BusinessReport.com

Over the past few years, attempts to rezone parts of Highland Road for commercial development have led to dustups before the Planning Commission and Metro Council. Now an attempt to create an overlay district to preserve the character of the road is generating the same controversy.

Supporters of the Highland Road Overlay District say the measure is needed to protect the unique and distinctive characteristics of the two-lane road from LSU’s south gates to Interstate 10, a scenic stretch that includes mature oak trees, some of the parish’s most expensive real estate, neighborhood retail centers and restaurants.

“Highland Road is being rezoned in a piecemeal fashion,” says Metro Council member Pat Culbertson, who along with fellow council member Mickey Skyring organized the committee to look at the plan, which passes through their districts. “This is about preserving character, and there’s no mechanism for doing that at this time.”

Opponents of the overlay district say it puts an unnecessary burden on business and property owners on top of existing East Baton Rouge Parish ordinances. The overlay district would cover everything from the number and type of signs that could be put in front of businesses to where parking lots would be located, and would require permits to remove any tree more than 10 inches in diameter.

In addition, the district has several “subareas” which cover Highland Road’s major intersections with Lee Drive, Kenilworth Parkway, Staring Lane, Siegen Lane and Perkins Road. The subareas have even tougher regulations, which are designed to make them pedestrian-friendly. Some opponents charge the subareas are a back-door way of rezoning, which supporters of the overlay district strongly deny.

“This is the golden age of meddling,” says R.J. “Smokey” Bourgeois, who owns George’s Restaurant at Highland and Staring. “You’ve got this do-gooder bunch, that do-gooder bunch.”

Along with questioning the need for the overlay district, Bourgeois and other opponents are upset they weren’t notified that plans were being discussed. A committee was formed to draw up guidelines more than a year ago; some Highland Road residents say they didn’t find out about it until a few days before an April 22 public meeting. “My notice about the meeting was postmarked April 23,” Bourgeois says.

The lack of advance notice might have something to do with the nature of Highland Road. There’s no neighborhood association that covers the entire stretch of road, so the normal channels for notifying residents and property owners about the overlay committee’s work don’t exist.

Bob Rackley, a major Highland landowner, was included on the committee. Rackley says that’s because planning officials knew him from his years of involvement in rezoning issues and his organization, the Federation for the Preservation of Highland Road.

“All those critics who said ‘Why didn’t they select me for this committee?’ Where were you all these years?” Rackley says. “They haven’t stepped up to the plate in the past.”

Because the April 22 meeting caught so many people by surprise, the timetable for getting the district approved was shelved and plans are now in the works to have more public meetings to get greater input from Highland Road stakeholders. Meanwhile, a committee of business and property owners has been formed to closely examine the overlay district ordinance.

Janice DeLerno, owner of The Stockade bed and breakfast at Highland and Staring, now is working as a facilitator, trying to bring together the Metro Council, business owners and homeowners to reach some sort of agreement.

DeLerno says the key is to improve communications among all sides. “We need to work on these things jointly from the get-go so we don’t end up with sides drawn,” she says. “I would like to see a mutual respect, even if we disagree.”

DeLerno says she personally thinks it’s a bad time for the proposal because of several Green Light construction projects going on in the area. But she can understand why elected officials want to do something with the “blank canvases” at Bluebonnet and Siegen and make future zoning hearings easier.

“We need to find relevant points in this plan for everyone,” she says. “And if we can’t find common ground, then the question should be if this overlay district needs to exist at all.”

Culbertson says he’s operating under no deadline to get the overlay district measure passed. Some opponents say they want to spend at least six months to a year studying the measure. “There are some things in it that could be good, but there are so many things in it,” Bourgeois says.

Lauren Myerscough

TAKING THE HIGH ROAD: Supporters of the Highland Road Overlay District say the measure is needed to protect the unique and distinctive characteristics of the two-lane road from LSU’s south gates to Interstate 10, a scenic stretch that includes mature oak trees, some of the parish’s most expensive real estate, neighborhood retail centers and restaurants.

Rackley emphatically says the overlay district push has nothing to do with zoning, but protecting a street that is a city treasure. “This is about preventing Highland Road from becoming Perkins Road or Jefferson Highway,” he says. “That’s the rock-bottom issue.”