Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us for tonight's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. At this time, we will have the roll call. Mr. Holcomb, chairman, Washington Vice Chairman Grout here. Commissioner Addison. Commissioner Batts, Commissioner. Boyd, Commissioner. Coleman, Commissioner. Eleanor here, Commissioner Fowler here and Commissioner Maxey here. We have a quorum. Thank you. At this time, we'll move on to the approval of the minutes from February 23rd, 2026. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from February 23rd? Motion from Commissioner Addison, second from Commissioner Ellender. Are there any objections to approving the minutes? Seeing none, those items are now approved. At this time I will. I will now read in the rules for conducting the public hearing. This is a public hearing. Any interested member of the public who wishes to comment on an item from this agenda may comment in person. City Hall 222 Saint Louis Street, third floor, room 348. During the meeting, members of the public desiring to speak on a particular item should refer to a meeting agenda and complete the necessary information prior to prior to the meeting by filling out a Request to Speak card indicating on which you wish to speak and place it in the designated location prior to the meeting. Applicant and applicant's representatives for the proposal will speak first for a total or combined period of not to exceed 15 minutes. Proponents will speak and then the opponents. Each speaker will not be allowed more than three minutes. Speakers are requested to limit their remarks by avoiding duplication in their presentations. Applicant will be allowed a total period of five minutes for rebuttal. Opponents will not be allowed to rebut items placed on the consent agenda by the Planning Commission. Staff will not have time allocated

for speaking unless there is a member of the public at the meeting who wishes to speak on an item. In such cases, the proposal will follow the standard procedure. We can now move on to the consent agenda, Mr. Baldwin. Consent items for deferral. Item seven 226 Faith Tabernacle of Zachary. 22838 Plank Road. Proposed religious religious institution on property located on the east side of Plank Road, south of Port Hudson Road, deferred by the Planning Director to April 20th. Consent items for approval. Item three. Case 1226 5225 ETA Street to rezone from heavy commercial C-2 to general residential A4 on property located on the east side of EDA Street north of Wesley Drive. Item four, case 1326 14810 Florida Boulevard to rezone from rural to heavy commercial one on property located on the south side of Florida Boulevard west of Fontainebleau Drive. Item five, case 1426 2639 North Street, suite A to rezone from heavy commercial C-2 to commercial alcoholic beverage Bar and lounge C, a B2 on property located on the north side of North Street west of North 27th Street. Item six cup 714 Saint Aloysius Catholic Church, 2025 Stewart Avenue. Proposed parish activity center and expansion of gymnasium within the existing religious and educational institution on property located on the west side of Stewart Avenue south of Perkins Road. Item 8CS2 26 VW Hopper 29385 Greenville Springs Road. Proposed flag lot Minor subdivision located on the north side of Greenville Springs Road, east of Alphonso Forbes Road. Planning Commission staff certifies that all these items are consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the Unified Development Code. Mr. chairman, we've had a request to pull item five

zoning case 1426 2639 North Street, suite A from the consent agenda. This item will be pulled from the Consent agenda and heard in regular agenda order. Thank you, Mr. Director. You have heard all of the items that have been placed on. The consent agenda will be taken with one vote. Are there any members of the Planning Commission who have an item that they would like pulled from the consent agenda and heard as part of this regular agenda? In addition to what's already being taken out, are there any members of the public present who would like to speak on an item from the consent agenda? Seeing none is there? Oh. Pardon me. With a modified consent agenda of item five being pulled, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion from Commissioner Addison, seconded by Commissioner Batts. Are there any objections to accepting the items that have been placed on the consent agenda? Seeing none, those items have been approved. We can now move on to the regular agenda. Mr. chairman, members of the Commission. Item 2 to 126. This is a text amendment to chapter eight, Zoning Districts of the Unified Development Code to revise specifically, table eight A regarding pod, Spud and Spud developments. This amendment adjusts the maximum height development standards for planned developments to allow greater height in urban, walkable, and downtown character areas, as shown on the development plans, and also amends open space to be incremental in consistent with other UDC regulations. The Planning Commission staff certifies that this text amendment meets the Unified Development Code standards and is consistent with the Comprehensive plan. This minor text amendment was also sent to the Federation of Civic Associations and also the Growth Coalition. Both had no objection. Thank you, Mr.

Director. At this time I'll open the public hearing and are there any cards for proponents or opponents at this time? No speaker cards on this item. Very well, thank you. Then I'll close the public hearing and ask for commissioners comments or motions. Do we have any motions to approve or comments? There is a there's a motion from Commissioner Addison, who seems to be very good at making motions tonight, and a second from Commissioner Coleman, I believe. Is that correct? Yeah. Okay. From Commissioner Coleman. Are there any objections to that, to that to that motion? Seeing none, that motion passes and we'll move on to the next item. Case number five. Case 14, 26, 2639 North Street, suite A applicant is Denisha Veale. Location is on the north side of North Street, west of North 27th Street. Council district ten, Coleman. The existing zoning is heavy commercial C two the requested zoning is for commercial alcoholic beverage bar and lounge. CAB2 for a proposed bar lounge. Future b r land use designation is mixed use. Staff certifies that the proposed request meets the

criteria for a change of zoning, being consistent with the comprehensive plan, compatible with surrounding uses and conforming to unified Development Code requirements. Planning Commission Office has received four messages in opposition to this item. Thank you, Mr. Director. At this time, I'll open the public hearing and invite the applicant forward for a total of 15 minutes. How you doing? Good evening. You have the floor for 15 minutes. Okay. Can you state your name, please, sir? Ronald Randall. Thank you. And he sees he is on the flight. And for some reason she couldn't be here. So be honest with you. I'm just representing her over here, and I don't understand what the complaint would be about rezoning. To be honest with you. I mean, it's a sports lounge adjacent to a vacant lot and a corner store, so I don't see why it's being opposed. How are you doing? How are you doing? Good. How you doing? My name is Anita Williams. I'm here on behalf of Denisha Bills. She's stuck in Jamaica. Her flight was delayed. She wanted understand and respect the- concerns about having more alcohol in the community. Responsible alcohol serve service is something that should always be taken seriously, and I share that as a concern as well. However, my goal is not simply to add another place that serves alcohol, but to create a well managed establishment establishment that focuses on a safe place, controlled and

respectful environment. Businesses that oppose or operate responsibly can actually help set a positive standards for how alcohol is served and managed in the community. A professionally run lounge with clear policies, trained staff and proper security can provide a safe place for adults to gather while helping prevent the kinds of issues that sometimes arise when there are fewer structured and supervised environments. In addition to this business. Representatives represents an opportunity to contribute positively to the neighborhood through job creation, economic activities, and community engagement. My intention is to operate a business that reflects responsibility, accountability and respect for surrounding residents. I believe with the right management and commitment to being a good neighbor, this establishment can coexist with the community in ways that is both responsible and beneficial. Thank you. You're welcome. This time we'll. Excuse me, do we have any other. Any other? We have no cards for this. We have we have three cards for opposition, so I'll call the first one. Robert Spenceley. I'm sorry if I got your name incorrect. Hello. Thank you, thank you. That's Robert since you did it actually. Correct. So I'm here just to oppose this. This this business. I am a resident of the area, and I see

firsthand on a daily the effects of abuse. And with that, you know, you you have people who abuse drugs, who abuse alcohol or who may have started from alcohol. And now they're, they're turning corners around my neighborhood, feeding an addiction that may have started from a lounge and may have started from a bar. So that's one thing that I want to just share with you guys. This neighborhood is, is it's a fragile thing to have a neighborhood. It's a fragile thing to have a body. You have to take care of your body. You know, I am someone who is overweight and being someone who's overweight, I know that you know what? I don't need to intake the ice cream that you may take or take the cake that you may have. Those are all empty calories. So as a neighborhood, there's some empty calories as far as businesses. Yeah, it may, you may say that it may bring some type of economic development or it may bring jobs, but those jobs, in comparison to the ratio of people that are harmed by the effect of alcohol, the effect of of drugs, all those things linger around those those those those businesses. Now, maybe if this was a, a different location, another part of the city that can take that, that can take on those empty calories, such as a bar and a lounge, that would be great. But in the case of this neighborhood, those empty calories, that cake is not good for us. And I'm asking you guys as a planning commission to push away from the table and stop businesses like this from

entering into our community. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker card is for Terry Smith. Good evening sir. I'm not used to doing it for three minutes. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Terry Smith. I've lived in the area in the neighborhood. I moved there when I was ten years old. I'm 67. Okay. Over the years, I've seen the effect of alcohol and what alcohol has done in our neighborhood. It affects everybody in our neighborhood that we're all different walks of life. I see it every day. Okay. I even had a stepfather that was alcoholic. They got a place next door where he's where they had an applicant. That's where he bought his liquor from. Okay. And Conor's all right. I grew up as a child in that I wouldn't want another child to have to grow up like that, or anybody else in the neighborhood or family member or whatever in the neighborhood. We got six different places here, right here. I got wrote down right here and within walking distance from my house that you can buy alcohol. We don't need any more bars and lounges. And so we've had that before. We had a place years ago called dangerous. It was a nightmare. The people were running up and down the street with the boom boxes at 2:00 in the morning, leaving the bar and everything else. We don't we oversaturated with alcohol already. We don't need another alcoholic sentiment in our neighborhood that's going to bring our neighborhood down. Our home values are way, way down in our neighborhood. When you leave from North Street to Florida Boulevard, the houses are much, much less. The property is much, much less.

But once you cross that line in Florida Boulevard is 70806. The property value is double. It's because people don't want to come to our neighborhood. People don't want to come visit me because they don't want to be bothered with me taking a chance with somebody drinking alcohol or drugs in our neighborhood. I mean, it's really sad. I see it every day. I walked to the store. I can't walk to the store without somebody coming up to me and wanting to borrow money to buy alcohol. I just, I just, I can't see it. I'm going to tell you right here, this application right here is a 2639 North Street. Okay. I first seen the application on February the 28th. Alright, then I'll come back there this past Friday that the sign is gone. The sign on the building is completely gone. What I understand is when the dude, the, the it's supposed to stay up there the whole time that the applicant is applying for the, for the, for the, for the rezoning that, that that and that it didn't happen. Alright. Anyway, got one letter missing out of the things. It's 239 North Street. The address is supposed to be 2639 North Street. You have other people in my neighborhood. Tell me, Terry, what was that at? I don't see the sign. It's not there. It was not there. And? And I got a picture of it. I can show y'all on my phone. I don't want to run out of time, but I'm going to tell y'all this. We got an corner shop and save at 2705 North Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Okay. We have Erik's grocery store within. Walking in a sturdy old 30 is up 30. Sir, your time is up. I'm okay. Okay, but I'm just saying we got six different stores in walking distance of miles. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next speaker card is for Tara Wicker. Good evening,

Commission members. Thank you so much for your time. Three minutes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Your three minutes. Yes. I'm Tara Wicker, resident of the neighborhood. And I'll tell you this. I will echo everything that Terry said. Terry moved there when he was ten. I moved s five. And we've seen the transitioning of this community. And I'm just here to to, to beg for your mercy and for your grace. We are working very actively to try to save our neighborhood. This is not the neighborhood that we grew up in. Terry mentioned about five that are in walking distance of his home. We literally the last time we counted, but now it's it's it hasn't doubled, but it definitely has increased. We had nine liquor outlets within a five mile radius of our area. And so at some point in time, we would like to be able to have the benefit of having viable economic development in our community. When I was on the council, along with former Councilman Addison, we worked really hard on establishing a moratorium specifically for urban communities because of the oversaturation. That neighborhood was one of those communities. And so, you know, while we begged the ABC board, we begged the commissioner, we're just asking for help. In addition to the oversaturation of alcohol, we've been working with Councilwoman Coleman. We have, you know, five tire used tire places within the same location. So it's almost like we become the dumping site for every economic development that's bad. And that neighborhood is worthy. Councilwoman Coleman and I, years a few years ago, were really excited because we had we did the ribbon cutting of a chicken and waffle place that we thought, man, we're headed in the right direction. At least we have something that's more positive for our community. So unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to bring all the stats and things of that sort because as Terry mentioned, we literally found out about this. I found out about it like two days ago, and we started trying to rally neighbors and get people. So we didn't even have the benefit of letting everyone know that we are adamantly against another

alcohol outlet coming into our community. If you all had a chance to look at what's called only in Baton Rouge, I don't know if you've had a chance to unfortunately see that if you have mostly every one of those cases where there's an act of violence, people in the middle of the street, there was a guy with a monkey's hat on in the middle of the street, dancing, all of those kind of antics. I found out about it because my nephew in Texas, who lives in Texas, actually heard about it and sent it to us. But all of the things that you see on only in Baton Rouge, which is very negative, that if you look at the locations, they're right in our neighborhood in Mid-City, and that's not by accident. Most of the individuals are there. They have access to a proliferation of alcohol. There's no mistake. While the bridge center is located right there in our neighborhood as well. Yes, sir. Because they know that there that we are suffering from those kinds of of unproductive I call businesses. So again, we ask that you please help us to save our neighborhood, give us an opportunity to build in a positive manner. And please deny this request. I thank you for your time and I really appreciate your your service. Thank you, thank you. We have one more speaker card in opposition that does not wish to speak, and that's Tio wicker. Is that correct? Thank you. All right. At this time we have finished with the opponents. I will ask the applicant to come forward. You have five minutes for rebuttal. Before we close. I want everyone here to know that I respect this community and the people who live in it. I'm not asking to come into this neighborhood and do whatever I want. I'm asking for the opportunity to work with the community and operate a business that is safe, responsible and beneficial to the area. If approved, I'm committed to being a business owner who listens to residents and work with local leadership to make sure this establishment establishment operates in a way that reflects the standards of

this community. I truly believe that when businesses and communities work together, everyone benefits. Thank all of you for your time and consideration. We're not opening a liquor store. We're not selling drugs to the drug addicts. We're trying to offer a relaxing place that people who work in those areas to come and watch the game in uniform, or however they choose after they come from a long, hard day of work, instead of having to drive to other neighborhoods and spend money at those neighborhoods and grow those neighborhood established establishments, we're not asking to sell alcohol to a family member or a friend that is a alcoholic. We all have alcoholics or some type of person in our family, and we are truly sorry that we all have to go through that. We cannot hold their hand and tell them, no, you can't go to this location or that location by alcohol. We're not selling drugs at all, so we're just asking for an honest opportunity to open this establishment for people that work and don't have to drive home and get a DWI because they're spending their money or driving somewhere else to watch the game and have to take a chance on risking their license or their life after drinking if they don't drink responsibly. I thank you all for your time and consideration and offering us the opportunity we plan to give back and help others that are in need. We can also help with the drug and alcohol problems. If there's necessary, we can help you all enter them into some type of facility to get help. I was also married to an alcoholic. I went to several procedures and steps to get him corrected. He is now a senior person. The UPS. Ma'am, you need to address the commission. Oh, okay. I'm so sorry. I also was married to an alcoholic. I went to several programs on Avenue myself to help get him help. He's now a senior employee with UPS, and he's doing well is what we put into our family and friends to get them the help. And they have to want the help also. We just have to keep digging to get

them the help we can't save and help everybody. You just have to want it. I'm sorry that they feel this way about the stores, but we're not opening the store and we're not selling drugs to the community. We're not even trying to flood the drugs in the community. And I thank you again for this opportunity. Thank you very much. At this time, I'll close the public hearing and open the floor to commissioners comments or motions. Commissioner Coleman. Yes, sir. Ryan talked to us about that application date, the sign and the letter having the wrong address, please. It's a little background. The applicant submitted the application on January 29th. The Planning Commission staff immediately publishes the application on our preliminary agenda, which is made public. So that was done on the website. In addition to the yellow sign that was posted in the property, I believe you saw it in the video, and we can have staff put that up on the screen shortly. They do have a tendency to disappear from time to time, but I can assure you it did meet the legal requirements and it was advertised and all procedures were followed. The on this case, the subject property, the yellow sign was posted on February 24th. Public notifications cards went out to adjacent property owners within 300ft. We send those yellow. The yellow notification cards or postcards to property owners on the official tax roll with the tax assessor. Again, that's within 300ft of the subject property. Those were mailed out on February 27th. Staff. The staff report was available to the public on our website on March 5th, and legal advertisements were run

properly in The Advocate first on March 6th, second on March 10th, and finally on March 12th. If we can put. I don't know if staff can put the yellow sign on the. We'll try to get that up shortly. What about the wrong address that was alluded to? Anything. I can't speak to that other than we mail all adjacent property owners to whatever addresses are on the tax assessor's website. So if there's an error there, we can work with the tax assessor to, to fix that. But but again, those are in addition to the legal requirements and failure to receive notice by a supplemental postcard does not null and void this process. Yes. Okay. The last time that we had planning and zoning meeting that the applicant came before us, and I asked the applicant to make sure that they reach out to the community to make sure that they had had a conversation with the community. And so I had some letters to come to me from some of the businesses in the community. And so. I and of course, I did get a. An email. From one of the persons in the community. I

would like to because the applicant is not here and the applicant is not able to answer questions that I would have. Other commissioners. I'd like to defer this until our next meeting in order that I can be fair with all of this and with everybody. And so that's what I'd like to ask. What date would that be? Right. That's April 20th, Monday, April 20th. Monday, April 20th would be what I ask. You're making a motion to defer to April 20th. Make a motion to defer this until April 20th. And at that time, the applicant will be able to come back before us and answer the questions. I understand her not being able to be here today. If she's in Jamaica, there's a motion. There's a motion on the floor from Commissioner Coleman to defer this for to the next meeting. Do we have a second? Second from Commissioner Addison? Do we have any further comments or questions? Commissioner Addison, I do, I would like I don't remember your name. You made the mention of the wrong address. Can you come back up for a second, please? My question was, when you mentioned the address number is incorrect, are you speaking? The address on the building is incorrect or the address on the application is incorrect. What are you. What are you talking about? When you say, can I show you a picture? No, you can just answer my question. Okay. Show me a picture. Address on the building. Address on the building. Supposed to be 2639 North Street. Okay. It's three vinyl letters up there. Now, I understand, and. And what I can show you on my phone. No, no,

no, no, you asked me ask my question. 239 you answer my question. Yes, sir. Thank you. The address on the application is 2639. So that would be correct. I mean, I mean, so so as it relates to the city government, the address is correct on the application. Maybe a letter missing on the on the on the building. But the that's that's what I just want to be sure that we have the right information here. It is correct. So thank you mister, I appreciate you. Thank you, thank you. There is there is a motion on the floor. Any other comments? Do we have any objections to the motion to defer for 30 days? Seeing none, that motion carries. Mr. chairman, we now move on to director's comments. A few things to bring to your attention. A reminder, the Planning Commission Office will be closed on Friday, April 3rd and in observance of the Good Friday holiday when I announce the next meeting of the Planning Commission is scheduled for Monday, I want toy belated birthday to our chairman who's not here tonight. Chairman Washington, who just celebrated his birthday or who still may be celebrating his birthday, quite possibly. All right. Commissioner's comments. First thing is, I would like to congratulate Derek Boast, planner two in the long range division, Derek is assisted assisting in the brownfields grant development implementation while also providing backup for the Historic Preservation Commission in the Complete Streets Advisory Committee. Additionally, Derek continues

to assist the public assist the public in the Resource Center, providing and general planning questions, his commitment to learning other roles and assisting others has been invaluable to the continued daily operations of the office. Derek's continued enthusiasm on taking on new roles with a positive attitude and dedication makes him a highly deserving recipient of this recognition. Congratulations, Derek. Are there any other commissioner comments? Is there a motion to adjourn? Motion from Commissioner Fowler, second from Commissioner Batts. He beat you to it. Bones, we are adjourne