>>>Just one of the many, many steps that is required as my new parish continues efforts to finally build a permanent home. This is a big growing vibrant parish and will serve the community for a very long time.
Most Holy Trinity Church plans win approval of St. Tammany zoning board
By Christine Harvey, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
A parking lot full of cars and a roomful of people holding signs usually do not bode well for a developer requesting a zoning change in St. Tammany Parish.
Those attending the parish's Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday, however, showed nothing but love for plans to build a permanent home for Most Holy Trinity Church north of Mandeville.
The Zoning Commission unanimously recommended two zoning changes to allow the 25,000-square-foot church, and a cemetery and funeral home, on 54 acres at the end of Judge Tanner Boulevard, east of Westwood Drive.
Jeff Schoen, representing the Archdiocese of New Orleans, provided the details of the plan to the commissioners, who asked only a couple of questions before taking separate votes to recommend that the Parish Council approve the two requests.
Zoning on both parcels would change from A-1, which allows one home per five acres, to a community-based facilities district for the church and a public facilities district for the funeral home and cemetery.
The Parish Council will make the final decision on the changes.
Not a single person spoke against the plan, and those in favor let their signs do the talking. A neighborhood meeting the week before at the church's temporary home, the former Mr. Fish pet store on the nearby U.S. 190 service road, likely told residents all they needed to know about the project beforehand.
The project includes building a bypass road, to be called Most Holy Trinity Drive, connecting Dove Park Road and Judge Tanner Boulevard that is expected to keep traffic from clogging Westwood Drive and Beech and Orleans streets.
The church would seat about 900 people, more than double the number now, and the site would include a family life center, a pastoral center and a rectory, with all of the structures totaling 47,000 square feet. The neighborhood to the east would be separated from the church by buffers at least 100 feet, and buffers would be 50 feet on the north and south sides.
The funeral home and cemetery would be located to the east of the church. Though the project as a whole does impact wetlands, the vast majority would be preserved under the current plan.
Councilman Marty Gould contacted the Rev. Rodney Bourg, the church's pastor, last year about plans to build a permanent home for Most Holy Trinity, which opened in 2006. The discussion followed the archdiocese's decision in 2009 to abandon plans for a 1,400-home traditional neighborhood development, which included a new church and a school, at the same location.
The people who live nearby fought the plan, citing the increased traffic and potential drainage problems. The commission ultimately denied the project a permit, plus the archdiocese had difficulty obtaining a wetlands permit on the land from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The archdiocese has agreed this time around to donate 80 acres south of the church to the parish to remain as a wildlife preserve. It also would create two detention ponds to serve the church's grounds needs but, help handle drainage from the north as part of a regional system.
Schoen has said the project would not begin for at least 12 to 18 months.
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