ATTENTION RESIDENTS AND COMMUTERS OF YOUNGSVILLE AND SURROUNDING AREAS:: 

An out-of-town developer has proposed a neighborhood with 116 3,450 sqft 2-story townhomes (58 6,900 sqft multi-family dwellings) to be built on 23 acres at the corner of Fortune Road and Youngsville Hwy (on the triangle scrap piece of land with drains and gas/pipelines running all across it, behind the Shell/Circle K station, across from Sabal Palms/Meches).  All neighboring homes were provided with a copy of the plat prior to the hearing at City Hall to approve or deny the plat, however anyone who ever travels anywhere near this area - on Youngsville Hwy, Fortune Rd, Ambassador Extension, Bonin, etc. and anyone whose drainage runs through here — from before Larriviere to Bonin and beyond— will be impacted.

The main issues are flooding and traffic.   This area is located immediately adjacent to a floodway, and is 99% in a flood plain. We knew when building that this area was primarily agriculture so it is a risk we all took, but it was on the belief that builders and the city were doing everything in their power to avoid flooding.  I personally would never want to build somewhere knowing there was any potential to flood my neighbor. The plat says per LCG there’s an appeal for the flood map, but it is unclear what that means — I emailed LCG for that explanation, and for the survey of land for flood plain done prior to Meadow Bend and Meadows Bend Lakes construction and have yet to receive a response.. portions of MBL built prior to the 2016 flood are built at a 24ft BFE. The remaining homes were built at 25 ft BFE.  The proposed neighborhood is 25ft BFE.. at the time of the survey, that parcel was zoned for agriculture and potential residents were assured nothing would ever be built there (for a multitude of reasons).  In the Master Plan from 2015, that area is zoned for agriculture, however the Master Plan gives land owners the freedom to do what they want with their land.  In 2017, after completion of MB Lakes, and AFTER THE WHOLE AREA HAD ALREADY FLOODED, in act 2017-00019690 Circle K (who had merged with another company earlier in 2017 in act 2017-00031778) transferred ownership of the agricultural portion of the parcel to an investment company owned by by someone with the same name as the NAFG signer— and rezoning to residential was requested.  Circle K maintained ownership of the commercial portion of the parcel.  
There is currently a V Drain (with 7 Quarter Drains) that runs parallel to Fortune Rd up to the gas station which is covered in concrete on the proposed plat.  In 2011, 30’ servitude on either side of the drain was dedicated to the city of Youngsville for improvements to drainage in act 2011-00005362.  In the transfer of ownership to investment company in 2017, they fail to mention the dedicated portion of land.  On the plat it states “to be relocated” for this drain, but they do not propose an area to relocate the drainage.  There is no area on the plat sufficient enough to relocate this drain or account for the amount of water this land retains.  
Any alteration in drainage will affect what is in front of it and what’s behind it, not just the immediate area. We can’t ignore the facts and just point to the future drainage improvements in various locations (not at this location) and say well this *should* help with drainage in the proposed development area.  Even though builders complied with flood ordinances in the construction of Meadowbend and MB Lakes, it stretched the flood plain, and is clearly shown on an overlay of the 2018 flood map vs the previous map on the LSUAg site (the cover photo).  The previous floodplain map was done years ago when the whole area was primarily agricultural use.  As these neighborhoods were being built (with land surveys and engineers involved), and the area was no longer intended for agriculture, this should have at least contained the floodplain— no matter what the previous floodplain standards were.  The commercial property in front of Copperfield and Meadowbend that was already planned for has yet to be built.  Prior to Meadowbend construction, an already existing concern with/ knowledge of flooding for this particular area is noted in article from 2011 quoting Youngsville City Council members (can be found online).  

Apart from this just being an unfit parcel of land, approval of this plat would be allowing growth to exceed the pace of infrastructure construction for this area. 
One entrance to the proposed neighborhood would be constructed on Fortune (over an existing hazardous material pipeline..).  The City Engineer instructed an entrance on Youngsville Hwy to also be added.  This particular development would add 116-232+ vehicles on a road that already can’t accommodate the current amount of traffic. 116-232+ vehicles entering traffic at one small corner.  116 homes on less than 20 acres of land is high density.  Extensive studies were done in the area.  The point of building a roundabout at that very intersection is to ease traffic congestion that has already been identified.  There is 17’ along Youngsville Hwy allotted for the expansion of the road on the plat for sometime in the future?  These improvements *should* help with traffic… 

This denial of the proposal is in no way meant to stifle/discourage the growth of the city as a whole, or even this portion of Youngsville, as long as the place, time and conditions are appropriate.

Other areas of Youngsville should be considered that could accommodate such a dense development without negatively impacting surrounding areas that are already actively working to adapt to the growth.. we shouldn’t be increasing resident commute time for residents when we just bought land to decrease it, and we shouldn’t knowingly increase the probability of existing homes flooding.

 It is obvious that this poorly planned proposal came from someone who does not live here.  We need to make sure that interest of people who actually live, work and vote here remain a priority.