City of Thibodaux Zoning Review - South Central Planning ...
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City of Thibodaux Zoning Review - South Central Planning ... City of Thibodaux Zoning Review - South Central Planning ...

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09.07.2015 Views

Thibodaux Zoning Review 2010code inspections, they have to pass those same inspections as site built homes. Legally youcannot restrict a modular home from any neighborhood, it is like any single family housing butmobile and the manufactured homes you can restrict to certain areas. So again it is ourrecommendation to include those definitions in the zoning ordinance; also you may want to put anage limitation on the manufactured home at the time of application and you might want to specifythe location of the manufactured and mobile home. The long term recommendation is an overlayzone, what we found in the City of Pineville was that there were certain areas that mobile homesand manufactured homes were restricted to; however, they had to have certain design standards inthe rest of the neighborhood, so if it was a driveway, if it was skirting, the overlay zone requiredthem to maintain their structure in a certain manor and what we understood with the modularhomes was that there was some concern that modular homes were coming in on chassis so if thatis the case, then you can require design review for those homes as well, they would have to meetcertain standards before they could go in that neighborhood.Industrial zones, there was an issue, there were some businessmen looking to place industrialzones into the community and so locating those zones was an issue, where we could put thoseand what we found was under State laws, it appears that recycling, manufactured recyclingoperations was treated the same as solid waste, so that is something you may want the CityAttorney to look at, under Thibodaux’s ordinance the preliminary separation of non-hazardousrecyclables is located in M-1, but this is dependent or should be dependent on either the operationbeing entirely enclosed or the level of pollution that this business would actually generate. Thesize of the lot would also be a factor in where the location, you know where it would be located andthe ability to handle the truck movement going in and out and it probably should be situated on amajor highway or a major road, commercial thoroughfare. We recommend putting buffers there tolessen the impact of the pollution, the noise, the air, whatever pollution may come from it and tomake it perpetual we recommend that the property boundary be deeded or donated to the City, thebuffer remains open, like green space it could be made to look very aesthetically pleasing andblend in.Visibility at intersections, this was another issue that came up and the clarity as to how to make thisclear in the ordinance. The current method used is to pivot to the center of the intersection and tostrike an arc radius of 50 feet, the arc would determine what could be built or moved into toobstruct the motorists view, the area of non-obstruction is determined by the width of the street.Our recommendation is given the typical street width within the City of Thibodaux is to keep it at 50feet as the distance and instead of creating an arc, a straight line joining streets at point which isset at a distance of 50 feet from the intersection is optimal.The fencing regulation, we were told that property owners that were located in and R-3 with 10 ormore parking spaces have to have a setback of 20 feet and a 6 foot fence or screening enclosingthe parking; however in Section 602 of the ordinance it prohibits the fencing or the walls along thefront of the yard greater than 2 ½ feet so our recommendation is to preserve the aesthetic qualityof the neighborhood and to provide for public safety, so our recommendation is to permit fencingpossibly higher than 2 feet along the font of the property. What we found in the other comparablecities is that they allow at least 4 feet with the exception of those lots that are on the corner,provided that the property is set back 20 feet and not on a corner and again that is based on thefencing regulations of Hammond and Pineville which perhaps could work here as well.Abandoned cars were brought up as an issue, we were told that the ordinance allows for or dealswith abandoned cars on private property but not commercial. Typically abandoned vehicles is notan issue that is addressed in the zoning ordinance, so usually that is handled in your nuisancecodes and in all three comparable cities they had ordinances that addressed junk vehicles codes,so we recommend that the city create such ordinances to address those issues as well.The variance requirements, the staff advised us that there was some confusion with Section1003.1, subsection C & D, subsection C requires that the applicant seeking the variance prove thathe or she did not cause the problem for which the variance is needed. Subsection D is requiringthat the applicant prove that by approving the variance the Board is not giving the applicant specialtreatment, the burden is on the applicant to give that, to provide that proof and that is pretty muchstandard language.For off street parking we found that the number of patients at a successful local medical clinicexceeded the number of required parking spots. The administration would like to resolve the issuefor the future, they weren’t sure if this was going to be a trend, so they wanted to address thisbefore it becomes a problem. Medical clinic parking requirements for the City of Thibodaux is oneparking space for every 500 feet of floor area, for the City of Hammond it is one parking space forevery 250 square feet of building, for the City of Pineville it is 3 spaces for every doctor’s office plusone space for each examining room and for the City of Ruston it is one space for every 200 feet offloor area. Our recommendation and you could certainly use any of those models but it is difficultto determine by the success of one medical clinic that all the medical clinics in Thibodaux wouldneed to increase their parking, there are so many variables there that is in play, the type of doctorswithin the clinic, the number of doctors within the clinic, the location, the type of patients, if it is afree clinic or what have you. So increasing the parking space requirement could be too much for784

2010 Thibodaux Zoning Reviewsome clinics and not enough for others, so again a zoning study to look at what the needs are forthe medical clinics is what is being recommended.We discussed maximum lot coverage a little earlier but as was stated the zoning ordinance doesnot define the maximum lot coverage but it is enumerated in percentages within the ordinance.The existing wording does not delineate whether 50% includes the garage, pools, additional floors,home occupations or any other uses that places demand on the total lot coverage. So it is ourrecommendation that there should be some clarity added to the verbiage and the definition herewhich was read a little earlier but the maximum lot coverage will be determined by the summationof all covered buildings that are habitable to a maximum of 50% of the subject lot and thosestructures that are considered accessory and detached, boat houses, pool houses, garages, etc.will be allowed to cover a maximum of 30% of the subject lot rear yard. In no case will accessorystructures be allowed within the front yard of any district. (The use of percentages of the maximumlot coverage shall not be misconstrued as to replace the setback requirement in the regulations).That concludes the presentation.Mr. Breaud stated Simone thank you very much for a very good presentation, it was reallyinformative, I think you’ve addressed all of these comments or issues that were brought up. Youknow on a lot of the issues I think you didn’t necessarily give a definitive recommendation but I fullyunderstand why. I think you presented all of the options to us, I think what we’re looking for tonightit looks like there are twelve items for discussion that were brought up, I guess the best way tohandle this is to go back through each one of them, get public input on them, have somediscussions and then maybe when you come back next month some of these can be incorporatedand then we can fine tune it at that time. With that being said the first, Ms. Caesar is thereanything else that you would want to say or is that the right approach. Ms. Caesar replied it isopen for public input. Mr. Breaud stated the first option was a zoning study, basically what theyhave planned is to hire a zoning person to make recommendations from time to time with thatbeing said I guess does anybody on the commission want to make any comments based upon theitem. If you look in the back, if everybody has a book the last pages in the back are the 12 optionsthat were presented, there is a write up on each of the 12 so if you want to follow with us, turn toOption 1, Non-conforming use – Long term recommendations, Option 1, Zoning Study, we’ll open itup to comments on that particular item and South Central we will record our comments and try togive some insight on that. Any commissioners would like to discuss, Mr. Kearns? Mr. Kearnsstated I think when the original idea came about I guess that is what we thought was going tohappen that it was going to be a zoning study so as a recommendation I would still stay that weneed that study done. Mr. Breaud stated and I think that is probably a little more than a long termsolution I think you know as a result of the zoning study is that we’re going to find one district orwhatever may have a 100 non-conforming uses and may have 100 conforming uses. So at thattime the study will give you the results of that and say well should we have mixed use in here,should we divide the district up into two different zones if the non-conforming is all in one area but Ithink you’re going to find them mixed in there so the only way we’re going to know that is with astudy. I think you’re going to have to isolate some areas because I don’t think you want to do thewhole city at one time but I think this would be an ongoing deal, long term to be able to do this andI think it is a good idea and it needs to be done, there is a lot of discussion about non-conforminguses within a district. Are there any other comments from the commissioners, if not publiccomments, does anybody in the public that would like to discuss whether they feel like this is needor not needed. Mr. Anthony Lafaso came forward and stated there is need to review, the definitionof a non-conforming use doesn’t fit the zone correct, but if it is non-conforming it was there before.I can’t go into an R-1 and put a Wal Mart, I can’t do it, so I was there prior to the zone, the zonecame in after I was there, that makes me non-conforming, I didn’t create the non-conforming it wascreated on top of me. I understand the whole grandfather thing that is fine and dandy. I don’tknow that we need a study, just go and look ok, this is commercial, this is used as commercial, I’mgoing to use my property again as an example, everything around it is commercial, there is astreet, it is a major highway. If I’m not mistaken it is still probably the longest highway in thecountry, thousands of cars a day connects Nicholls State University to Canal Boulevard, it is a tonof traffic, now across the street there is a neighborhood. I can bring court records of those people Ihired to present to the judges - that is a boundary when we’re talking zoning, a major highway isconsidered to be a boundary and can be a boundary between zone, so why do we need to spendmoney on a study, say this is commercial. There are other areas throughout the city we can goand look at multiple areas, they are non-conforming but it is all commercial so why do we need tospend money on somebody to tell us, their use is commercial even though they are nonconforming,it might have been R-1 but it is still being used as commercial. Again and I haveposed the question before and I will pose it again as far as the other cities that were used in thestudy in the presentation, when were their zones created, how old are their zones, one of thespecifics things, they were talking about parking for doctor’s offices, what makes their parkingrequirements better than the City of Thibodaux’s. I’d like to see, I’d be interested to see when weretheir zones created and when was all of this done. New Orleans is going through a big deal rightnow in fact the person who is going through the things for New Orleans is the same gentleman thatI mentioned earlier that was an expert witness for us who is used with the State to take care ofzoning and look at things with zoning. You’ve got a building here that can’t be used as anything,you’ve got a lawyer’s office, I’m sorry, excuse me, an insurance office here, a commercialbusiness, you’ve got another insurance office, you’ve got another dentist office, you’ve got a885

2010 <strong>Thibodaux</strong> <strong>Zoning</strong> <strong>Review</strong>some clinics and not enough for others, so again a zoning study to look at what the needs are forthe medical clinics is what is being recommended.We discussed maximum lot coverage a little earlier but as was stated the zoning ordinance doesnot define the maximum lot coverage but it is enumerated in percentages within the ordinance.The existing wording does not delineate whether 50% includes the garage, pools, additional floors,home occupations or any other uses that places demand on the total lot coverage. So it is ourrecommendation that there should be some clarity added to the verbiage and the definition herewhich was read a little earlier but the maximum lot coverage will be determined by the summation<strong>of</strong> all covered buildings that are habitable to a maximum <strong>of</strong> 50% <strong>of</strong> the subject lot and thosestructures that are considered accessory and detached, boat houses, pool houses, garages, etc.will be allowed to cover a maximum <strong>of</strong> 30% <strong>of</strong> the subject lot rear yard. In no case will accessorystructures be allowed within the front yard <strong>of</strong> any district. (The use <strong>of</strong> percentages <strong>of</strong> the maximumlot coverage shall not be misconstrued as to replace the setback requirement in the regulations).That concludes the presentation.Mr. Breaud stated Simone thank you very much for a very good presentation, it was reallyinformative, I think you’ve addressed all <strong>of</strong> these comments or issues that were brought up. Youknow on a lot <strong>of</strong> the issues I think you didn’t necessarily give a definitive recommendation but I fullyunderstand why. I think you presented all <strong>of</strong> the options to us, I think what we’re looking for tonightit looks like there are twelve items for discussion that were brought up, I guess the best way tohandle this is to go back through each one <strong>of</strong> them, get public input on them, have somediscussions and then maybe when you come back next month some <strong>of</strong> these can be incorporatedand then we can fine tune it at that time. With that being said the first, Ms. Caesar is thereanything else that you would want to say or is that the right approach. Ms. Caesar replied it isopen for public input. Mr. Breaud stated the first option was a zoning study, basically what theyhave planned is to hire a zoning person to make recommendations from time to time with thatbeing said I guess does anybody on the commission want to make any comments based upon theitem. If you look in the back, if everybody has a book the last pages in the back are the 12 optionsthat were presented, there is a write up on each <strong>of</strong> the 12 so if you want to follow with us, turn toOption 1, Non-conforming use – Long term recommendations, Option 1, <strong>Zoning</strong> Study, we’ll open itup to comments on that particular item and <strong>South</strong> <strong>Central</strong> we will record our comments and try togive some insight on that. Any commissioners would like to discuss, Mr. Kearns? Mr. Kearnsstated I think when the original idea came about I guess that is what we thought was going tohappen that it was going to be a zoning study so as a recommendation I would still stay that weneed that study done. Mr. Breaud stated and I think that is probably a little more than a long termsolution I think you know as a result <strong>of</strong> the zoning study is that we’re going to find one district orwhatever may have a 100 non-conforming uses and may have 100 conforming uses. So at thattime the study will give you the results <strong>of</strong> that and say well should we have mixed use in here,should we divide the district up into two different zones if the non-conforming is all in one area but Ithink you’re going to find them mixed in there so the only way we’re going to know that is with astudy. I think you’re going to have to isolate some areas because I don’t think you want to do thewhole city at one time but I think this would be an ongoing deal, long term to be able to do this andI think it is a good idea and it needs to be done, there is a lot <strong>of</strong> discussion about non-conforminguses within a district. Are there any other comments from the commissioners, if not publiccomments, does anybody in the public that would like to discuss whether they feel like this is needor not needed. Mr. Anthony Lafaso came forward and stated there is need to review, the definition<strong>of</strong> a non-conforming use doesn’t fit the zone correct, but if it is non-conforming it was there before.I can’t go into an R-1 and put a Wal Mart, I can’t do it, so I was there prior to the zone, the zonecame in after I was there, that makes me non-conforming, I didn’t create the non-conforming it wascreated on top <strong>of</strong> me. I understand the whole grandfather thing that is fine and dandy. I don’tknow that we need a study, just go and look ok, this is commercial, this is used as commercial, I’mgoing to use my property again as an example, everything around it is commercial, there is astreet, it is a major highway. If I’m not mistaken it is still probably the longest highway in thecountry, thousands <strong>of</strong> cars a day connects Nicholls State University to Canal Boulevard, it is a ton<strong>of</strong> traffic, now across the street there is a neighborhood. I can bring court records <strong>of</strong> those people Ihired to present to the judges - that is a boundary when we’re talking zoning, a major highway isconsidered to be a boundary and can be a boundary between zone, so why do we need to spendmoney on a study, say this is commercial. There are other areas throughout the city we can goand look at multiple areas, they are non-conforming but it is all commercial so why do we need tospend money on somebody to tell us, their use is commercial even though they are nonconforming,it might have been R-1 but it is still being used as commercial. Again and I haveposed the question before and I will pose it again as far as the other cities that were used in thestudy in the presentation, when were their zones created, how old are their zones, one <strong>of</strong> thespecifics things, they were talking about parking for doctor’s <strong>of</strong>fices, what makes their parkingrequirements better than the <strong>City</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Thibodaux</strong>’s. I’d like to see, I’d be interested to see when weretheir zones created and when was all <strong>of</strong> this done. New Orleans is going through a big deal rightnow in fact the person who is going through the things for New Orleans is the same gentleman thatI mentioned earlier that was an expert witness for us who is used with the State to take care <strong>of</strong>zoning and look at things with zoning. You’ve got a building here that can’t be used as anything,you’ve got a lawyer’s <strong>of</strong>fice, I’m sorry, excuse me, an insurance <strong>of</strong>fice here, a commercialbusiness, you’ve got another insurance <strong>of</strong>fice, you’ve got another dentist <strong>of</strong>fice, you’ve got a885

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