St. John Parish Council Votes No To Borrow Pit

When a landowner of a 700 acre tract of land in LaPlace sought to have an ordinance passed to change the zoning on 162 acres of said tract to allow for a borrow pit to be operated on the property, the St. John Parish Council voted 6-3 to deny the request. As you may know, St. James Parish residents who reside in the Hester community and the St. James Parish Council are dealing with a very similar situation as St. James Construction Materials (SJCM) is seeking to dig and sell clay on roughly 400 acres of land known as the Big Shake Pit.

In St. John Parish, and the same in St. James, the properties in question are designated/zoned as residential, which bars commercial and industrial activities from occurring on the land. So, in order for a commercial/ industrial business to operate in a residential area, the property must be rezoned or receive some type of special exception. Things came to a head in St. John Parish earlier this year in July, when Dr. Christy Montegut, who owns the land in question in LaPlace, sought to open a borrow pit on 162 acres of land on the Elvina Plantation and dig and sell the property’s clay to the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers to be used to construct the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Project.

According to a news article that appeared in the L’Observateur newspaper on July 16, 2022, the proposed ordinance had been approved by the St. John Parish Planning Commission by a 4-3 vote during a meeting held on June 27th and the Planning Commission recommended the ordinance be adopted by the Parish Council.

However, during the July Council meeting, the owner of the property and several residents packed the Council Chambers in Edgard and shared their reasons for and their concerns on rezoning the property Montegut told the Council the land in question is already prone to flooding because some of the area is below sea level and the average elevation is about four to five feet above sea level. He also said it would be very costly to construct a residential development on the property because the land would have to be built up. Residents who spoke during the meeting argued the Council should not allow “one percent of the parish” to dictate policy for the entire parish and insisted the property should be kept residential because once an area looses its R-1 status, it’s difficult to have it reinstated, and it also opens the way for similar rezoning requests.

The article also points out that two requests similar to Montegut’s have been filed with the Planning Commission, which is a cause of alarm for residents.

“One woman mentioned the beauty of La-Place and asked why council members would want to change the landscape so that a “mile-anda- half” of dirt rather than the area’s natural appeal would be the parish’s welcome mat,” the article says. The same resident noted that no developer will build a residential neighborhood next to an industrial development.

Two others who spoke at the meeting said allowing for dirt pits to be built would stifle economic development in the area, an area that has shown signs of growth, and that if the change was allowed, the parish would initially reap some tax benefits but none long term. He said he is not against development of the land but would like to see more concrete plans than a proposed retention pond.

In the end, the St. John Parish Council voted 6-3 against the proposed change.

Here in St. James Parish, and rather than following the St. James Parish Land Use plan and require SJCM to appear before the St. James Planning Commission, which could set rules, regulations, buffer zones, hours of operation, etc, the St. James Parish Council has authorized Parish President Peter Dufresne to negotiate a settlement agreement with SJCM.

Those negotiations are currently ongoing behind closed doors and a settlement agreement is pending.

St. James Parish residents share some of the same concerns as the St. John Parish residents, especially in respect that once you give a special exception and rezone one it could be difficult to stop further rezoning requests in the future. Local residents are also concerned about drainage and flooding issues that could result from the clay digging, about the size of buffer zones near residential property, and about who will maintain the property once clay digging ceases and the company leaves the parish.

Many say it is ironic that St. John Parish, who will benefit greatly from the West Shore Project, is unwilling to allow its own clay to be used to construct the levee, but St. James Parish, who many feel was all but left out of the West Shore Project, keeps striving to find a way to offer its clay to protect its neighbor.