THE ZACHA Y
ADVOCATE& T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, A p r i l 16, 2025
11TH YEAR, NO. 27
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Zachary commission denies 2 planning & zoning proposals BY OLIVIA MCCLURE Contributing writer
Opponents of a proposed apartment complex and a request to rezone a house to a commercial classification scored victories at the Zachary Planning and Zoning Commission’s April 7 meeting, where members took a stand against both requests. The commission’s votes serve as recommendations to the City Council, which could make final
Leila Pitchford AROUND ZACHARY
Road project meeting set April 16 The Port Hudson-Pride Road Project is holding a public open house 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 16, at the Zachary Branch Library, 1900 Church St. This project proposes adding paved shoulders, reconstructing existing open ditches and installing sidewalks on both sides of the roadway. During the meeting, the public will be able to review conceptual images of the proposed improvements and ask questions of the project team.
decisions on the items later this month. Several people showed up to speak against a site plan for Sherwood Park, which would include 144 apartment units on about 9 acres of property in the 5300 and 5400 blocks of Lower Zachary Road. A parade of speakers — including residents and the owners of Stoneybrook, a nearby apartment complex — cited concerns about increasing traffic and lowering
property values in the area. Byron Burkhalter, the project applicant, and Erik Piazza, an attorney, insisted the development would be an asset to Zachary. They pushed back against several people’s suggestions that Sherwood Park would participate in the federal low-income housing voucher program commonly known as Section 8. “There’s no intent to do that here,” Piazza said. “It’s being discussed to put fear in everyone’s
mind that this is going to be a junky apartment complex and fall apart and turn into a bad neighborhood. This project is almost $40 million — that’s $268,000 per unit. It will not, at those numbers, decrease property values.” Calesia Anderson, assistant planning and zoning specialist, said her office recommended approval of the plan. “It is compatible with surrounding uses, and the site plan doesn’t have any deficiencies,” she told the
commission. Still, commissioners had questions about whether the site plan met all development code requirements. A key concern they raised was the fact that the plan calls for only one exit. It was unclear whether the commission’s vote against the apartment plan is final or if the matter will be forwarded to the City Council as is usually the case.
ä See ZONING, page 3G
BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG MOVES
ä See AROUND, page 4G
The Junior ROTC Apex group dance to the sounds of ‘Bunny Hop’ by Da Entourage.
Warren Brady
Students perform in Zachary High’s Lip Sync Battle
ZACHARY SPORTS
Zachary sports honors, achievements are plentiful Lot of things going on as seasons are hitting the stretch run. Where to start? Let’s go backward and give a shout out to the state championship winning Zachary High basketball teams — boys and girls. The honors start locally with coach Tami McCure, junior Ava Ramond and senior Tiarra McPipe earning All Metro honors. All three extended the awards statewide when they were all named to the Louisiana Sport Writers Association AllState team. Similarly, sophomore Ian Edmond and senior Xavier Ferguson were both named to the All-Metro team. They both picked up first team all-district 4-5A. For Ferguson, this was his second time making the AllDistrict first team. Both were also selected by the LSWA for the All-State team with Ferguson making the first team and Edmond earning honorable mention. Next up is the ZHS baseball team (21-12) that split two games with Central and lost a home game to Catholic on April 10. At the time of writing, they
PHOTOS BY SONYA GOSS
The group Our Priorities performing to the song of ‘No’ by Meghan Trainor.
ä See BRADY, page 4G
School Board members perform as the Guru and the Crew to ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams. ä More photos PAGE 2G
Students performed April 10 in Zachary High’s Lip Sync Battle. The battle was sponsored by the school’s choir department. The Lip Sync Battle was won by the group Game Over. In addition to students, members of the Zachary School Board performed as the Guru and the Crew to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.