Council nixes zone change

• By KEVIN BLANCHARD
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Feb 27, 2008 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE — The City-Parish Council voted down a zoning change 7-2 Tuesday that would have allowed Mello Joy Coffee to build a new corporate headquarters, distribution facility and coffee roasting plant on Moss Street.

Also Tuesday, as part of Black History Month, the council recognized the first black elected officials in Lafayette Parish.

Mello Joy Coffee was seeking to rezone the property from general business to light industrial so that the coffee roasting plant would be allowed.

The property is just south of Interstate 10, with Schilling Distribution on one side and a neighborhood on the other. A private school’s property line is about 300 feet away.

The presence of that neighborhood is what many councilmen said drove their decision not to allow the zoning change. The Lafayette Zoning Commission and Planning, Zoning and Codes staff also recommended against the change.

Supporting the change were Councilmen Keith Patin and Jay Castille. Against the change were Councilmen William Theriot, Bruce Conque, Purvis Morrison, Don Bertrand, Jared Bellard, Kenneth Boudreaux and Brandon Shelvin.

Boudreaux said that while the only neighborhood resident who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting was in favor of the change, most he spoke to were not.

Mello Joy Coffee CEO Wayne Elmore told the council that his company would do anything and make any agreement to be good neighbors.

He said the roasters the company planned on putting at the facility are state-of-the-art, designed to greatly reduce the emissions from a typical coffee roasting plant.

Elmore warned the council that without a zoning change, Mello Joy Coffee would not be buying the property — but that the property would be going up for sale regardless.

The general business zoning would allow for other uses the neighborhood might not like — such as nightclubs or bars, Elmore said.

Boudreaux said some of the residents would rather take a chance on what happens with the property.

Bertrand said the case illustrates the need for a comprehensive land use plan for the parish. Under the current rules, the only way the council can control development to protect neighborhoods is by approving or not approving zoning changes, Bertrand said.