A unanimous thumbs down from Police Jury on RV park
After hearing concerns from residents, Calcasieu Parish police jurors Thursday unanimously denied a request to rezone 7.5 acres of property west of Vinton to house 65 recreational vehicles and 12 manufactured homes.
Several police jurors voiced their frustration with the amount of properties rezoned for RV parks that have not yet been developed.
One police juror said he won’t approve any additional rezoning requests for RV parks.
The panel denied the request by Margaret Watson to rezone property at 1750 La. 109 from agricultural and central business commercial to recreational vehicle-park.
Robin Basone, who spoke on the applicant’s behalf, said the density of the property allows for more than 160 spaces. She said she understands that residents are tired of seeing more property rezoned for RV parks, but the development would help sustain growth in the Vinton area over the long term.
Rebecca Coward spoke on behalf of several residents who opposed the rezoning. She said her home is across the street from the property, and an RV park would hurt the neighborhood’s character, lower property values and cause drainage problems.
Coward mentioned several RV parks that are within 5.5 miles of the area and said there isn’t a need for another one. She said there isn’t enough law enforcement to handle the influx of people coming to an RV park.
District 13 Police Juror Francis Andrepont said he won’t vote for any more RV park rezoning requests, joining District 6 Police Juror Dennis Scott, who made similar comments several weeks ago.
District 10 Police Juror Shalon Latour said the parish is “saturated with RV parks.”
District 7 Police Juror Chris Landry asked parish staff to look into changing the ordinance so that property zoned for an RV park reverts to its previous zoning if it isn’t developed within a certain time frame.
“Let’s get the ball moving on that … unless our goal is to have the most RV parks out of any parish in the state,” Landry said. “Now if that’s the case, I think we may win that. We probably are already there.”
District 4 Police Juror Tony Guillory asked staff to consider returning property zoned RV park to its previous zoning if it doesn’t have enough occupants.