A temporary moratorium on new development in Baton Rouge floodplains proposed about a year after the Great Flood of 2016 faces a tough road to passage at the Metro Council.
At least half of the 12-member council has either expressed concerns about the moratorium or said they plan to vote against the measure, which will be heard at next week’s meeting. Several say they have not decided on the issue, which requires seven votes for passage.
And while Mayor Sharon Weston Broome will not definitively say where she stands, she has concerns that Councilman Buddy Amoroso’s measure does not include Baker, Zachary or Central, which experienced some of the worst flooding last year. The mayor says she understands the impetus behind a moratorium and believes the city-parish rules for building in floodplains should be revisited, but adds that she wants council members to “collaborate” more on a solution.
“What this moratorium claims to solve it just doesn’t solve,” says Councilman Matt Watson, who says the Unified Development Code requirements are strict enough and the city-parish should focus on surveying individual projects to ensure they don’t pose a flood risk.
Amoroso says he anticipated pushback from some of the “powerful interests” opposed to the moratorium and doesn’t plan on making changes to the measure before the council takes it up next week. At the same time, Amoroso says the measure has a good deal of public support.
“In the words of Tom Petty,” Amoroso says, invoking the recently-deceased rock icon, “I won’t back down.”
Councilwoman Barbara Freiberg has voiced tempered support for a moratorium, while Councilman LaMont Cole says he is still undecided but “open” to it. Council members Dwight Hudson, Matt Watson, Trae Welch, Erika Green, Tara Wicker and Donna Collins-Lewis either say they’re against the moratorium or will probably vote against it. Council members Scott Wilson, Chandler Loupe and Chauna Banks could not be reached for comment.
The six council members who are opposed to the moratorium or have reservations about it cite a variety of issues. Some say the cost to the economy from halting certain developments would outweigh the benefits to flood risk. Others say the building standards for floodplains are already strict enough, and that the city-parish should focus on other drainage issues.
If approved, the moratorium would last for six months or until the Metro Council adopts some of the changes to the UDC recommended by the Planning Commission.
While Hudson says he will vote against the moratorium, he adds that he will be bringing some “common sense” changes to the UDC before the council. One of those will be a proposal to require developers to plan their projects to hold enough water for 25-year storms instead of the current 10-year storm threshold—an idea Amoroso has also floated.
The moratorium proposal comes at the same time an engineering firm is conducting a broad study on stormwater in the parish. City planners are also conducting a review of the part of the UDC that regulates floodplain development, which Amoroso also asked for.
Real estate developers have lined up against the moratorium, while retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who led the response effort to Hurricane Katrina and now advocates for environmental issues, came out in favor of the moratorium last week.
—Sam Karlin
