A zoning dispute from 2009 is set for a replay on Helios Avenue just off Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie, where the owner of an empty residential lot once again wants to use it for parking. This time, though, the plan is to make the property a stand-alone paid parking lot open to all shoppers in the area, instead...
A zoning dispute from 2009 is set for a replay on Helios Avenue just off Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie, where the owner of an empty residential lot once again wants to use it for parking.
This time, though, the plan is to make the property a stand-alone paid parking lot open to all shoppers in the area, instead of expanded parking for a commercial building fronting the south side of Veterans.
Dave Motter, a lawyer for property owner Chuck Lombard, said Wednesday that drivers would access the lot from Veterans, not Helios, which leads into a residential neighborhood. They would pay to park there while visiting businesses along Veterans and Bonnabel Boulevard.
The move would require reclassifying the parcel for heavy commercial use because it still falls under a two-year moratorium on light commercial zoning, a less imposing designation that also allows parking lots. The failure last year of a light commercial proposal by a group of business and property owners at the corner triggered the moratorium. Facing opposition from neighbors and parish planners, last year's applicants withdrew.
The heavy commercial designation, called C-2, allows bars and other businesses unlikely to be welcomed by neighbors. But Motter said he is willing to apply title restrictions limiting the property to parking.
Neighbors and parish planners, however, said they are unlikely to waver from their 2009 opposition to parking on the site.
"I see no reason why we should change it," planner Francois Ancar said. "It's almost the exact same application."
The Planning Department hasn't yet taken an official position on the new request. When the department came out against the similar request last year, planners argued it was too much of a commercial intrusion down a residential street.
"This one is pretty much driven by the neighbors," Ancar said. "There was a lot of opposition to it last time."
Alton Wilson, president of the Bonnabel Civic Association, said the opposition among residents seems likely to renew.
"The neighborhood people who have spoken to me are opposed to this as well," Wilson said. "I think it's a replay. It's a little more dramatic because of the C-2."
The possibility of bars and other noisier businesses makes the fresh application more troubling, he said.
"We've pretty much got to draw our line in the sand here," Wilson said. "Our position is we're against it, again."
But Motter, in addition to arguing that the title restrictions he proposes to prohibit bars would ease such concerns, said the parish is opening itself to a legal attack if it denies the rezoning. A property behind the one in question on Helios, fronting Bonnabel, already is commercial, undercutting arguments that the parking lot would be an improper extension of commercial uses into the otherwise residential zone, he said.
"To deny it would result in a lawsuit," Motter said. "The parish is opening up itself to civil liability."
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The Jefferson Parish Planning Advisory Board is set to consider the case July 22 at 5 p.m. in the Joseph S. Yenni Building in Elmwood.
Mark Waller can be reached at mwaller@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7056.