Inspector Jeff Williams said neither Temple nor anyone connected with his operations has approached parish officials to tell them what the Harmony companies plan to do with the building.
They also have not submitted plans for the work they are doing, but plans have been submitted to the state Fire Marshal’s Office, Williams said, adding that he will get them if the state approves them.
Resident Jason Matthews, who said he has worked with law enforcement and is familiar with Temple’s operations, said Temple has consistently had problems with the facilities he operates in Baton Rouge.
Reading from an article in The Advocate years ago, Matthews said it illustrated that Baton Rouge police were dispatched to one of his facilities 53 times in a three-month period.
“He’s had countless numbers of people who have escaped from his facilities,” Matthews said.
“This is what they’re bringing into our community,” Matthews said, pointing out that the property is within 2 miles of four schools and a facility for the elderly, Clinton Manor.
The Grace Nursing Home was built before the parish adopted zoning, and Williams said it is taxed as undesignated commercial property. Planning and Zoning Commission member John Rouchon said the property is in a residential-agricultural zone because its permitted non-conforming use is no longer valid.
Williams said he has learned that the new owners planned to enclose the facility behind 12-foot fences and have security guards working around the clock.
“In my book, that’s an institution,” he said, adding that the proper zoning would be industrial.
However, the Police Jury requires industrial zoned sites to be accessible by an arterial street, which Grace Lane is not, he said.
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