Fearing that a new development could mean more flooding for their homes, residents of the Lake at White Oak subdivision near the Amite River plan to attend tonight’s Planning Commission meeting in hopes of convincing the panel to reconsider the planned Timber Ridge Subdivision.
Developer Arthur Lancaster plans to build 281 homes on 68.5 acres of a 281-acre tract at the corner of Tiger Bend and Babin roads, and preserve the remaining 212.5 acres for green space. Per the cluster development ordinance, Lancaster will give up development rights of the undeveloped land if he gets the green light to proceed.
Planning Commission staff is recommending approval of Lancaster’s plans, which originally called for 60 acres to be developed until he revised the plan following an environmental impact study.
Some Lake at White Oak residents say raising land for the Timber Ridge Subdivision will mean more flooding for existing homes in the area because the water will flow down the elevated ridge into their neighborhoods.
“We’re not opposed to the development of the land, we’re just opposed to the plans the developer is bringing,” says Wesley Valverde, president of the Lake at White Oak Homeowners Association.
Valverde says the subdivision’s residents spoke to Lancaster about possibly altering his plans to reach a compromise, but the developer is steadfast in keeping his current plans. Lancaster says the issue raised is not about flooding, but about the size of the lots. He says Lake at White Oak residents are opposed to the planned 50-foot lots, and have asked him to increase them to 75 feet.
Doing so would drive the price of the homes up to about $500,000, not the $250,000 to $300,000 price point he has in mind, Lancaster says.
“They have it in their mind that $250,000 to $300,000 (homes) are low-income,” Lancaster says, adding his prior developments with homes at that price are populated by young professionals and retirees.
Kyler Moppert, who lives in the Tiger Bend area, says he took his boat onto the property during the massive flooding in early March. Using his phone’s GPS system, overlaid with maps of the property and pictures of where the homes would be built, Moppert eventually found himself in three to four feet of water pooling right where the planned Timber Ridge Subdivision homes would be.
Moppert recorded the trip using his phone and uploaded four videos to YouTube, with plans to show the videos to the Planning Commission.
“It’s very concerning to us,” Moppert says. “If the planning commission approves this … it says water will not do one thing, and I was standing in my boat watching it do another thing, that’s another concern.
“If we start messing with the geography of the land, then that will start pushing water into peoples homes,” he adds.
Lancaster says the average base elevation for Timber Ridge Subdivision lots is 35-feet high. The Lake at White Oak residents’ worries are unfounded because the city-would not allow him to develop and build in that floodplain, he says. Lancaster says he has extended an olive branch to the Lake at White Oak homeowners and has done everything he can to appease them.
Both Planning Director Frank Duke and Assistant Planning Director Ryan Holcomb say flooding should not be an issue on the part of the property where Lancaster plans to build. Duke says the area being developed does not sit in a floodplain, but the area reserved for green space does.
“That is what the cluster subdivision ordinance provides for,” Duke says. “They are appropriately protecting the area susceptible to flooding.”
The Planning Commission meets at 5 p.m. today on the ninth floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. See the full agenda.
—Ryan Broussard
