Last month, a lawyer with the Taylor Porter law firm sent a letter to the council threatening to sue if the body does not revoke the zoning map for District 5, which is where Deer Run would be located. The lawyer claimed the council had violated state and local laws when enacting the zoning ordinance for the district, and suggested the council may have done the same with the other three zoning maps that had been passed.
The lawyer, Tom Easterly, said in a recent public meeting that Ascension Properties Inc., one of his clients and the Deer Run developer, was directly impacted by the zoning changes, which could upend the subdivision’s future.
After two weeks of inaction by the parish council, Ascension Properties filed a lawsuit Thursday in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, alleging defendants infringed upon the developer’s constitutional rights. The same day the lawsuit was filed, a second preliminary plat for Deer Run appeared before the parish planning and zoning commission and was approved.
The lawsuit names the Livingston Parish Government — which acts through the Livingston Parish Council — as well as several individual members of the council: Randy Delatte, Erin Sandefur, Gerald McMorris, Jeff Ard, Shane Mack and John Wascom.
“We have just received the suit and will discuss it with our clients at their next Council meeting,” said Chris Moody, the Livingston Parish attorney, in a statement via e-mail on Friday afternoon. “We expected this to be filed.”
The lawsuit echoes Easterly’s letter in many respects, asserting the District 5 zoning ordinance “was enacted in violation of both Louisiana state law and Livingston Parish ordinances and regulations,” and that, ultimately, the council was “unauthorized to enact” the zoning map.
Those violations, as the letter and complaint both point out, come down to the council allegedly failing to consult a master plan or the parish’s planning and zoning commission as it developed the District 5 zoning map.
However, the developer’s key point of contention is that the new zoning map appeared to zone the property slated for the subdivision in a way that was inconsistent with approvals the developer had already received, the lawsuit says.
To that end, the lawsuit calls the zoning map “arbitrary, capricious, and objectively unreasonable” insofar as it “purports to zone or rezone the Property from its existing zoning status to another more restrictive zoning status that is in conflict with the previously approved Preliminary Plat.”
Ascension Properties is seeking not only damages, but also a declaratory judgment that the District 5 zoning map is invalid, as well as a preliminary injunction restraining the council from enforcing the map. The developer is also requesting a jury trial in the matter.
Mack, one of the council members named as a defendant, said in a statement that he considers the lawsuit to be “frivolous and without merit.”
“This lawsuit not only attacks the Livingston Parish Council but the will of citizens across our parish. I stand by my vote and position,” he wrote. “I will continue to do the right thing and stand up for the people of Livingston Parish and will not back down. When we voted to uphold the ordinance the people of Livingston Parish won. I have no doubt that myself and fellow councilman will defeat this lawsuit, which will be another victory for the people of Livingston Parish.”
McMorris, who has long been a voice on the council for many residents opposing unchecked development, said in a statement he feels he should have the right to “protect the safety, health and welfare of all citizens in this parish.”
“I pray this goes away. As I told the lawyer for the development, I will have to defend myself as I don’t have the supporters as the other councilmen,” he said. “I still believe every district has the right to zone their area as the community” has asked.
A representative for both Delatte and Sandefur — who represents District 5 — said the council members declined to comment. Wascom and Ard did not return a request for comment.
Council members Garry “Frog” Talbert, Tracy Girlinghouse and Maurice “Scooter” Keen were not named in the lawsuit. Keen had proposed an ordinance that would have revoked all the zoning maps that had been passed in the parish, but the measure died before it could be introduced when it was sent to committee for discussion.
Leave a Reply