The Federal Emergency Management Agency wants to establish mobile home parks for displaced flood victims living in East Baton Rouge Parish, but first the Metro Council will have to agree to temporarily suspend certain provisions of its Unified Development Code relating to permits and zoning.
To help move the process along, Mayor Kip Holden’s office has placed on the council’s agenda a request to hold a public hearing to discuss a possible waiver. The hearing will take place on Wednesday.
“We’re trying to reactivate some of these mobile home facilities to put some people up for a short period of time,” says William Daniel, Mayor Kip Holden’s chief administration officer.
Displaced residents would be able to live in the parks in FEMA-provided mobile homes for a maximum of 18 months as they repair their homes, Daniel says.
Daniel says he isn’t exactly certain about all of what FEMA has in mind. However, he can say that a tract of land near the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport has been identified as one possible site for a mobile home park.
Daniel says the federal agency has informed the city-parish it can only establish mobile home parks that comply with local rules and regulations.
“They won’t put any unless we waive that ordinance,” Daniel says.
The Metro Council meets at 4 p.m. on the ninth floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St.
—Alexandria Burris
