Proposed cemetery worries nearby neighborhood plagued with flooding
BATON ROUGE - A proposed development next to a neighborhood with flooding issues has one man taking the lead to put a stop to it.
Ty Turner reached out to 2 On Your Side when he learned that a funeral home and cemetery were looking to occupy the land behind his house. He's concerned that the development will lower his property value and cause more flooding issues.
"We had the major flood in 2016, and then this street floods anytime we have rain," Turner said.
It's not just his street, Lafitte Drive, but his backyard. Each time there's significant rain, he says water creeps up to his house and will sit there for days at a time.
The eight and a half acres for sale behind Turner's house in the 14000 block of Florida Boulevard could be the future home of the new Resting Place Funeral Home and Cemetery. That is if the Planning Commission votes to rezone the land from rural to light commercial.
Just beyond Turner's house is an unmaintained servitude, it is not a drainage ditch. He fears that even more water will flood his property if the land is developed, built up, and trees are torn down.
"We've all had flooding since I've lived here, it's just getting worse and worse," Turner said.
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Turner has been working on getting his neighbors involved by going door-to-door to tell them about what's happening and having them sign a petition in opposition to the development. He hopes the developer will take a closer look.
"Well, to the developer I ask, 'would he want it in his backyard, would he want his backyard a cemetery with water back up into his house?'" he said.
The proposal is going up before the Planning and Zoning Commission on July 19.