City officials to take a look at neighborhood site plan

GONZALES — The city’s Planning Commission will hold a public hearing next month to discuss and vote on a site plan for a proposed traditional neighborhood development to be built near Interstate 10 in Gonzales.

In minutes read during the City Council’s meeting Monday, the commission set a public hearing for its Nov. 2 meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall regarding land use plans within the Edenborne development.

Edenborne is set to be located along La. 30, fronting the southern side of Interstate 10 and connecting to both St. Landry and Loosemore roads.

The presented plan includes 453 single-family residential lots ranging from 25 by 80 feet up to 65 by 110 feet in size, 16 multifamily buildings holding 384 units, 650,000 square feet in commercial space, recreation and pool facilities and a proposed 81,000-square-foot movie theater.

Also included are a proposed hotel, town center facility, office park and a new campus site for River Parishes Community College.

City Clerk Clay Stafford said after the meeting that the hearing would be to affirm the boundaries for the designated land uses but not to define what is built on the property.

“While approval would set those areas for designated property types, the developer could change what exactly goes in there,” he said.

Wording within the city’s ordinance pertaining to TNDs requires that the commission must treat any TND site plan proposal as a special permit request, which requires a public hearing, Stafford said

If approved by the commission, the plan would then go before the council for approval, Stafford said.

From there, contracts could be awarded to begin development.

This is the second site plan to be presented for Edenborne in recent years, Stafford said. The previous plan for the development fell through, amid tough economic times.

In other matters, the council voted to officially close the sprayground at Jambalaya Park for the season, effective Oct. 29.

City Building Official Jerry Self told the council that the popular water park is usually closed before the fall season due to cooler temperatures.