Caddo Parish Commission moves Ring doorbell vote, approves Red River tollway construction

A three-hour Caddo Parish commission meeting Tuesday evening ended with only three agenda items being voted on.

The other 25 ordinances and resolutions - including a vote on a $100,000 Ring doorbell surveillance camera distribution program and a vote on an art mural project that would see community-centric poetry placed in each district - will be voted on at either the next regular meeting or a special meeting to be held before the next regular meeting, commissioners decided.

Commissioner Ken Epperson introduced a resolution to the Commission that would have sent an official request from the Parish to the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to consider the negative impact of oil and gas drilling in urban Caddo areas and implement rules to combat those negative impacts.

That resolution did not gain enough support from the commission and failed in a six to four vote. Seven approvals were required.

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Commissioners approved a measure that will allow the Caddo Parish Attorney’s Office to request an opinion from the Louisiana State Attorney General’s Office on whether the Commission has the authority to operate as a Planning and Zoning Commission.

The commission is seeking this opinion because it would like to repeal Parish’s Unified Development Code and the Parish Attorney’s Office suggested the current procedures may require the Parish Planning Commission to recommend its repeal before the process can be initiated. They are trying to ensure their course of action can withstand a court challenge, according to the resolution’s fact sheet.

“Making final zoning changes without following the process outlined in current zoning law may make the commission’s decisions subject to challenge in court,” that same fact sheet reads.

In other business, the commissioners approved an agreement with the construction company Tim James, Inc. to build a privately owned tollway over the Red River.

Kendrick Dante writes for the USA Today Network and is a government watchdog reporter in Shreveport, Louisiana. He enjoys cooking, concerts, and content. Email him at kdbrown1@gannett.com or connect on Twitter @kendrickdante.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Caddo Parish Commission moves Ring doorbell vote, approves tollway