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After a handful of deferrals, plans for proposed Staring Lane subdivision approved

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BATON ROUGE - A long-sought subdivision along Staring Lane was given the green light earlier this month by the planning commission after months of outstanding drainage issues.

Silverside Cove, a 75-zero-lot line, 22-acre project along Staring Lane near Perkins Road, was approved during the Nov. 15 meeting of the planning commission. It will not require approval from the Metro Council.

According to planning commission documents for the November meeting, Silverside Cove, which sits entirely in the AE floodzone, had been deferred four times since July.

During the commission's September meeting, where a decision on the plans was delayed for the third time, the developer said there were unresolved issues with the Department of Public Works surrounding drainage.

"Part of our plan would be to widen the creek and increase the flood storage there," Mickey Robertson of MR Engineering & Surveying, LLC, told commissioners in September. "And DPW did not approve that, has not approved that to this point."

Those issues appeared to have been resolved ahead of a commission vote Nov. 15.

"The Department of Public Works and the subdivision office has recommended approval as presented tonight," Ryan Holcomb, the city's Planning Director, said during the meeting.

Minutes before getting approval, Robertson explained the resolution reached with DPW.

"Previously, we were going to construct some improvements in the Dawson Creek right-of-way," Robertson said. "DPW has a long-range plan for the improvements that they want to make to Dawson Creek. So, we have placed our detention, our mitigation outside of that 300-foot right-of-way."

Robertson said the site's detention capabilities will also be beefed up to reduce the flow of water by 10%.

Holcomb said a revised drainage impact study for Silverside Cove will be required once construction plans are submitted.

That decision came two days before the zoning committee also shut down another of Robertson's projects, Maple Cove, a 60-lot residential proposal along Burbank Drive.

In addition to sitting entirely in the AE floodzone as well, Maple Cove would have been built on wetlands. The planning commission denied the project in September over flooding concerns. After continued opposition from nearby residents, the zoning committee deleted the item from the Nov. 17 agenda.

While a win for concerned homeowners, the project may not be dead forever.

"The neighbors need to understand the developer can go back to the drawing table and come back at a future date with a new application," councilman Rowdy Gaudet, who moved to delete the item, said during the Wednesday meeting.

Robertson did not respond to WBRZ's request for comment Monday.

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