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 30, 2025
$1.00N
11TH YEAR, NO. 29
MovEBR road project key bridge to development plans Leila Pitchford AROUND ZACHARY
Election is May 3 The May 3 election has a couple of items for Zachary residents to vote on. City of Zachary Charter Amendments: The proposed amendments to the city’s Home Rule Charter include clearer information on council member residency requirements; having the mayor pro tempore rather than the mayor conduct council meetings; sets up a plan for who takes over if the mayor is unavailable or disabled; clarifies how pay for elected officials is to be adjusted; department heads don’t have to live in Zachary; allows the police chief to appoint a deputy city marshal; if the city council doesn’t approve the budget in 45 days, 90% of the previous year’s budget becomes the default; requires majority council approval to issue bonds and take on debt. The proposed amendments can be reviewed at www. cityofzachary.org or may be obtained from the Clerk of the City Council. District Attorney tax proposition (4 mills): To levy a 4-mill property tax, estimated to generate $24.4 million a year, for 20 years from 2025 to 2044, to fund the District Attorney’s Office.
BY FRANCES Y. SPENCER Contributing writer
One multimillion dollar infrastructure project addressing traffic, drainage, public safety and much more attracted residents and community leaders eager to hear how the widening of Port Hudson-Pride Road will carry solutions to issues facing Zachary and surrounding areas. The transportation and infrastructure improvements program, known as MovEBR, held an open house April 16 to provide updates and answer questions from the public. Program manager Travis Woodard said the $22 million Port Hudson-Pride Road project is in the engineering design phase. “Next, we’ll get into the detailed design of the geometry and the drainage, so that then we can start setting right-of-way limits for how much
standing safety and drainage concerns on a road with a history of accidents. “It’s a road where you saw the concern from the residents that came out tonight,” Woodard said. “There has been a number of accidents on the road over the years. There’s drainage concerns, there’s safety concerns, and so it’s nice to be able to take something like this and turn it into a real asset for the community.” East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council Mayor Pro Tempore Brandon Noel represents the surrounding district and he sees a big plus for people who live on the road and PHOTO BY FRANCES Y. SPENCER for those nearby who will benefit from the widened and improved MOVEBR communications team member Stephanie James engages corridor. concerned residents from the Alsen Heights community April 16 at an “We’ve seen substantial growth open house dedicated to the Port Hudson-Pride Road project. in Zachary over the past decade or two, and we all know that, while property needs to be acquired, so This major improvement plan I think we’re not going to see any we can move utilities and ultimate- has gained a high priority in Zachä See PLANS, page 2G ary, because it addresses longly build the road,” he said.
Council discusses zoning change requests BY OLIVIA MCCLURE Contributing writer
Broncos a powerful one-two finish with sub 11 second 100m sprints. The 4x100m relay team picked up the win in 42.68. Heading to the field, Keidrick Bailey was second in the discus (156-9) and won the shot put (53-4), and Isaac Johannsen won the pole vault (12-6). For the girls, the top two finishers in the 100m hurdles were freshman Serenity Early (14.83) and junior Keari Stewart
Discussion of two planning and zoning matters — a site plan for a mechanic shop and a request to rezone a home to a commercial classification — took up much of the Zachary City Council’s April 22 meeting. The council approved the site plan for the shop to be located at 9981 Main St. on a 3-2 vote. Council members — along with members of the Planning and Zoning Commission, which had discussed the project at a special meeting the night prior — had concerns about a few aspects of the plan and gave their approval contingent on changes being made to the building materials, parking lot and landscaping to better comply with the city development code. Where council members differed was on whether the applicant, Michael Dees, should have to follow a requirement to build a sidewalk in front of his business. The commission had recommended waiving the requirement, as there are no nearby sidewalks to connect to at the property, which is in a commercial stretch of Main Street east of Plank Road. But some council members said it’s important to hold everyone to the same standard. Council member Ambre DeVirgilio’s motion to approve the site plan included adherence to the sidewalk mandate. Brandy Westmoreland and John LeBlanc supported the motion while Jennifer Landry and James Graves were against it. Before the council took its vote, Dees complained that he has struggled to get information from the city’s planning and zoning office, which he said has hampered progress on his project. He said it is difficult to reach anyone by phone when he has questions, and responses to paperwork he sends in are often delayed. “I’ve gotten the runaround here, and I’m aggravated — I really am,” Dees told the council. “My shop’s going to be shut down because I have a deadline of the 27th of April, and I can’t even get concrete over here. I just keep getting pushed around.” Calesia Anderson, assistant planning and zoning specialist, defended her office’s handling of Dees’ requests but said “we definitely will be working on doing better on our part.” On the rezoning item, the council
ä See BRADY, page 4G
ä See ZONING, page 4G
Hilton helping pay for rings According to Jacques Doucet, of WAFB, LSU football player Chris Hilton Jr., who played at Zachary High, is donating a portion of his NIL money to the Zachary High School boy’s basketball team to help pay for their state championship rings.
Meet pets up for adoption Companion Animal Alliance of Baton Rouge is holding an adoption event from 1-3 p.m., Sunday, May 4, at The Pointe at Americana, 1250 Meeting St., Zachary.
STAFF PHOTO BY LEILA PITCHFORD
Shredding company employees help unload a vehicle at the Central Branch of the Bank of Zachary on April 26. The bank is hosting two more shredding events May 3 at the Main Branch, 4743 Main St., Zachary, and the Watson Branch, 32240 La. 16, Watson.
Shred Day on May 3
The Bank of Zachary is holding free community Shred Days from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 3, at the Watson Branch, 32240 La. 16, Watson; and the Main Branch, 4743 Main St., Zachary. Documents will be shredded on site.
ä See AROUND, page 2G
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
Zachary’s Serenity Early clears a hurdle in route to the win in the 100 meter hurdles at the District 4-5A meet on Thursday at A.W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge.
Racing through Zachary spring sports
The Zachary High baseball and softball teams concluded their 2025 seasons earlier this month. The ZHS softball team entered the Division I nonselect playoffs as a 24 seed and lost to ninth seed West Monroe on the road April 18. The girls finished the season 17-12 with a 4-1 district Warren record. Brady The ZHS baseball team also saw ZACHARY its state champiSPORTS onship dreams end April 18-19 at the Zachary Ball Park. The 14 seed Broncos hosted 19 seed Slidell in a best two out of three series. In the opener, Slidell squeaked past the Broncos 3-1 and on the following day completed the sweep (8-5). They will go on to play Northwood Shreveport in the regional round. The Broncos finished the season 22-12 with a 6-2 record in district.
Track, field teams impressive On April 24, the ZHS girls and boys track and field teams competed in the District 4-5A meet at Southern University. The boys and girls both finished second overall with several high finishes and left some impressive marks. Coach Chris Carrier noted
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
Zachary’s Isaac Johannsen launches into the air during an attempt in the pole vault at the District 4-5A meet. that “we qualified a lot of athletes for regionals next week and the goal is to qualify in as many events as possible to compete for not only individual but team championships at state.” The top four finishers in district qualified for regionals and the top three finishers at regional will compete at state. Caleb Hilton won the 100-meter (10.65) and 200-meter (21.30) and was second in the high jump (5-10). Tyler Jackson finished second in the 100m (10.89) giving the