to make them looking as appealing as possible and you know, I don't know if you you all have a rendering, but we're hoping that's what it comes out to look like. Yes, sir. That's my only question. Okay.

Tell me again about the scope of the kind of development you'd like to make. So, as far as developing the properties, as of now, all we're doing is restoring them, fixing leaky roofs, painting the outside, and uh making them more appealing. The middle building, which is 319 right now, is outfitted as a residential unit, and we hope to lease it as a residential unit in the beginning of this process. The main building, which is 321, which is on the corner right there. It's 2600 square foot and it's set up to where it's a male female bathroom, two large rooms and uh it's a it's a really well-lit space, big open and so far I've had a lot of interest in uh two people I had to turn away who wanted to lease the building for a nonprofit that they ran, but they needed a zoning of commercial to run their business. and those dealt with uh birthday parties where they deliver packages to birthday parties for underserved kids. What I have in mind is years from now is about five years from now I'd have a plan on operating a small gym out the area with the afterchool program for uh underserved kids in the area. Um, so far, like I said, there has been other requests for people in the area who had things ideas such as small grocery stores, um, e even a little cafe and a little restaurant. And to add on top of it, across the street, which is, uh, a very historic building. It used to be a old jazz club. A lot of the old jazz musicians played in it. Dwight, who owns the building, him and his brother, they have plans to possibly do something one day in the future, and they're limited to their parking in the area. So, I've been talking with Dwight as well with my extra lot number 10. I told him we can always turn that into more parking and kind of get his area back up and running. Uh, nobody would like to see that building tore down. Everybody would like to see it restored. And, you know, there's a there's a strong appeal

for the good look of the side of those three plus his building across the street. Um, you know, and just to say the community strongly supports it and and that includes the neighbors that still live in your square and adjacent. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. CN is a very broad

extremely broad. Yes, sir. You know, there's um not too much of that in that area. And to me, to be honest with you, it's confusing why it was ever designated something that wasn't commercial in the first place. It's obviously the 39 the 321 lot on the corner has always been a commercial use. And uh we could have the argument that a church is not a commercial business because it can be operated as a residential area, but it's very obvious that the best use is definitely commercial in that area. Thank you. Any other questions?

I I I believe that it's it's a good move to reszone this to CN if you if you study the RSL uh zoning. Um and correct me if I'm wrong, staff, but we could actually put modular and mobile homes there. So the I believe and plus across the street everything over there is CN. So I believe this is positive for the community. Um I love the West 30s do a lot of improvements there and I believe that it's a vibrant area and becoming more vibrant every every uh every year. So um concur

like to hear from Dr. Peter Lewis. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you guys. name and address, please.

Good evening. Uh my name is Dr. Peter Lewis, 415 West 26th Avenue, Coington, Louisiana. Um I'm just here to just give some quick history on the the property and the location. Growing up has always been a location where we can go as kids to get some mentoring, a little Bible study, even some help with homework. And then at one point the owners then the Martins turned it into an arcade and game room which was also another location where we can go and you know not hang out on the streets do something positive. Um when I met Mr. Gavin and I listened to the ideas and his dreams for the building it not only touched my heart but I wanted to throw my full support behind him. As you know, that district and that area has suffered for a long time and we've been looking for ways to improve it, as you said, beautify it, make it better for the community to fit the entire city. So, when we're empowered as elected officials or volunteers or um as such, you know, we have the power to make change in certain ways to help our community and members of our community to to make positive change for our youth. So I think at this time I would like to ask you guys to exercise that and vote yes so that Mr. Gavin can move forward.

Thank you very much. Any other comments, questions? A motion. Have a motion. Second roll call. Mr. Davidson. Yes. Mr. Wards. Yes, Mr. Celesteine. Mr. Duvik. Yes, Mr. Bullock. Yes, Mr. Hudson. Yes. Motion is carried. Congratulations.

Case number two. Case number 25-08-1. Text study. A text study to amend the city of Covington code of ordinances, chapter 58, human relations, chapter 98, utilities, and appendix B, comprehensive zoning ordinance of 2010 to align and update definitions and standards related to their fair housing, group homes, rehabilitative cares, and centers, and to provide for related matters. The petitioner is the city of Coington. This study was presented by Desire Line on behalf of the city. Anyone else to speak for against the request?

Thank you so much. My name is Alex Carter. Um I'm the CEO of Desire Lines. I'm representing that the team's work on this. We do have a presentation. I'm just checking y'all screens. There we go. Um, just to kind of reorient y'all, this is the first packet of the land development code update project um that y'all will see. Back in I want to say a couple months ago, we had updated y'all and that we were working on some early lowhanging fruit. Um, just so you know, this is like considered phase one of this project. It's it includes two items. This is the first one is the fair housing amendment which is the case number that you just read. Um and then there's a second item um related to buildings and building regulations. Um and so I want to just provide a little bit of background on this. The project the land development code update is a is a text study amendment that's done over a series of phases. Um it's built from y'all's comprehensive plan 2030 that was adopted back in April of 2021. Um the idea is to take the recommendations from the comprehensive plan and in incorporate and implement them in the in the city's um code of ordinances. Um and so what we're producing the end product like the deliverable is a land development code um that implements those recommendations from your comprehensive plan. In the last couple months, we've completed a code audit, a three-year work plan, and this work is divided across three phases. Um, what you'll see here is phase one are these sort of high priority target amendments that are really meant to like explain how it works more than anything. Like we're not trying to, you know, fix the whole car in one night. We want to just kind of open the hood and see what's going on. Um, and so tonight's the two amendments that we're talking about, one of them is more about the actual context

of the regulations like policy decisions. The other one is more about like streamline and clarifying and your code update is going to involve both of those things, right? Um the second phase is really about public engagement. So you'll probably have seen around town flyers or yard signs um that are about the code itself, the bigger package, your zoning districts, how uses are permitted, how you all see applications. Um those are going to be packets two, three, and four. Um, and you're going to see that sort of come together as your big, you know, end product land development code. And then the last phase is really just going to be once everything is updated and adopted with y'all's recommendations to the council, we'll be here to support implementation, any housekeeping amendments. So, if there's something that we approve or y'all approve throughout this process or recommend approval and it just doesn't quite work the way we think it is because it's a lot of code, we're going to still be on hand to go back and like see what worked and what didn't work and do some housekeeping. So, I just want y'all to know this is a long-term project. This the first phase and the items on tonight's agenda um are in front of y'all and are part of this bigger bigger project. Um and just keep in mind that this is guided by a steering committee. Um we've been working with them since January of this year. Um the community has also been given the opportunity to look at these draft reports back in April. We had a openhouse meeting where these were on the table um and sort of distributed and we talked about it with community members. We followed up with community members um about comments. There's also a project website where people can say, "Hey, I have a question about this." These reports are both on the website as well. Um and so we've actually uh made some good feedback. These are some images of the the first open house. Um and you can see these are the first pictures kind of like these reports. So it's we know it's really important to Covington like not to have any surprises like to really engage with the community

and make sure that everybody understands what's going on. And so this first text amendment that you had read the item um is focused more on the policy. Right. So this is a policy piece. um it's more about updating um the code in its current form. So, we're not rearranging chapters or anything like this. We're just touching the code right where the regulations are. We're tweaking them. Um and so these are what we call the fair housing amendments. The goal really is to just update standards to ensure compliance with federal fair housing regulations. Um and so again, this is just part phase one of this comprehensive codewriting service. And the thing about this project, this specific amendment, is that it's built and reflects a sort of progression in time that a lot of communities are dealing with. This isn't an issue that's unique to Covington. Um, a lot of regulations are old and outdated. And so, it's important for us to just know, and all this is in the report as well, is that in the 70s and 80s, you had a federal policy shift that happened where the federal government was like, "It's very costly and expensive and is not as effective to take people who have disabilities or have mental illnesses and put them in institutions. Right? So there was a decision at the federal level to not do that anymore and to and that people with disabilities and with mental illnesses were better off in family settings where they could live as normal a life as possible surrounded by their community and supported by their community. And so you see the sort of deinstitutionalization of of disabled and people with mental illnesses and they're put into these community homes or given opportunities to live in community or group homes. And so what these regulations do is reflect that the fair housing regulations that have been adopted um in the code of federal regulations requires that local jurisdictions not discriminate against people who are disabled or who have

mental illnesses by within their zoning codes. And the zoning codes are the most important thing. Like you can't have anything in your zoning code that discriminates against people who are disabled or have mental illnesses. and the group home category, how it's regulated is the focus of this study, this text amendment, and really just updating it to reflect, I think, the the community values of Coington while at the same time preventing sort of a, you know, overp proliferation of group homes to the point where it would destabilize the character of the residential neighborhood, which is the whole intent of deinstitutionalizing it. Like, you want to protect, maintain the fabric of your residential neighborhoods. And so I'm going to walk through with y'all, you know, how this has been put together, what your current regulations are, what state law is. It's all in your report. So I just want to make sure you know I'm like all over the place today. Um, but I'm kind of walking y'all through the findings. There's al obviously more detail in the report. Um, I do want to acknowledge pretty openly that there's a lot of like mistrust around these uses. There's a lot of community opposition related to group homes. A lot of communities have fumbled the ball on this um, and didn't really communicate clearly what the requirements are and then how you can manage these as a land use in your community. I mean, that's that's the perspective that we take as professionals. These are just just another land use. Um, and so right now, just so y'all know, the city, the current city regulations permit small and large group homes as a residential use. So, they're already permitted. Um, they include unique parking, setback, lot size requirements that are different from similar structures within the same district, which is where you start to get a little like we we don't want to we don't want to regulate them differently, right? We want to watch that. Um they exclude which is here's the other part

specific protective classes. So they exclude persons having a disability including addiction and mental illness within the definitions and the requirements for both small and large. Um they also exclude alcohol and drug abuse clientele, former inmates of prisons or correctional institutions. Again, all of these things they define a dwelling unit. They define the family. All the recommendations that we have in the report align with your definition of family. We reduce the number of folks that can live in a group home to four or eight. So four is small, eight is large. Um, and then I think the key here is, and I won't go into a lot of detail, but the key here is you've got some things in here that could create problems just in terms of any future fair housing lawsuit related to permitting a group home in the future. And so we want to clean those up. It's important to know that Louisiana state law has set precedents for this and it's important that your local code aligns with those precedents. So, your department of health regulates both therapeutic group homes and adult care providers and the proposed regulations that are in this require that these are licensed in accordance with the state um and that that license is submitted upon an application and so they're managed um with oversight from the state. And so what we're recommending tonight, let's see here. Okay. So we're recommending that we remove the outdated language and align your definitions to be consistent with the minimum federal standards and state terms um to include reasonable accommodations that allow disabled persons to request exemptions from local zoning regulations. This is really specific to like ADA accessible ramps. Right? If you think about sideyard setbacks, sometimes houses are close to the setback line. So, just saying like you can have a variance to your sideyard to get your ramp because you have a disabled person who's who's going to be in a group home. Um, maintain and increase distancing

requirements. This is something that's important and I want to make sure y'all know because we did talk a lot about this with the steering committee. Your current distancing requirements are around 1300 square feet between group homes. We actually increased them to 4,000 feet because when you start to it seems like it's very far. Um, but you have a lot of residential area in the city. And so we looked at the distribution of group homes, the potential and wanted to make sure that there would never be so many that it would change the fabric of a neighborhood. We want to maintain the character of your residential neighborhoods as residential and not as like sort of commercial operating group homes, right? And so the distance requirement is very large. We also shrunk down the number of folks that could be in a group home. So I want to just make sure yall understand that too. So a small group home is four maximum of four people and a large group home is a maximum of eight. Um and then we we lowered the intensity. So that's the that one I just talked about. Um we removed some language that refers to group homes as high impact community institutional users because they really are just like residential homes when you look at the land use from the outside. And so right now they're just being charged very high rate consistent with like a senior citizen or or um a facility that has really really high impacts on the sewer and water in the city. And so that fee can be disproportionate based on its actual impacts. Then we updated and added parking requirements for small group homes, large group homes and rehabilitative care centers. Um, we also based on outreach and engagement added these additional pieces which I think this speaks to how engaged y'all's community is. It's always impressive to work in Coington. Sometimes we put things out we don't hear from anybody. So this time we we we got a lot of feedback. So we added some things like the definition for protected classes. We clarified the measurement of the distance requirements. We originally had two that were slightly different based

on small and large. we ended up just going consistently with the 4,000. Uh we clarified that registered sex offenders were excluded. So these are excluded as occupants of small and large group homes. It's also important to know that we clarified that like active users of drug drugs or alcohol abusers were not all were also excluded. So if you're actively addicted and you're like danger there those protections remain in place. If a if a person is dangerous, you do not have to allow them to live in these homes, right? So, it's important to make sure that the community understands that. So, we further streamlined parking requirements. We added this statement um which I think is really nice if the city doesn't fully sometimes with these homes, it's not the official may not know what is the right thing to do. Um and so in chapter 58 we have this um statement that speaks to looking to the state for guidance and specific resources that can be available for um administrators who may be unsure about what to do with a specific request. We also added neurode divergence to examples of physical or mental impairments. Um we rem removed the reference to federal definitions because this isn't typically included. It's important to know that we also clarified in the report that we're not saying that folks that are neurode divergent neurode divergent are mentally disabled or can't partic or that they're we should just we should just say that they have a disability. There's another qualifier which is also defined in the code that if you're if you're neurode divergent and you're not able to complete major life activities those two qualifying factors would classify you as being disabled. Um, and then clarified that ADA ramps for group homes must be ADA and building code compliant. And again, these were all feedbacks from the community. So, these are important to your citizens and your residents. And I think that um, with that, y'all will find also like as part of the process, I just want to point out the first couple

pages of the report just speak to our findings and specific recommendations to chapters. Um, but the appendix actually has the sort of track changes and a draft ordinance attached because ultimately what we're asking for is a motion from y'all to approve. And then that's or I should say a motion to recommend approval to the council because these are code amendments. They're going to be law that the the council ultimately considers. And just to kind of make sure y'all are fully like seeing this and then knowing that there's a key, right? We track all of our changes in here. So, if you're like, "What exactly are you changing, Alex?" Uh, the bold and blue text is new. Uh, the red and strruct struck through text is being deleted, and then anything that's green and underlined is just being moved. Um, and everything black is has already was already there, so we're not really touching it. Um, and so I'm here to answer any questions y'all have. Um, and appreciate y'all's time and attention related to this matter. I want to say you all put a great deal of work into this and it shows at first if you look at the rewrite we really started from scratch really but since our current zoning is over 10 years old

it certainly is and important that we be in line with federal government regulations completely we also appreciate. Well, I appreciate the 4,000 foot limitation that's roughly from here to St. Paul and that's an important point. Exactly. Any questions, comments?

Um, um, I appreciate very much um the updated verbage which clarifies the word handicap

um because it uh addresses not only the elderly but it addresses everything. Handicap has become like catchmen for everything. And uh I think that it has it it shows that y'all have gone through a great deal. I've rewritten policies for the federal government before and um I did it by myself. It was a huge undertaking and it is no fun to to appease the federal government. Um but this looks like y'all really did a great job in and in in in defining what handicap is. And and even as a medical professional, we still have to make sure that we use the correct title for what a person is and for what their handicaps are. I also live in a subdivision that has one of these homes and I was on the board when they moved this home in and and there there's no way to deny it and it was hard to make people understand that these are people who need guidance. They don't belong in jail. They need guidance. And I too definitely appreciate that. There is one per 4,000 I lost where I was because I was flipping pages. Is that a radius?

Yeah. 4,000 foot radius from the from the home that's existing. Exactly. It's it's measured radially from all edges of the lot line. I think y'all have done an excellent job in in what I have managed to um look through this afternoon. Possibly only a minor correction on page 13 where you are talking about the exception to those lots located in the division of spring and summer. I think those are capitaliz understood everything. It made a lot of sense. Call our divisions spring and summer. Wouldn't they be capitalized?

Yeah, we can update this. Okay. It's minor. Love it though. How about I'm a grammar idiot. We love it. And I'll look at that. But that gets a little bit wordier on the next document. But uh it was a good read. It was enjoyable. And I think you've done a lot to correct the proper nomenclature. And I think that's very important. So people are not stigmatized. Stigmatized. Yes. [Music]

We did. We had the open house back on March or April. April 30th. Yeah, we had a we had an open house on April 30th that was about the whole project, but we had these copies of the reports. We've had these online and we've been advertising about them and letting people know we're talking about these. The steering committee also has leadership on all the boards and has been looking at these drafts. Um, we also have the list of existing group homes. We looked at where they were now within the city and and and and extrapolated the out like what that 4,000 foot uh we had an open house meeting. So, we didn't I don't know if the verbiage matters. So, but we had an open house on March on April 30th.

We've actually, excuse me, we've actually had two community meetings on these. We had another one last week. And um we put up signs. We put up signs all down Columbia. We put up signs by Peter Atkins Park for both. And we put up we actually put up signs for the last meeting like right on the corner by your house. But they're they're um they are um in the paper and they're also on our website. But our signs I I mean we put up Yeah.

all over town. So maybe Mr. Celestian, what I can do next time is is let you know and maybe you could give me some ideas of better sign locations. Has there been any indications as far as the study was concerned as to any geographical location for this or is this a general citywide?

Exactly. It's a general citywide. So like when Ellen gets an application for group home, she has an updated set of standards to consider. So any group home that would be proposed within the city would fall within these standards and would have the same distance requirement applied. And that would also require all of the normal permitting requirements for any type of new Exactly.

Yeah. The point I think one of the things we're trying to do is to avoid an over a concentration of them in the city anywhere. The I was never even walk around homeless Yeah. And so I'd be curious to see, you know, so this speaks to groups, group homes for disabled and people who have mental illnesses. There are different standards for like sober living homes. I'd be curious to see what it is that's permitted. I don't want to automatically assume it's a group home that's that's near your the property that you're referring to. And that's where I'm I'm not sure I'm not sure what's located nearby, but I can say that for what we're regulating or proposing to regulate in the study that these these standards would apply to all proposed new group homes. I I don't know that if it's already there, it's not going to have any impact on what's already there except for to require to be managed and licensed with the state. If it's a group home, I know I feel like that's not a great answer. I But if you want to give us your address, we can look into it. The address of the the location.

Okay, great. Ellen has it. She can look into it. Anybody else? Yeah. Just want to follow up to that. And Alex, just want to commend you and your team. Remarkable job on this. And what I love is the pace that we're doing.

Uh we're not rushing it. We're not trying to force it down. public's throat, not trying to force it down this commission's throat or the administration. So, I applaud this this pace that we're going. Um, I like the format that it's being done in. I believe it's very informative and I think we're going to have a much better code at the end of the day. That said, um, one of the things and I believe that the group home especially as defined by by the rewrite is uh only permitted in RS1 I believe if I'm not mistaken. So there is a control point that so we don't have these clusters of group homes and and I think that the the cleaning up the language in our ordinance will help Ellen and her team be able to direct the applicant in a much more efficient way. And so we don't have these uh secret homes that aren't identified around the corner. I have a a group home two doors down from my house. Um, and I believe they're a compliment to our neighborhood. Our myself and our our neighbors, uh, hurricane or storm or whatever, we're there helping them. I walk my dogs in front of them every morning and the the ladies are sitting out on the porch and my dogs love to go up there. hang out with them. So, I think they're a compliment to our neighborhoods and I'm glad that it gives them a safe place if we embrace them in our neighborhood. Um, there is the last question I question I have is if if a home is discovered and you mentioned this only will apply to new

applications post uh post change. If there is a discovery of a group home or possibly a transitional home or something, what whose purview does that fall under as far as going back and making sure they are state certified and they are in compliance with our ordinance?

Yeah. So, it's going to be an enforcement matter um to bring them into compliance. And there's some standards that you can apply if they're not in compliance, right? they if they're operating without a permit, then you can start them from square one and treat them as if they're new construction. Um if they were previously permit, then you've got to look at that that old permit, how it was permitted, what was included. Um and I do want to make sure uh that we clarify that because I want to make sure we're super transparent. The the small group home, there's there's three different types of facilities. There's a small group home. This is you can't have more than four occupants. It's currently six, so it's still a smaller number of people. It has to be at least 4,000 away feet away from any other group home or rehabilitative care center. So, I think it might be the halfway house. The rehabilitative care centers are more intense. Those are only permitted in the institutional district. Um, because they require like medical staff on site 24 hours a day. Um, they have to meet the setback and yard requirements of their districts. So, I'm still talking about small group homes. They have to have at least 350 square feet of habitable space per resident which is the same as it is now. It has to be equipped with common cooking areas. So they cannot have kitchens in their rooms, right? Like if you can imagine um which is same as current um we talked about the reasonable accommodations. Um and then the large group homes just to be really really clear these cannot exceed more than eight occupants and those are only permitted in multifamily uh residential zones. And so they're treated more like a multif family unit because these are like it's not the traditional size of a family as y'all define it. Four. Uh they still have to be 4,000 ft away from any other group home or rehabilitative care center. It's current currently 1300 1320. So it's a significantly larger distance. Um and then I think for where they're permitted the small group homes were actually

maintaining this permission. So, this is not a new um now they're suddenly permitted in districts. They're in the they're currently in the RS1, RS2, RLL, RS3, RM1, RM2, CO, CN, and CBD, CBD with a gross floor area of 10,000 square feet. And then the large group homes are in your multif family district. So, they're the RM1, RM2, CN, and CBD with a gross floor area over 10,000 square feet. Uh note that in this proposed standards, we've actually removed residential care centers from the previously permitted RM2 um and substituted it with this large group home because it's less intense. It doesn't have the need for doctors and medical care providers on on site 24 hours a day, which is more like a hospital or institution.

Is in the larger group home that I read correctly, there's a monitor. Um, it depends on the type of care they're providing and the license they have with the state. So, if it's like adults that are just need some assisted living, they're not mentally disa disabled or ill, like they don't necessarily need to have someone on staff there every day. So, it's it that the state actually sets those standards and that's going to be submitted when they apply. Um, do you currently know where already existing existing homes are already located.

Yes, we we looked at the existing sites um as part of our review with the steering committee. We did keep it out of the report to just protect people's privacy. Uh but we did look at that and we looked at the radius as it was currently because keep in mind these are these are already permitted in these districts. Um and they're just at a smaller radius. So we expanded the radius out and shrunk down the number of folks just to try to keep it in keeping with the character and sort of culture of of Cington and how Y's code currently operates. I don't know if there are any comments from the public's miss just in case anyone because we have been encouraging people to come and if they want to comment at the meeting. So I'm I'm sorry. She did not I didn't get her.

That's all right. That's all right. Thank you. We did not mean to slice you. I did not. That's okay. That's okay. I was cowardly in the first place. So, never cowardly. Give us your name. Pull your mic down.

Okay. My name is Christy Paul Cell and I moved to Cington in 2018 from Mandeville. I'm a retired school teacher. 20 years ago, my daughter was in a near fatal motorcycle accident. We have survived on this life journey for 20 years. We're right down the street. I just want to continue to prosper and continue to care for my daughter in my home and have access to this beautiful city. So, that's my mission. I'll see you again. Alex has been very kind, very helpful. I read through the draft. I helped and I will continue to help where I can. So, let me stay and enjoy my home and city with my daughter. We'll be in the wheelchairs traversing the streets and the sidewalks. Thank you for your time. If I word this correctly, I move that we approve corrections that were presented to us in this meeting

on case number. Correct. Thank you. Do I hear a second? Including the ordinance. Second. Roll call, please. Mr. Davidson, yes. Miss Swords, yes. Mr. Celesteine, Mr. Duvik, yes. Mr. Bullock, yes. Mr. Hudson, yes. The motion carries.

Okay. Our third and final case, case number 25-08-02, text study. A text study to amend the city of Coington code of ordinances chapter 18 buildings and building regulations chapter 102 vegetation and appendix B comprehensive zoning ordinance 2010 uh to streamline align and update building standards and processes to be consistent with industry standards and existing city practices and to provide for related matters. petitioner is the city of Cington.

So, this is the second half of the presentation. Y'all are great for hanging in there with me. Um, this code amendment. Um, as you can see, we kind of have pictured on the in the presentation. There we go. So, you can see we keep pushing this messaging online, letting people know y'all are y'all are here, and then they can download these drafts. Um, but this this draft is really focused on streamlining, clarifying, and like organizing um the navigation of your code. And so the other one was more policy oriented. This is an example of like sometimes we're not making big decisions. We're just organizing stuff so that like when people go into your code, they can find things easier, right? I mean, it seems simple, but it's actually not when you're dealing with a lot of different numbering systems and um you know, topic areas. And so with this, um, it's really to sort of y'all tell us what works, what doesn't. I think policy-wise, we know we we did good, you know, on the first one, which is why we do these early phase ones because we don't want to give you a thousand pages of code and you're like, I don't understand any of this, like you could have done this better. Um, so this is a learning and for us as much as it is for y'all. So if something isn't working, like this is a great time to tell us. Um, so with this one, it's all about streamlining code usability, consistency across administrative roles, um, really updating the code for industry best standards and practices. Um, and looking for ways to implement the 2030 plan. Um, we want to make sure we align city minimum standards for safe building constructions with the international building code. A lot of the blue text, the new text that's in here are standard is standard language coming from the international building code uh model codes they they tell local communities to adopt. Um as well as the international residential code. Um we want to look at we wanted to look at increasing existing permit fees which have become outdated um and are significantly lower than similar

communities in the Northshore on the Northshore and in Louisiana in order to at a minimum cover the cost to issue the permit. Um, and then just generally clarify and better organize land clearing and fill regulations. Keep in mind that as we move things around in this chapter 18 and chapter 102, um, that it doesn't necessarily mean this is how it's going to stay. It's just kind of like being moved because we know we're doing the big land development code next and we're like this just doesn't belong in here now. Um, so not all the text that you're going to read is going to be in its final format. It's just maybe just being moved temporarily. I mean, I would say that's definitely the case for land clearing and fill regulations. Um, keep in mind that we've been working with the city. I know Chris is here, um, and and Ellen and the the team just to kind of this is a lot of more procedural stuff. This is how y'all process your permits on a regular basis. And so we've had seven different meetings to really work with city administration, planning and zoning, building permits and engineering to make sure that all these code edits that are that look like a lot work to serve the city both in its administration and for people who are looking to develop here. Um in terms of our findings with the international code council and alignment, you'll notice um we're seeing that chapter 18's definitions are kind of all over the place in multiple sections. some terms currently conflict with what's in the comprehensive zoning ordinance. Um there's some irregularities in the building department and the code enforcement department's administrative roles or they they may be unclear who is doing what. Um and then document submission requirements are outdated and do not account for electronic submission, which is actually how y'all do most of your business. And that fixing these things were going to just expedite people's understanding of what what is expected of them and what is expected of the city. Um, specifically, I mentioned permitting fees, and I know I said it quickly, but I want to make sure whenever we talk about fees, we take a moment to pause. So, your your current

fees, your residential permit fee is 25. Your commercial is 60. These are notably lower. You can see Mandaville is 40 and 50. I know they're looking at their fees, too. So, just because it's lower doesn't mean that it's better. Um, 60 um is in Aita Springs, and then Hammond is 50. So, this is something where you can kind of see 25 seems very very low. Um, for another finding was that y'all have sort of a no time frame right now for when a a person is going to set for or request an appeal to a judgment for a code violation case. So this chapter 18 includes all your code violation and adjudication pro procedures and not having when what their time limited is time limit is for an appeal kind of leaves the door open and you're kind of always chasing down cases and so we want to make sure that agreed parties understand what this time frame is. Um and then again the land clearing clarifications, you know, related to unbrushing of development sites and permitting timber harvesting are currently in 18, but they're really not relevant to building or building regulations. You know, it's kind of a pre-development um activity associated usually more with lane use and zoning, right? Because it's like step one. Um and so some clarification was also needed for when these standards apply to private property. And so with all these these are minor issues. I don't want to make it seem as though the code doesn't work. It works. It's just this is a good example of what it looks like to just kind of give your code a little facelift. Um and so what we're recommending is really updating, reorganizing and renumbering. Chapter 18, which is your building and building regulations. Chapter 102 vegetation where we're kind of just moving things out of 18 into there. And then appendix B, the comprehensive zoning ordinance of 2010. um all of which is described in way more detail in the report. So if you're kind of like there's a lot in here, every move moving piece is

accounted for in the staff report. Um kind of adnauseium, but we want to make sure everybody knows what's going on. Generally speaking, what this is doing is adopting more standardized language uh based on state and national building regulations. It's clarifying and streamlining permitting, code violations, appeals, and administrative processes. It is increasing the cost of inspection fees for residential and commercial structures from 25 for residential inspections and 60 for commercial inspections to 75 for both residential and commercial inspections. Um and then there are some targeted policy updates to address issues with current regulations that are consistent with the comprehensive plan. One of these is to add minimum commercial safety standards consistent with residential commercial residential standards in terms of the building and then updating standards for minimum slab elevation to allow properties abuing a state highway to substitute 12 in above the center line crown height of the nearest city street. This sounds very technical, but it's one of those things. It's a it's a reasonleness factor. Like, this is just another measurement you can use instead of being kind of lost in not knowing what to tell people when the code doesn't quite work for their um adjacent grade of the street when the street's just really wonky, right? Which happens more than we would like. I don't know, Chris, if there's anything you want to add or clarify. Good.

Perfect. Perfect. Ellen, is there anything you want to add? All right. Any questions? all things. It works for me. Broad shoulders. Again, I want to thank your organization for monous long over comments, please. Yeah. Um I'm curious the the green underline where you are moved. So, is this text you're moving going to a holding for lack of a better word, until you figure out where it belongs.

So the green text, it's kind of embedded within sorry, it's embedded. So like whenever you see something green that's like in the middle of a paragraph or that's a number, it's just it was somewhere else in the code and it's just been relocated, it's being reinccorporated into the code. So nothing's in a holding pattern except for I would say vegetation, but it's going to stay in your code where it's proposed. So it's it's already you don't just take it out and put it somewhere until you find where it belongs. You take it out and put it where it belongs. Exactly. And it's just a way of us saying this was right. It just was in the wrong place. Okay. And then I see a lot of red that has been deleted. Right.

So is the is the deletion due to repetitiveness, outdated or It's a great question. unnecessary or all the above. So everything that's been moved is also struck out from its original location. So all the green text where it originally was is struck out in red. Um because we want you to be able to figure it out if you're if you just visually delete all of the green and the blue and you just look at the red and the black, it should read like your current code. Well, that makes sense because if you move the green, you have to take out where it was, which is now red. Right. So, it's now red unless it's where it belongs. Exactly.

Gotcha. And I would say there really isn't anything that we wholesale deleted because it wasn't necessary. We just added text and removed. The only text that we got rid of was like outdated or unclear language that we replaced with updated and clearer language. And I apologize if I'm repeating something that has asked already been said, but um the majority of my time since April is spent in Slidell caring for my elderly parents. So, I live in Slidell more than I live in my own home.

Well, I appreciate it. And I think that you're you're asking all of the right questions though because this is the first one like this that we're giving y'all and so it's the start of a process. So, this is it's really important that y'all understand how to read it because you're going to see packets. We're gonna have more workshops, right? Yeah. And that is like a very straightforward starting point if you know that green isn't just moved, but like understanding the process and and that's that helps. And I've done process improvement as long as I've been in the operating room, so I understand that.

Absolutely. Okay. Let's start on page four. Uh, under these are definition terms. I'm assuming that building official would be Chris Brown. I'm assuming code enforcement officer is Ellen. Is that No, currently Dennis Hickeyi is our director of code enforcement. Okay. Okay. Um, and if they're if they're like typology things, like if you want to mark it up, we can incorporate those that are not substantial substantial without having to go through them all. Like we can take them from you and just incorporate. But I would say for this group, it's the the substantive questions that we want to make sure we cover. It's mostly not typos here.

Okay, great. Yeah. Yeah. Um, moving on to page five of 77 under discontinuence. I saw a time frame of six months. Um, and and I I go back to the time of Katrina when everything came to an absolute standstill. You couldn't get a contract to come out. Has any provision been made in these changes for I mean, I don't want to call it a force majour, but um, Rod, do you see where I'm going with this?

Yeah, favorite. What what's happened historically is that they will pass a resolution to suspend these things. For example, we suspended how long you could have a camper in your driveway. We suspended the fees for building permits. We extended the time frames all with legislative action uh to address emergencies. Perfect. Um I just thought six months was in a catastrophic situation was Oh, absolutely. a little shy. Um, actually took the time to read all this, so impressed.

Uh, let's see. I don't I don't have comments on every page, I promise. Oh, no. Honestly, this is excellent. We appreciate this. We The more feedback we get, the better the end product is.

I should have um page 12 of 77. license required and you kind of covered it uh in building under section B, but I I had cabinet makers, masons, hard surfaces, etc. Are they requiring license or are they just acting under can they act under the um under the license of the general contractor? Those are generally subcontractors. Just just thinking out loud. Didn't know whether it needed to be addressed or not.

I'm looking at the language. Um, it says each general contractor or subcontractor shall show proof of a current state license. So, I think if even if they're a subcontractor, they're going to need an active license with the state to to do work for that specific trade such as correct me if I'm wrong, such as a cabinet maker. Yeah, some things require licenses and some don't. Right.

So, that gets into some somewhat the realm of the state contractor licensing board. All that we're saying is that if you're required to have a state license then then it needs to be current. Um so typically we we actually don't register contractors separately our software and we it communicates with the state contractor licensing. So the only thing that you have to do to be registered as a contractor in the city of Covington is to be have is to have an active license with the state.

Got it. Um under section 1854 we have three items. Uh and I started thinking about the replacement of existing equipment. Example would be HVAC units, generators, or electric car charging stations. Um, would that would that need permits as well? It would. Yeah. That require charging stations require huge amounts of lot of power.

Yeah. I feel like if it's new, yes. If it's a repair, no. Right. Well, it depends on the extent of the repair. Yeah. And you are you trying to include people who have a car charging station in I would think because that's just an electrical. Yeah. It's like a plug,

right? And and you can kind of see in the number two how it speaks to the extent of the repair or placement. And so like if you're cutting out walls and messing with framing and wiring, then you got to come in. But if it's, you know, tapping into an existing wire, putting an outlet, which are typical for the plugins,

there is actually a whole section that refers to the items that are exempted from permitting and that comes directly out of the building code. So, like for instance, an electric car charging station or what have you, a new one obviously would require a permit. Um, if you are making a repair to the extent that you're getting into the electric panel or having to pull power from the building even temporarily, or you're you're changing a breaker or something like that. when you're actually getting into the electrical panel that any of that type of work does require a permit.

Really things associated with pulling a meter. Exactly. Okay. Um I'm halfway through 33 of 77 under final inspections. Uh final inspection shall be made after the permitted work is complete and prior to occupancy. Isn't that a point called the issuance of the CFO and I I know maybe it's just semantics.

Well, yes and no. So, you can do the you can do the building final inspection um and have other items that are still con that are still necessary to get a certificate of occupancy. So I might do a building final inspection, but you still owe me a elevation certificate for FE or some other item that is more paperwork related that you've got to turn in to complete the permit to actually get your seal. Got it.

When when you were talking earlier about the inspection fees and things like that and I'm on page 38 to 77, we went from $25 to $75. Is that what you were talking about when you were comparing them to the other cities? Yes. Okay. Yes. Um because I think that I thought that was a big jump, but if if we're if we're behind what other cities are charging, we need to be where other cities are charging. Well, and also I just want to make you aware that that $75 fee that's really more of a pass through.

Yeah. because we utilize, you know, for electrical, mechanical, plumbing, gas inspections, we utilize third party inspectors that we actually employ um as, you know, as a vendor. And the $75 fee is actually what we pay them for each inspection. And so you can see that when we're only charging $25 for an inspection, but we're paying the city is paying a third party vendor $75 per inspection. That that adds up to a lot of money at the end of this. Got it.

42 of 77 moving a building or structure. I'm just curious, does does that include something like a tough shed or a chicken coupe or something? Typically, being a chicken owner, I'm just asking. I'm not planning on moving anything. My page numbers are different than your page number. I know. I'm trying to follow. Okay. You're still working off the draft. So, I think that your page numbers are Oh, we're doing a good job tracking. Then I'm So, the move the section on moving Chris knows this backwards.

The section on moving a structure, if you'll notice, is basically just one that's being relocated within the chapter. So that's all existing language and existing code. Um and it really more focuses on the prospect of somebody actually relocating a whole house. Yeah. Or or a big building. Yeah. It's it's not something that would we wouldn't be going to that section of the code if we're just talking about a chicken coupe or accessory structures. Got it.

Yeah. It's one they need to really take up more than one lane of a highway. In section 18162, we're talking about uh enforcement. We're talking about city supplied utilities. I'm assuming that that's only water and sewer. Yeah, I'm looking for the section.

Any other questions? So 18163 posting. All right. Yeah. There actually wasn't a change there. We just kind of changed the wording around. Okay. It just that that seemed very quick for somebody who would be a disadvantaged family to be able to respond in 48 hours to secure lodging if their home was condemned. That that was my initial. Yeah. That is primarily because the at that point in the process the council has determined that the house poses a threat to public safety. So it's an emergency situation that that's being uh utilized. Okay.

Section 187, I'm sorry, 166. when we're talking about civil penalties and costs incurred by the city and things like that. Violator to pay all costs. I look at contracts all day and I love the word reasonable put in there, especially when I'm fighting with attorneys on what legal fees will be and things like that. And it's in this section uh 1816 and 18167. There are Yeah, I can see areas of where we're talking about costs and probably should say

I see it and fees so we can so within sections 166 and 167 when we're talking about viol violators penalties and fees incorporate reasonable penalties and fees or costs

you have the stipulation No more than That's right. That's right. And I saw a reference in here to the National Guard uh 1867 at the end. I just didn't understand what the National Guard it might and that might have been moved from somewhere else. Section E. 1867 and I might be working off the old draft. I just thought they we took the word draft out of those.

Yeah. So, um this gets at like those situations where you're in an emergency situation and you might have a state of emergency declared, the council may say, "We have a tornado." Um and that's why they're here, right? To help the city. And so they can direct any National Guardsmen to help pull down structures. And this gives them that authority to do it without getting sued later. Totally understand. Yeah. It's not something you see every day though or think to use regularly. So I think that was about it. You did a great job.

We love when y'all read these a heart attack last time I did this because actually they gave us a thousand pages and I went through the whole I am excited. This is this is what we want to hear before we dig into all the next pieces and the next packet that we do with y'all. Well, I'll I'll talk about that in a second because I want y'all to open if there's any comment cards or and you make your motion, but I'll tell you about what comes next after this unless y'all have any other questions. I just I'm still I'm still gagging on the permit fees as a builder, but I'm going to get over it. I guess they're going to be happier when I didn't make it past 35.

It's all good. Appreciate y'all. All right. Are there any other thoughts or a motion? I'd like to make a motion in case number 2582 text study that we accept what has been provided to us with the addition of some of the text changes that we've discussed this even Mr. Davidson yes swords yes Mr. Celesteine Mr. Duick yes Mr. Bool yes Mr. Hudson. Yes.

And the motion carries. Ellen, is there any other business? Is there any other just check your calendars that we gave out for the planning and zoning and we'll vote on it next meeting and you will have a meeting next month on the 15th. Thank you. Meeting. Good job.