Exciting news for my new parish; getting closer to building a church

Catholic church gets zoning change approval from St. Tammany Parish Council

By Christine Harvey, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune

 The St. Tammany Parish Council on Thursday unanimously approved two zoning changes that will allow Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church to build a permanent home at the end of Judge Tanner Boulevard, north of Mandeville.


All 14 of the council's members voted for the changes after a presentation by Jeff Schoen, representing the Archdiocese of New Orleans. No one at the meeting opposed the plans, recommended to the council for approval in May by the parish's Zoning Commission.

The council's action will permit the construction of the 25,000-square-foot church, along with a cemetery and funeral home, on 54 acres at the end of Judge Tanner, east of Westwood Drive.

Councilman Marty Gould, who worked with the church and local residents on the plans, said it would have been unrealistic to keep the archdiocese from building a church and cemetery on its own land. He said the decision to allow the church to build is the right thing to do.

In 2009, the council upheld a Zoning Commission decision to reject a plan that included a church, a school and a 1,400-home development at the site.

Councilman Jerry Binder congratulated the church and the residents for working together, and Gould for not giving up. He noted that Fauntleroy & Latham Architects, which the archdiocese has chosen for the design, designed the rebuilding plans after Hurricane Katrina for his home church, Our Lady of Lourdes in Slidell, and said the firm did an excellent job.

Zoning on the two parcels will 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 church has been operating since its inception in 2006 in a temporary location, the former Mr. Fish pet store on the nearby U.S. 190 service road.

The project also includes building a bypass road, to be called Most Holy Trinity Drive, connecting Dove Park Road and Judge Tanner Boulevard. It is expected to keep traffic from clogging Westwood Drive, and Beech and Orleans streets.

The church will seat about 900 people, more than double the number now. The site also will 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 will be separated from the church by buffers of at least 100 feet, and buffers would be 50 feet on the north and south sides.

The funeral home and cemetery will be located east of the church. Though the project as a whole does affect wetlands, the vast majority of wetlands on the church-owned tract will be preserved under the current plan.

The archdiocese has agreed to donate 80 acres south of the church to the parish to remain as a wildlife preserve. It also will create two retention ponds to serve the church and help handle storm run-off from the north as part of a regional drainage system.

The project is not expected to begin for at least 12 to 18 months.