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Development expansion has neighbors worried about flooding, traffic

2 years 8 months 1 week ago Monday, July 19 2021 Jul 19, 2021 July 19, 2021 7:00 PM July 19, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - There's growing opposition to new developments as projects go before Planning and Zoning boards this week in Baton Rouge. 

The @Highland development at the corner of Highland Road and Bluebonnet Boulevard is looking to expand. But people who live around there say flooding is too much of a risk.

Developers are anxious to get moving on to the next phase of the @Highland development. If the land is rezoned from General Office High Rise and Light Commercial Two to Small Planned Unit Development, that could include 240 apartments, office space, retail, and a restaurant with a drive-thru.

Monday afternoon, a group of concerned homeowners met to discuss how this could negatively impact their community.

"Thousands of residents requesting that the Metro Council stop the proposed development of @Highland," Brent Honore said.

Honore and his neighbors say their main concerns are flooding and traffic. They say, the water already has nowhere to go.

"The back of my property has been underwater for eight weeks," Charles Perilloux said. "In 2016 it was underwater for six weeks."

There are plans in the works throughout the parish that might help with flooding issues in this area, but the process is a long one. Honore says plans should be completed before new ones are made.

Perilloux says the busy intersection is already congested as it is, and fears adding hundreds of new cars to the mix will cause more issues. He says the only way out of the @Highland development now is a right-hand turn.

"With 240 apartments, 480 cars coming and going, the amount of turns and u-turns is just... It's a major safety issue," he said.

The development goes before Zoning on Wednesday. It was narrowly approved by Planning last month, 5-4.

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