Planning and Zoining - Regular Meeting

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Al to flag the United States of America to stand Nation God indivisible andice all here Mr Anderson here here Johnson here all right we're going to move on to the approval of the car meeting minut just take a second should have we have a motion to approve approve all right moving on um request to re subdivide 9108 AC in section 67 t7s R1 12 e d as Lots C and D p82 d85 into an 8 acre tract and a 1.18 acre tract Municipal address 605 North 15th Street parcel owner city of P Island any questions

yeah so who represent this is this is this is s your own property um where is it it's on North 15th Street it's not 605 nor 15th Street is this yes okay that's the the drawing you have so so so we were approached about um selling this property for a residential development and it it will require subdivision to reduce the size it's currently 9 Acres the city uses it for just like a lay down lot um and the representative of the developer is here and uh you have any questions for him I will turn and defer to him for those however it's just a request to subdivide it into the larger lot for his project and the smaller lot to remain with the city okay bring me up spe where is this this is on North 15 street directly behind the maintenance board okay give or take and they want to make that residential yes it's it's currently Zone commercial and the city owns the city owns it we don't really do much with it um we like we do a road project and we have um recycle material from when they grind the roads up we'll put that out there to use the fil for potholes and things of that nature but that's really nothing else feel done with that property at the moment yes so the developer Mr Mr strange he previously uh closed those apartments on

alale that did not pass and he went back to the drawing board and discovered this property and and approached us to purchase it late last year at this point it has to go through several other steps uh We've begun the advertising process to sell it um it's currently being appraised that appraising should be back in the next week or two uh but in order to facilitate his project he doesn't need the entire 9 trct so this is just subdividing it from 9 acre One n acre piece to 188 7.82 actually and then the remaining portion to be maintain in City ownership so theal is not well this is not the sell this is just the subdivide okay so I guess so we're discussing sub yes that's it but but they don't own the land the city is requesting the sub okay see yes I I can ask the question so the city wants to sett and so they're requesting the appraisal and these gentlemen are here tonight to explain what they want to do correct okay well I have no more questions I do want speak with okay Mr Str David strange with thr not development we got a little late start tonight so attempt to be brief but I'll answer any questions that you may have

just kind of project a little bit I'll just talk hear now um so uh we own a Development and Construction company uh that does disaster recovery housing doing it for about 25 years uh um and hurricane goof we built something across the river in St Gabriel and Neighborville Parish under a cdbg grant uh we've done about 50 of these principally in Louisiana Mississippi in the last 25 years uh as a result of hurricanes Laura Delta and Ida the state of Louisiana was appropriated about a billion dollars to rebuild to rebuild some housing uh so we applied for a grant to rebuild housing we were can you still hear me I was I was asking if they could hear yes um and so um we filed two grand applications with the Louisiana Housing Corporation we were successful in receiving um the original plan was to build disaster resilient Apartments over on site on Allendale just sort of south of Court Street excuse me um and there were U some issues with respect to the business next door that was environmental disposal business principally and so we had a phase one environmental study done and it came back and said that was probably not the best place for us to try to move forward with this so we began to look for some additional land in the area um and during that investigation we had an opportunity to meet with the incom administration about uh we were having a difficult time finding some some some additional land there's obviously not a lot here and U that there was some less

property the city de um over on North 15th Street and so we asked the state if we could relocate the development uh to that site and in doing that to change the nature of the development from a 68 unit apartment development to 44 houses uh the state approved that request and so we we then came back to the city and U said that we would like to proceed with purchasing the land but the caveats to that would that it be subdivided so the city wanted to keep about an acre of it and we were going to buy the remaining eight uh and that it be res subdivided uh from its existing commercial use to an R3 the reason that we need R3 is under the city's ordinances uh we're really trying to get a PUD done but there's a minimum acreage requirement here in the city of 20 acres to do a PUD and since this isn't 20 acres the R3 zoning really allows you everything that you could otherwise do in a pug uh to to have setbacks and things like that a lot of common Green Space is 20% Green Space things of that nature that you asso typically with a plan unit development since we're beneath the threshold of 20 acres that's we're requesting R three so that us bu kind what want to build um the the the houses are being built under a fortified standard and under la shoes uh flood proofing standards and so what that basically means is each of the houses in the construction has to have uh tie down Hardware from the roofs into the slabs so that it can withstand the impact of the hurricane uh there impact resistant doors and windows not just hurricane rated and they're true impact rated uh it's it's it's pretty expensive construction but it's part of the grant that we have to do that each house comes

with its own backup generator um and then for the flood everything even though we're nowhere near a flood zone they all have to be built as if they were going to be flooded so the first 3 or 4 feet in all the houses everything is completely waterproof uh it's all uh treated lumber instead of just your standard framing material uh there's there's no sheetrock on the bottom for feet U the glue that has to be used a special glue to to keep the floing attached to put was inundated uh that you have to use blood proof cabinets there's a that used to be a metal cabinet or something of that nature there's a new product out there called the Simco cabinet uh that can you can just take it submerge it underwater for a year and come back and the cabinet looks brand new so um we have to incorporate all of that as part of the BR um and so in order to go forward and lastly I maybe back to your question is when we filed the grant we had to give a cost basis and one of the things that the the cost basis we put in was for the land for $700,000 and so what we've offered to purchase the land from the city for is $700,000 your respected of the appraisal so the appraisal comes back next week for $200,000 we're still paying 700 so it's not we're not subject to that appraisal well I don't want to monopolize I I'll let someone ask some questions and I'll have okay uh when you subdivide it you don't have anything we see see how you're going to sub divided right now yes a made it to this Mee it's actually coming back for that okay yeah yeah the sub will come back right so that's just you can't that

until he's actual owner right we have to sub it then sell it then come back I'm sorry now to the 8 the track and then sell it and come back and present that so it'll come back before again okay yes you sub all the Lots meet to uh requirements of the city you know yes so all the Lots would be the required size that's correct it's just to the north of mar right side you come up Maryland you know where the maintenance Barn is it's Mar continued it will run along the South Boundary of this property like this would be Marland right up in here somewhere right it's almost directly behind the men you understand where M Street and everything come in between right so are these single story yes how large these give or take 1500 s ft and you're saying there stor home generate aor do you have any idea what price they're not for S they're for r

yeah that's problem that's the problem right there we had a market study commission by the state that showed that when we complete these uh 44 rental homes it will satisfy less than 1% of the demand within the city limits uh we sit here midnight giv you statistics about uh the need for additional affordable housing um you know 34% of Americans spend more than 30% of their disposable income on rent these houses are designed so that that's not an issue you can't rent these one of these houses if your rent equates to more than 30% of your income so if you said that the rent was $11,000 a month that's $122,000 a year per rent okay so you have to make more than $36,000 to live there or you're just setting yourself up or faure that's a that's a rule under this well isn't that similar to what some of these corporations doing across the country getting Community then uh they all sett them buy the whole community and rent that's correct s keep going at this point we open for questions or we entertaining motion question from anybody I mean you know mainly you are cuz our power point was what we did at the last that was was on I

didn't yeah the counil okay so just so procedurally let me just address it from this perspective okay so there's a state ordinance that dictates how to sell Municipal property well Mr strange needs the process to be completed by a certain time so we have begun the process required by that ordinance to sell the property this is a stage in that process in order to create the piece of property that we're going to sell this doesn't change any ownership yet it requires an ordinance to sell it that won't be considered until the February council meeting however in order to meet the time delays we had to start the process when the proposal came into City Hall which was what November is give a take and a conversation took place and I was told to begin the process and that's where we are um it's a 9ac track he only needs eight so this proposal tonight is just to separate it into two pieces that's it the city still maintain ownership still has to go through the rest of the state ordinance process to actually convey the property to his compy that won't be till two weeks at least two weeks from now two weeks from now the February council meeting is when your recommendation will be taken up by the council to do this because the council has to ratify this and to

consider the sell the proposal to sell okay so also have to ratify the proposal corre so even the sale nothing can take place until after the council SE correct um what is the plan for the other that's going to be left why only why not take the whole n previous mayor wanted to maintain that acre for the purposes that we currently use it for we don't need n correct so this establishment will be next to the city's no no look when I say dumping talking about dirt and rocks I don't necessarily believe we're going to keep doing that I wasn't privy to that discussion or that conversation I'm pring to this portion my understanding is that from conversation with the forone man I guess the new man I don't know but that I I wasn't there I know that they were all there were discussions amongst all the people and the idea was to maintain ownership of the remaining one okay why I don't know I mean I get it I understand your concern but okay so may were you in on any of these Mee I was in on the beginning when he came um I stated at council meeting um I was there on the initial beginning of the conversation um I had an issue that I I had to leave out for so that was the end of the conversation I had until the council meeting in January so uh the only thing that I was privileged to was the discussions of the what the homes would look like and I

made that clear to him what I saw at that time I didn't particularly like um but uh the mayor did tell him about they used that a Dumping Ground from the beginning but other than that I didn't have a conversation with him until the council meeting in January so that was about it all I knew was what he was trying to do what it looked like um which was different from what he showed at the council meeting so they were better than the drawings that I saw at the first meeting around November but after that I haven't had any conversations any pictures of what they're going to look like I just gave the one that we had brought originally was one that we had done a couple years ago in comington uh but I said we've done 50 of these and they all look different um yeah and so those are some of the more recent I just didn't have with me at the original meeting and so this is the total cost of this is $16 million so it will take a piece of property that has very little value intrinsic you appraisal will state that that we can pay $700,000 for and put $16 Million worth of property on on the tax records we are a paper contractor meaning that we don't perform our own subcontract services so all the subcontracts will be locally let the materials will all be locally purchased so between that the avalor taxes sales taxes it's it's it's a pretty big so this going to be up no Sor there single story

single it's all part of powerus and the amount of will Beed much I $4,000 year I gu you'll have some on S that will tell I'm or how much so each person's rate r no one will the same am yes um there there are certain of the houses there 44 houses okay uh certain of them are set at you can do what's known as income average right so what happens is you take the area me you're in the Baton Rouge MSA so the area me income for Baton rge 65 all right so you start with a threshold of 60% of that number comes the the median income for the development right so now we're at call it $47,000 that's the median income for some under income averaging then what you can do is so long as the average income is 47 you can go below and above that's a brand new thing so for instance if you come in to rent a house and you make $52,000 right and it's your your you know you your husband and a child you want a two-bedroom house based upon that

income number assuming that's the only household inome $52,000 and they're going to look at a chart and they're going to say okay so your rent for that is going to be $870 bucks something like that the next person that comes in the door they make less than 47 okay so long as it's not more than a third of their total income right with so long as the balance stays at that 60% on that's house by house lease by lease year by year okay so how many homes again did you say 44 44 homes and will you have U some of their management there's a full-time manager full-time maintenance person there's a community center it's gated it's fully perimeter fence build an 8ft fence around the partk that the city there's a private access drive that will go from nor 15 into the city nor 15 into the development uh that will run parallel to to to the the acre that the city's keeping um there's 20% Green Space um um you know the maintenance person and manager will will both preferably live on site they'll certainly live here in town um then then it's we have a third party management company that we use that manages tens of thousands of these type hous of developments country so again um studies on traffic like what we had with the last you know what does that look like 44

homes um you may have three four people in that home you just said it so the traffic count is minimal because we have some one-bedroom homes which we're going to have the same infrastructure the same Lots the same everything is what the gentlemen they're coming behind me right there's no way they can build a one bedroom house on a lot they've got $60,000 the M they got to build three and four bedroom houses we have to build one bedroom houses because it's part of the grant we have to build two bedroom houses and some three bedroom houses so therefore you have a one-bedroom house typically going to be Got Away uh 15% of the houses are full ADA compliance so that's you light sensory everything um so we will have probably at least 15% if not more elderly tenants so that's a one vehicle household um and then on on the twos and threes and that's by law you have to have a certain amount of elderly people in there how do you know that you will have that how do you know that you'll have that percent of be a to that will want to stay there how will you meet that because we we're satisfying 1% of the demand um our weight list will be give or take a th000 people within 90 days of operating this you experienced in the past million times yes and there's a market study it says Gabriel 2015 I've got condos that we built in New Roads call it 2018 um five of these in

Alexandria um so I'm just trying to get an idea so you built some in uh it's called kette Street c so let me let me just make a suggestion if I may go um we have to follow a process right and this has to come back again for all the questions you're asking now it has to so we kind of get into the weed what you do tonight doesn't guarantee his project get built tonight we're just creating two L that's it all of this has to come back again to plan only to approve the the layout so you know just to to kind of speed it up a little bit and say hey that gives you a lot of time to have these conversations outside the scope of a meeting where you can get I guess more detail so at this point we're not changing properties not this yeah I would I would say that you know the issue this evening is whether or the proposed subdivision conforms to the city ordinance with respect to not land loocking something leaving appropriate Ingress egress the two remaining Parcels meet the standards of dimensionally requirements under the city ordinances and then the companion motion or that will obviously be behind this is whether or not rezoning from C2 to R3 of the 8 acre part is consistent with the character of that neighborhood which on

the back side of it is a mile home park and across the street from it is an apartment complex so it is a primarily residential area and complex we're talking about okay and so then assuming that we we that this recommendation was made to subdivide the property and then res then we would go to the city council uh the city council we'd have to you know say based upon this recommendation like for an ordinance for that to happen and then at that point in time assuming that the city council approves that we have to wait finish the appraisal finish that process get the title and everything done we're not planning on closing this till June okay then and we can't close until we have the building per so then what would happen is we would have an agreement that once the city will sell you this property for $700,000 we do agree to sub it and we do agree to change the zone to R3 okay great so then I get with my architect and my engineer and we go develop a full set of plans that will be a subdivision layout it will be impact studies water sewer the whole nine the same thing that that any other sub do the architect will go draw 44 sets of health plans we'll get 44 building apartment on so the the planning portion of that will then come back to this organization to say whether or not our lot Dimensions do those meet the requirements of R3 do do do our water and sewer tie-ins adhere to the city standards so it's it's a just a multifaceted process that doesn't really end un well the only issue I have with I have

two or three issues one of them is that uh people that would be moving in there you will be renting to they would never own their own property and we already have enough area apartments and rental property in that area we have enough already in that area so I was suggest that if you go back and find a way that where these people can own their own property instead of you owning that land and all of that for years and years and years and these people are never on their own prop so you would just be milking them and they were never never on their own prop so I I will suggest my own opinion if you want to build something there build something where it's going to benefit the people not benefit you yeah so you said you another it's not going to benefit the people it's it's going to benefit the you makeing money there have been numerous are your company making money there have been numerous studies the most recent of which was in 2022 studied by Harvard I the study done by Harvard University that says this is the number one mechanism in place in the United States today to foster home ownership well just because it's the number one in the United States things that's going on in the United States right now is not right just because it's the number one is the number one in miling the people sir these are $350,000 houses that someone can live them for $700 a month to save their money to one day be able to make a down payment to go buy one of nice FS with

this G bring that is the only possible way someone that makes $40,000 a year can so I respectfully disagree understand what you're saying and I expect you to disagree cuz you making money your company making money I expect you to disagree I suspect you do as well but but what I am saying is that these people will never own their own property and we have enough rental property in the area that's right it's just like and I looked this is not a tell me this is not a f and you telling me that it's going to be home yes it's going to be home for rent just like Apartments all you're doing is dividing it up and giving people uh you got three bedroom houses right side of one bedroom house or two bedroom house so you're going to have all kind of houses in that area absolutely would bring down the people that even rent to bring down their value that's not how it works so and so look if you could findly somewhere where you would build home that's not that's not the proposal that's before us and I looked so you know what the median age of a little house is in for Allen was built in 1968 what do you mean bills would be associated with a house built in 1968 compared to an energy star house built in 2025 I still understand you and understand what you're doing but I still hold ground to what I see it uh this is my people you're talking about and I I don't agree with you coming here trying to make money off of

you uh and that's not I don't I don't agree with that at all so you know I appreciate your I have a question so did the rent drop I with you so you better check your video where let him let him play back so we're all wir we all heard the same including the mayor including the mayor Market rent for this Market according to that document which I'm happy to give you a copy of is $1,100 for one bedroom my rents are $793,000 our rent is 936 the market rent for a free bedroom house is $1,500 ours is 14 I think that's P that's not the that you gave that is not what you said so I think that's why some of the push back was received okay that it's not what you said sir because I argue with you okay so look I was at that meeting and some of the figures are somewhat different but he did give a range but here's the thing that's not what we're here for tonight that's what I'm saying you have a lot of time between now and then to investigate those particular issues but I just want to say one thing same thing I said that time that at the last meeting I don't have an opinion I don't have a vote what I do know is is that the type of grant funding that he

has it's it's it's it's it's very specific to the point of where the property can be built and so I only say that to say that it is my understanding that he came with the with the apartments and that wasn't acceptable now he's coming with homes and now that seems to be an issue but he tried to move this entire development to a whole another parish and the funding agency shot it down they want to know West b r West B Rose has need whether you agree with it or not the need is is here and so I don't think the the the the government is going to be financing $9 million of an investment if they don't think the numbers are going to work because his income is what pays back the other portion and keep in mind that 9 million is just a portion of the development he's putting about 6 s million of his own money into this project and all I'm saying is is that all of this will come back before the the council and the and the and the Planning and Zoning commission at a later dat but but I can assure you that I can assure you that the site selection and the market Studies have all been taken into consideration for his Grant application so you got to talk to the state and other parties if you want better understanding of why they want it here because some things that everybody can't answer every question okay so and that's all I got to say about it so I understand that I think it's the consistency of what you

you know what you what you said because I I think that's why a lot of the push back was because she did make reference that she can rent something for n something or or whatever the actual figure was but the amount that you said was higher than $700 I recall saying Market was $1,100 that was the recollection of I I got a big issue with you paying $700,000 for a piece of property that probably would $150 I got a big issue with that that's my tax dollar okay I'm sorry but to pay that kind of money it's it's legal robbery in my good you going to pay that kind of money for a piece of property that doesn't even AR for half somebody got to make that money up and I have a big issue with that you man it do make any difference we play Tas that's what you saying there's an issue with government spending right now and you're sitting here saying you going to pay $700,000 for um I I could I remember Mr strange this is the same developer that um came to the city and was proposing the apartment complex and the issues we had at the time was infrastructure Public Safety and it was some traffic issues well um I wasn't in

aosst of just having the apartment it was because of the ands with the city now this property is it belongs to the city we have been needing a Waste Water treatment facility for a very long time this is one of the reasons why we cannot man the demand of development we had this developer came in and I appreciate you know what y'all done they had to bring in their own s sewer system because they could not we could not man the demands of the of the U of the project that but if we have land why sell our assets to try and gain money to use the money to find try and find more land that we may not find because we haven't found it in all this side we've had land before that was sold years ago under some previous administration but that land was for a Waste Water treatment and it was sold and since then we have had a hard time trying to secure land but this land has been owned by the city of Port all since 1992 why haven't this land been considered even before he CL what a year or two ago for our waste treatment facility plan I understand that hey it may the land may not um be ideal for it or but as a taxpayer as a citizen as a former council member I would love to see that document I would like to know

what that land what is how do we acquire the land I think that's very important before we start resoning like how did Allan acquire the land and just get some history about the land appraising is one thing but this land was a land a Landfield at one time not knowing what may be under the land or you know taking some type of uh using environmentalists to survey the land to take some saw samples to just know about this land and to know that we canot utilize our own land for our own purpose and then maybe go back and revisit the idea of the apartment complex with the bologan family because now we have the infrastructure and our Police Department is to me is moving in a in a great Direction the time he came in we had five officers man in the whole city but I think we moving into uh you know moving having some Progressive change that's taking place and I like the direction that the city is going in so if we could get a two for one I think that'll be better we could get a facility waste treatment uh wastewater treatment facility and entertain his development project and the area that he was looking at doing at the the first previous time cuz it wasn't the issue with the apartments it was the issue of the infrastructure the public safety and the traffic but if we could hey we got two two out the three I think it's still enough to entertain that go back and read that original site we have determined is so that's not an option for us secondly is I and we will have to do an environmental study before we do

anything going forward again there's multiple steps in this process it's like we get an environmental study on this it says we can't use it we can't use it try again u u and then that based upon the conversations I've been pring to this site is not this current site we're talking about is not suitable for Waste waterer treatment this s Nur um well the area is lied resal and I did speak to Mr fr ban today and he said that he would still be interested and he never said anything about environmental study that said he couldn't do it he said he he would be interested but he could not do it because I asked him about the houses he said he could not do the houses because because you only needed four acres of land but he never said anything about any other reason can I call for a motion I make a motion that we um vote to subdivide this you got a motion by m John and a second by Mr for a roll call you get a roll call Mr Anderson no M Johnson no M no Mr Washington

thank you that will make the second motion mve yes than thank you yes number six all right moving on uh request to approve final PL West Crossing first filing phase three lots 131 through 1 93 previously approved reconstruction construction now completebody I on commission members I'm Jim Tatum I'm with Tatum engineering representing Dennis Carlin and and the West Crossing Development Group we're in here tonight asking for approval of the phase three our third plat and West Crossing sub division it's Lots 131 through 193 I'll show you on the overall development plan it's actually one street right in here called Sherry's way and uh the actual plat for that portion is right in here on a little bigger scale uh it's the same same layout and this is the preliminary plat that we came to the commission uh back in June of last year

we' made some revisions and we're entirely consistent with our revised plat uh the work is completed the roads are built we've had the final inspection we're down to the theine points of the final inspection uh to wrap all that up some reports and testing lab reports so forth have to be produced and uh and we've got all that done so tonight we're just asking for approval of the preliminary plot uh we w't ask for signatures and and uh to finalize it until we get all the items taken care of we're very very close so be glad to answer any questions or address any concerns you may have wasn't that zone commerci in the beginning up in the front yes sir right that's why I'm kind of glad y'all took it over and made without a subdivision to turn around because that could have been gas station of hotels or anything right behind these people uh houses that they just build new houses that they just built so I'm glad y'all took took that over and made that uh Li because it wouldn't have been liable about commercial stuff so I think that's a good deal so my opinion I think you done a good job and them all for thank I don't nobody anybody else let you know we're about to start the wide Le of Court Street the wide Court Street we're put a turn lane that's acceleration acceleration Lan the

both right that's good the turn Lan be from both no just from okay good that's a Million worth of 22 when this happens the interest is going to be theol and it like traffic so when you see it all torn down you all upet we're going to put up another pance and we're going to redo it but we got to get the turn first okay that should hopefully start here the this very soon in fact I spoke with DOD today waiting on one guy signature in West Parish what that only question I have uh are y'all going to be using the same kind of material that you use on the other houses or I'm talking such as Society you know the sing is is is damage real easy so my suggestion is to try to find out find another type of siding cuz that siding when you weed around it or do anything anything that touches it it damages and I notice when the wind was blowing real hard some of it is you know kind of coming to loose but other than that uh everything else I see is pretty good that's that's my suggestion on the on the side look I st by to talk to you show you what it's do you get the build what's that see they can do anything different or whatever he said he's going to get with the builder to see if they can do anything I come by and see you that you show okay and I'm sure the homes have warranties they have warranties that will take care of that um and so you say

that the project that you're looking to come about with for Street will take place in the upcoming months because I'm really sure everybody will get phone calls that's I try to tell y beforee pars it upbody so will that is that something that will be publici or anyone can that question that go out with Parish City you know so that the residents good it's a big deal better sign up requ to do any notices there's no have no DET requirement so traffic will be traffic will be maintained throughout the duration of the project uh hopefully the slow down that's a race track out there right now and uh it's kind of a double-edged sword here and that DOD tells us you have to do this to make improvements and then make the improvements and it makes people drive faster so we prefer not to do wasn't an option you can get something we can probably post it on oursite and our city B yeah that be can I get a motion to approve the final flat L over

Crossing all right get a roll hole Anderson yes M Johnson yes M yes Mr Washington yes thank you very much any other announcements all right no correspond all right just