Development plan up for vote

• By RICHARD BURGESS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Nov 4, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE — A 56-acre commercial and residential development is planned for a stretch of Ambassador Caffery Parkway between Dulles Drive and Guilbeau Road.

An ordinance was introduced at the City-Parish Council on Tuesday to give the property a “traditional neighborhood” zoning classification, which would allow for a dense mix of homes, apartments, offices, restaurants and retail.

The council is set to vote on the rezoning Nov. 24.

The project, dubbed Cafferytown, would be the first development under the city’s new “traditional neighborhood” zoning classification.

The City-Parish Council approved the new zoning classification in 2007 based in part on concerns that model mixed-use developments such as River Ranch in Lafayette had difficulty taking shape in areas with conventional zoning.

“Conventional zoning is about separation. This is about combining,” City-Parish Department of Planning, Zoning and Codes Director Eleanor Bouy said.

Traditional zoning divides the city into areas designated for different uses, allowing only single-family homes in some areas while allowing apartments or retail shops or industry in others.

The traditional neighborhood zoning classification allows for homes, apartments and businesses to come together in a dense development designed to be easily walked and with a portion of the development set aside for parks, ponds or green space.

Creating such a development under traditional zoning laws would generally require a long list of waivers from the zoning commission.

Bouy said the traditional neighborhood zoning classification “allows for all those flexibilities you don’t have in conventional zoning.”

The intent of the classification is to allow for developments similar to older neighborhoods, many of which developed naturally as mixed-use areas with shops, restaurants, apartments and homes.

The Cafferytown development is planned for an area that is now segmented into several different business and residential zoning classifications.

No representative from the Cafferytown development spoke Tuesday.