<p class="p1">With a 6-1 vote on Tuesday, the Calcasieu Parish Planning and Zoning Board rejected a request to rezone property southeast of Lake Charles to accommodate nearly 400 mobile homes.</p><p class="p1">After hearing concerns from several area residents, the board denied a request by WSM Development LLC to rezone more than 78 acres of property at 7300 Tom Hebert Road from single-family residential to manufactured home-park. The full Police Jury will consider the request at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the parish government building, 1015 Pithon St.</p><p class="p1">Tom Gayle spoke on the applicant’s behalf and said a mobile home park would be consistent with other development in the area. The goal, he said, was to make the development “as high-end as it can be” and have it be built in phases.</p><p class="p1">“This area is developing, and what happened on the left side of the (Calcasieu River) is now kind of working its way onto the east side,” Gayle said.</p><p class="p1">Several residents said the mobile home park would put a strain on the already inadequate drainage in the area and cause more traffic issues. </p><p class="p1">Brett Wright said he has lived in the area for more than 30 years. He said water will flow from the neighbors’ yards into his if the mobile home park is built there.</p><p class="p1">Michael LaRocca said the mobile home park would make his property value “plummet.”</p><p class="p1">Rhonda Burke said she moved to the area 18 years ago to get away from the city.</p><p class="p1">“That is agricultural land; it was rice fields (and) cattle pastures,” Burke said. “When they get in and fill that property in, they’re going to flood my house, along with everybody else that lives around there.”</p><p class="p1">Nathan Lewis said the area to the south of the proposed development is surrounded with subdivisions, and the mobile home park isn’t consistent with other development nearby. Ken Conner said more people moving into the area would make it difficult to evacuate during a hurricane because Tom Hebert Road is a two-lane road. </p><p class="p1">Voting against the rezoning were Kyle Link, Kirk Smith, Gerry Navarre, LaSalle Williams, Genelle Hyatt and Randy Armentor. Sharon Galicia was the only board member to approve the request.</p><p class="p1">Board members Lutricia Cobb, Jack Porché and Julia Dickerson were absent from the meeting.</p>Zoning Request