Denham Springs & Livingston Parish

[dan326]

$28M apartment community planned near Juban Road in Livingston Parish 

CST Land Developers, LLC, today announced plans for a $28 million apartment community in Livingston Parish called the Reserve at Juban Lakes

[richyb83]

Hard to believe it's been nearly a year since the last post here....Watson is still not incorporated ; would be curious to see the population number when it is?....Denham Springs (10,000 in the incorporated city limits)  & Walker (6,000?).....that TRIANGLE of growth has to easily over 1/2 Livingston Parish Total population of 140,000.

Range Ave @ I-12 / Bass Pro area is a mess!    The Roundabouts I-12/Walker seem to be working out.....

From country pine forest to sprawling suburb: This parish shows how fast Louisiana can change

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_a69151b6-6337-11ec-a1bc-f7700f06ef32.html

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by richyb83

[dan326]

It's crazy to think the parish is possibly 140k population but it's biggest cities are only 16k.

[cajun]

Livingston needs to improve its infrastructure.   It's not a small rural parish anymore.   Can't act like one.

Narrow two lane roads and clogged old creeks aren't going to meet their needs anymore.    Drainage and road infrastructure is just as important as schools to Livingston parish.

Edited January 12, 2022 by cajun

[richyb83]

TRUE Cajun!

This insane 711 lot proposal would quadruple the population of tiny French Settlement ...doesn't sound like this will happen

Talk of a 711-lot subdivision raises alarms in Livingston Parish: 'We have to do something'

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/livingston_tangipahoa/article_6335e296-b50e-11ec-ada2-8754b231ed02.html

Potential plans for a new 711-lot subdivision just outside French Settlement have local and parish officials calling for tougher restrictions on developers — even though a proposal has not been formally submitted.

The French Settlement Board of Aldermen passed a resolution last week formally opposing the "residential subdivision located on Louisiana Highway 444." Aldermen also requested the Livingston Parish Council support a moratorium on new neighborhoods — an option some members have voiced in recent meetings — as local residents have fought back against developments they say would ruin their communities.

Plans for such a subdivision have not been submitted to either the parish planning commission or council, administrators for both said. But several parish council members acknowledged they are aware of a subdivision plan circulating on social media that has led constituents to contact them with their concerns. 

"Is there something out there coming? Oh, yes," said Councilman Gerald McMorris. "Am I opposed to it? Yes."

French Settlement's resolution claims the development would increase flooding, worsen traffic problems and overwhelm schools with an influx of new students, among other fears.

Although the local government has no control over properties located outside the village's corporation limits, the aldermen said it was their responsibility to act “when conditions of irresponsible growth and development adversely affect the health, safety and welfare of the people.”

"There's no way our infrastructure could withstand that amount of growth," said Mayor Haley Unbehagen. 

The resolution names developers D.R. Horton and Chris Ingram of Ascension Properties.

However, Ingram, who has developed at least 10 subdivisions and hundreds of lots since 1989, said he is not selling the property to D.R. Horton.

"That’s a fact," he said. "I have never sold a piece of property to D.R. Horton."

[richyb83]

Finally!   Now you will have a  Denham Springs "By-pass "   to the East connecting I-10 to the Magnolia Bridge & Central! With a Round about at Hwy 190

Juban north extension project begins in Livingston Parish

https://www.wafb.com/2022/06/28/livingston-parish-juban-north-extension-project-begins/

“It’s going to be a four lane with a grass median. It’s about one mile and it will extend where Juban hits 190. You will cross the overpass, go due North to Lockhart and Burgess,”

[richyb83]

No real surprise here....

Baton Rouge suburbs continue population rise amid growth fights, rules changes

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/suburbs-continue-population-rise-amid-growth-fights-changes/article_17d48648-e45d-11ed-ad59-7bad7e136abe.html

[cajun]

This is alarming - people are relocating within the metro area, but we aren't seeing a lot of growth from other regions.   Meaning our suburban growth is coming directly at the expense of EBR because of problems within that parish when we need to attract new people to the area.  

I fully expected West Baton Rouge to see growth.  Keep in mind that this is a snapshot of about 2.5 years.   So this 3% growth in WBR would translate to about 8% growth per decade.  That's beyond the US average of about 6%.  That's sort of alarming considering that the I-10 bridge is already so far beyond capacity.    My guess is that WBR is evolving to having a more self-sustaining economy, with more of their newer residents commuting to either WBR or another west bank parish (like Iberville) and more of them staying within West Baton Rouge for their retail and healthcare needs.   I suspect the massive growth in manufacturing and industrial jobs on the west bank is behind a lot of that residential growth.    Good for them, and good for Baton Rouge.   That counts towards the regional GDP, and it is always nice to see development that isn't as dependent on I-10.   But it's time to build that new bridge.

What happened in Pointe Coupee to see a stark decline?  I'd expect parishes like that to be fairly static having not gained or lost any major employers.   I would expect approximately 0% growth plus or minus 1%.   I know a huge portion of the recent development on False River are vacation homes, but being down almost 3% is kind of a shock unless the northern end of that Parish is in decline.   I know that Pointe Coupee clamped down on developers after DLSD started sniffing around - they issued a moratorium on development for about 6 months to a year, then plagarized some of West Feliciana's development rulebook to fight mobile homes and handle some retail development issues around New Roads.   The newer developments I see there are larger estate-sized homes of 1-2 acres or more.   That's not going to add a lot of population, but it's easier to manage from a drainage perspective.   Unless the rest of the area is aging out and dying, I would expect it to be around 0% growth, not negative.

Good work for Livingston and Ascension for recovering so quickly after the floods.   Looks like they are still running full steam ahead, but without any real investment in infrastructure.   And I know both of them have instituted a "development moratorium" similar to Pointe Coupee in 2021.   Ascension's going to need that new high school they are building off Parker Road.   Unfortunately they are going to need a lot of drainage, park/recreation, and road infrastructure too.   And I'm just not seeing it materialize anywhere near fast enough.

Livingston's 4% growth in 3 years is especially astounding.   That's not sustainable long term; they will have issues with traffic and flooding if that keeps up.   If that continues, they'll see well over 9% growth over the decade.   That's REALLY hard to keep up with if you have a responsive government that builds schools and roads quickly.    They don't have that.    In fact, they better start building a new/expanding an existing high school somewhere around Walker.   That's insane growth, especially for Louisiana.   9-10% growth in a decade was about what the northshore of Lake Ponchatrain saw in 2000-2010, and it took Katrina to make that happen.   Looks like it's coming directly at Baton Rouge's expense too.

Looks like Baton Rouge is finally starting to run out of developable space, and I'm sure the recent spike in crime is not helping.   I would expect that a robust public school network in St. George would reverse that trend a good bit.    Central and Zachary aren't big enough to carry the whole parish.   But Central, Zachary, and St. George combined might be.    I'm constantly astounded by how inept and ineffective current leadership is in EBR.  It's a stark contrast from the Holden administration.    They can't even get parking meters installed.   Parking meters are too complex of a public works project for EBR to manage right now.   It's a very bad place to be for a parish that size.  Crime is having a major corrosive impact on EBR.  It needs to be dealt with ASAP.

Surprised West Feliciana allowed any development at all.  But I know there have been a lot of attempts.  They have very good public schools and almost no crime, and they are 20 minutes away from the big industrial and energy provider employers in north Baton Rouge, New Roads, and Scotlandville.  They are more strict about development than anyone in the region though.  It's extremely difficult to build anything there.    Much easier for developers to get things going in nearby Zachary, which is quickly filling up.

East Feliciana and St. Helena are sad.   They can be so much more if their schools were better.   I really wish we'd set up the Darlington reservoir and make a permanent lake up there - it would drive a lot of development in the area and help them grow, not to mention become a regional recreation hub.

Edited May 8, 2023 by cajun

[dan326]

Good assessment. I was thinking the same thing, EBR is draining into surrounding parishes.

[richyb83]

What we know about the planned Livingston Parish airport

https://www.businessreport.com/featured/what-we-know-about-the-planned-livingston-parish-airport

South of I-12 near Satsuma

quote:

---

The Livingston Parish airport plans are progressing, with groundbreaking tentatively scheduled for April.

“We’re about to go out and get bids for clearing the area and dirt work,” says Delia Taylor, chair of the Livingston Parish Airport District, a volunteer board created in 2016.

She says the dirt work will begin this month. The original plan was for a larger-scale project but that idea proved too costly.

The current plan involves a phased approach. Phase one includes a 4,200-foot runway. Taylor says the final product will have a 5,000-foot runway with a larger apron and a full parallel taxiway.

“We have to take it from a phased approach,” Taylor says. “It is the most economical approach to deal with.”

Taylor says the plan is to complete all groundwork before the end of the year and begin work on the runway before the end of the fiscal year.

“We’re very optimistic,” Taylor says. “It has been a very long process. We’ve gone through the process meticulously. We feel good about where we’re heading.”

Earlier estimates put the phase one cost between $13 million and $15 million. As of Monday, the district has invested $10 million in the project, Taylor says. She declines to give an updated estimate because she says the “numbers keep changing.”