A proposed new zoning map for West Feliciana Parish remained only a proposal after the Parish Council on July 8 deferred an up-or-down vote.

Several of the 10 people who spoke against the zoning map asked the council to develop a process for further, detailed discussion of the various land-use classifications outlined on the map.

In deferring a vote on the proposed ordinance and map, the council did not discuss how it would proceed.

In March 2023, the previous council adopted what may be the toughest land development regulations for a Louisiana rural parish, but had to suspend the chapter on zoning, Chapter 135, because the new zoning map had not been drawn.

Some of complaints voiced during the public hearing dealt with lot-size restrictions for subdividing land.

John Cobb, who served on the council and the police jury that the council replaced, said the zoning and subdivision ordinance will adversely affect residents’ children.

Cobb said one proposed area of the map was limited to 10-acre lots for each dwelling.

“How many of you live on 10 acres or more?” he asked, saying people will not be able to divided their land and give parcels to their children under the restrictions.

Cobb said the parish should have some way to control future growth while not penalizing people who have lived in the parish for decades.

Parish President Kenny Havard later said the ordinance has provisions for “family subdivisions” that would allow people to give land to their children.

“This is the first time I’ve seen an ordinance that upsets every landowner in the parish,” said Ambrose Sims, who served as a parish manager under the old police jury system.

He said in the Solitude area, a house would have to be on a minimum 2-acre lot.

“Very few people have 2 acres in Solitude,” he said, expressing similar concerns about lot restrictions in the Independence area.

“This makes absolutely no sense,” Sims said.

“I hate to say it, but this is rural gentrification for White people,” said Sims, who is Black. He predicted the parish’s minority population will shrink under the development code.

Other complaints voiced in the hearing included the map’s depiction of “historic district overlays, which some people said make no sense because some have no historically significant structures within them or omit parts of properties considered to have historic value.

Havard, when he addressed those concerns, said the historic overlay areas were on the previous zoning map and merely call attention to the location of historic structures.

“I’m not sure it has any bearing on what you can do with your properties,” he said, adding that they can be taken off the map.

Havard warned that misinformation is circulating about the purpose of the strict land development code, which he said is to protect the parish’s infrastructure and the ability to handle growth.

“I don’t expect the developers to like this,” he said, saying later, “My advice is don’t allow the developers to drive this process.”

He also said the majority of land in the parish would be zoned rural-agriculture, but existing trailer parks and businesses remain under their old zoning.

On another matter, the council named Paul Laasko to the Planning and Zoning Commission on a 4-1 vote after declining to appoint Plater Gooden on a 2-3 vote.

The council also appointed David Jewell to the parish Port Commission.