Developers wanting to build cluster subdivisions will now have to get approval from the Metro Council.
At its meeting Wednesday, the Metro Council followed the Planning Commission and voted to delete provisions on cluster subdivisions—which allowed developers to cluster homes on a property while leaving a portion of the land undeveloped—from the city-parish’s ordinance.
Planning Director Frank Duke said absent the provisions developers wanting to build neighborhoods similar to cluster subdivisions will have to get approval from the council.
“If anyone wanted to do the equivalent of a cluster they can,” he said. “It would require rezoning to a planned development which would ensure council members would have an opportunity review it. It would not simply be something that would be left to the Planning Commission.”
The unanimous vote to do away with the cluster subdivision provision followed brief remarks from Duke.
“The cluster provisions of the ordinance—they’re poorly written in my opinion as a planner,” he said. “As a result, every single cluster subdivision that has come forward has been extremely controversial.”
In other business on Wednesday, the council unanimously approved rezoning 1.27 acres of a 2.8-acre tract of land on Government Street, near Jefferson Highway, which was recently purchased with plans for a new townhome development.
—Alexandria Burris
