The city of St. George is defending its proposed rezoning of land at the Pecue Lane interchange at Interstate 10, which is at the center of a politically contentious lawsuit.
The city filed a memorandum on Tuesday opposing the temporary restraining order, signed in July, that prevents St. George from adopting or enforcing a proposed ordinance that would rezone a nearly 60-acre parcel, part of the Kleinpeter family’s land, which is the basis of a lawsuit from LRK LLC.
The same lawsuit also calls into question the incorporation date for the city of St. George, with LRK asking a judge to legally declare a date. This part of the lawsuit prompted the Baton Rouge city-parish government to request to join the lawsuit and in turn caused an internal political battle to erupt.
The latest filing this week by St. George only addresses the zoning aspect of the lawsuit, as there is a motion hearing regarding the rezoning temporary restraining order on Aug. 11.
LRK claims the city’s rezoning action would be an instance of downzoning, which can restrict future size and density of development, and is asking a judge to declare any restrictive zoning to its tract as “unconstitutional and unenforceable,” because St. George doesn’t have an official incorporation date.
Attorney Mary Erlingson, on behalf of St. George, argues that LRK’s request is based on “speculative future injuries” and emphasizes that no development permit or site plans have been rejected.
“Any alleged injury depends upon future development plans, future permitting decisions and future market conditions,” the filing states.
On April 28, St. George approved a complete overhaul of its zoning structure, which originally was outlined by the East Baton Rouge city-parish government. St. George officials took the 45 zoning districts it previously had and consolidated them into 16.
Following the overhaul, LRK argues that St. George assigned the landowner a more restrictive classification compared to its previous classification.
LRK’s lawsuit also takes aim at St. George for doing a zoning overhaul before completing the St. George 2050 Comprehensive Plan.
In St. George’s filing this week, the city’s lawyer argues that the Louisiana statutes referenced in the lawsuit do not require adopting a “comprehensive plan” before zoning regulations and argues that the city has a zoning plan required by statutes.
“The fact that St. George is preparing a future long-range policy document does not mean St. George lacks a comprehensive plan as they serve different goals,” the filing states.
R. Loren Kleinpeter, attorney for LRK, said he would be filing a response to the new memorandum Friday afternoon, in response to a request for comment from The Advocate.
