LAFAYETTE — Construction of a 127-acre commercial and residential development in north Lafayette could begin later this year, with the first homes available for sale by spring, a planner with the project said Tuesday.
The Lafayette City-Parish Council on Tuesday approved a zoning change to ease the development of Couret Farms, which is planned for a large tract south of West Pont des Mouton Road near Interstate 49.
Plans call for a mixed-use development of offices, parks, retail shops, restaurants and a range of housing from apartments to estate homes.
The project is being developed by the same team behind River Ranch in Lafayette and Sugar Mill Pond in Youngsville, developer Robert Daigle and community planner Steve Oubre.
“We are finalizing the master plan, and we are pretty excited about moving into the northern part of the city with this project,” Daigle told council members Tuesday.
Oubre said in a telephone interview before the meeting that construction of the first phase of houses at Couret Farms could begin by the end of the year and be available for sale by spring.
He said the plan calls for 496 single-family homes, 100,000 square feet of commercial space and about 32 acres of parks and open space.
A historic home on the site, the Couret House, will be used as a bed and breakfast, town hall or some other form of “community amenity,” Oubre said.
The large, mixed-use development is unique in north Lafayette, where conventional subdivisions have been the norm.
“It’s really garnered a tremendous amount of interest,” Oubre said.
The council voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a “traditional neighborhood” zoning classification for the project, making it easier to develop a dense, walkable development and a mix of residential and commercial uses.
The zoning classification also requires that land be set aside for parks and open space.
The city’s conventional zoning classifications often serve to separate residential and commercial areas, segmenting different areas of the city for different uses, and do not generally encourage compact developments that mix apartments, single-family homes and businesses.
The City-Parish Council approved the traditional neighborhood zoning classification in 2007 based in part on concerns that conventional zoning laws made it difficult to create mixed-use developments such as River Ranch.
