The East Baton Rouge Parish Planning and Zoning Commission has approved a landowner’s request to change his property’s designated land use from agricultural/rural to residential.
The Metro Council will review the commission’s 6-3 decision next month.
The 5-acre property is on the east side of Pecue Lane north of Highland Road. Planning commission staff had recommended against the change, saying the agricultural designation fit the area’s development pattern, and the commission received 31 comments in opposition.
The FuturEBR comprehensive plan adopted in 2018 changed the designation to agricultural, which calls for only one lot per acre. Landowner Ed Kramer wants to reverse the change. “Development rights were taken without my knowledge or consent,” Kramer said at Monday’s hearing.
Several nearby residents raised concerns about the additional traffic and flood risk that a dense residential development could bring. Commission staff said Kramer would have to request a rezoning for a significant development, though “there are certain things [of a] smaller scale that he can go straight to the permit office on.”
Kramer pointed to nearby infrastructure investments to say that the city-parish already expects more traffic and development in the area.
“Traffic’s going to get worse,” he said. “This is a multimillion-dollar piece of property.”
In other action Monday:
- The commission unanimously declined to change the zoning of an empty commercial strip on the east side of O’Neal Lane north of South Harrell’s Ferry Road from commercial to C-AB-2, which allows for a bar and lounge.
- As expected, a proposal to remove the Midway Connector from the major street plan was deferred for a month. While the current landowner opposes putting the connector on his land, Baton Rouge General has an agreement in place to potentially purchase the land in the Baton Rouge Health District to make way for the street; the item likely will be pulled if BRG closes the sale.
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