The Natchitoches Parish Council voted to approve Ordinance 015-2022 at a special called meeting on Aug. 22 after a dispute was brought forth regarding a proposed Dollar General in Fairview Alpha and ownership of the land at the Aug. 15 meeting.
The concern was not over the construction of the store in the community, which was described as a food desert. The concern was for a right-of-refusal that was supposed to be offered to the original landowner’s heirs when the land was no longer being used for the site of a school by the Natchitoches Parish School District. The developer spoke to the Council as well, claiming that the land came with a clean title, so the Council tabled the item until the matter could be looked into further.
The ordinance itself would affect a zoning change from an Industrial-Agriculture (I-A) District to a Business- 3 (B-3) District for the purpose of a Dollar General store on a 1.381-acre tract that is being divided from an approximately 7.221-acre parent tract (parcel # 0030000700) with a variance for parking lot requirement reduction to 30 parking spaces. The property is located in Section 3, Township 11 North, Range 8 West with a physical address of 220 Highway 71-84, Coushatta, LA 71019, as shown on the Survey attached hereto, approved by the Parish Planning Commission on July 11, 2022.
The determination was made that the land was sold and bought with a legitimate clear title and that the right-of-refusal built into the original sale of the land was only for the original landowner and only for a period of 10 years.
