Despite citizens' concerns that the project would make a major traffic problem even worse, the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Commission on Tuesday night approved a zoning change allowing construction of a grocery store of up to 75,000 square feet at Bootlegger Road and Louisiana 1077 near Covington. The commission voted 6-2 to rezone 9 acres in the southeast quadrant...
Despite citizens' concerns that the project would make a major traffic problem even worse, the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Commission on Tuesday night approved a zoning change allowing construction of a grocery store of up to 75,000 square feet at Bootlegger Road and Louisiana 1077 near Covington. The commission voted 6-2 to rezone 9 acres in the southeast quadrant of the intersection from HC-2 (highway commercial), which allows buildings of up to 40,000 square feet, to HC-2A, which allows 75,000 square-foot buildings.
Residents said they could accept a 40,000 square foot grocery but that anything larger would create more problems in an area where Archbishop Hannan High School and the expansive Coquille Sports Complex already generate heavy traffic. With a McDonald's restaurant, a convenience store and gas station already in the works, the addition of a large grocery will create an "insanely wild intersection" that not even a planned traffic circle will fix, said Emily Smith, who lives in the Whiskey Oaks neighborhood adjacent to the rezoned property.
Mike Saucier of Gulf States Real Estate Services, who is in partnership with property owner Benjamin Seeger, called the panel's decision "bittersweet."
"In the end I think that the residents will be very pleased with what we do," he said. "I do understand their concerns,'' Saucier said.
Before leaving the parish government complex Tuesday night, some opponents of the rezoning were already talking about appealing the ruling to the Parish Council.
The decision comes nearly a year after the commission rejected a request to change the zoning at the site from HC-2 to HC-3, which allows buildings of up to 200,000 square feet. At the time, Rouses was interested in building an approximately 47,000 square foot grocery there.
Because of the huge gap between the 40,000 square feet allowed in HC-2 and the 200,000 square feet allowed in HC-3, the parish government has since created the HC-2A zoning designation.
Clint L. Pierson Sr., representing Saucier and Seeger, told the commission that Saucier is having discussions with several grocery store operators about building at the site, west of Covington and south of Goodbee. He said HC-3 zoning was "sort of nuts," and that the new HC-2A designation is good fit for grocery stores, which typically want 42,000 to 57,000 square feet of space.
A traffic circle, or roundabout, the state is planning to build at the intersection will fix the traffic problems, he said.
Moreover, if the zoning remained HC-2, Pierson said, someone could conceivably build three 40,000 square foot buildings there, he said.
But residents asked the commission to reject the zoning change. They maintained that HC-2 provides enough space for a grocery store and that traffic improvements should be in place before any change is considered.
John Hebert, representing the Beau Arbre homeowners association, said, "Traffic is horrendous now. I think things should be looked at a lot harder."
John Martin, of the Goodbee Civic Association, told the commission that on his way to Tuesday's meeting he counted 57 vehicles stacked up on Louisiana 1077 from Interstate 12, waiting to move through the Bootlegger Road intersection. While residents hope the roundabout will ease the congestion, some questioned how soon the state would be able to build it.
"Imminent may be years,'' said Rick Wilke, president of the Association of Associations homeowners organization.
In the end, the commission approved the rezoning, following the recommendation of the zoning staff. The staff noted that the parish's future land use plan calls for the site to be developed with a mix of commercial uses, typically more intense than the adjoining uses.
Saucier said he has been talking to several grocery store operators about the site, but he declined to name them or say if Rouses is among them.