Judge Connie M. Aucoin set a hearing for Sept. 12 to consider the merits of an injunction filed by a Davis Heights resident against Parish President Matthew Jewell. The injunction alleges that Jewell and the St. Charles Parish Planning and Zoning Department failed to properly notify residents in Davis Heights of the zoning commission’s Aug. 1 meeting, in which the commission approved IMTT’s rezoning of an area behind the Davis Heights neighborhood to a light manufacturing district.
Mark Dufrene, who has lived on Evelyn Drive for the last 30 years, filed the injunction on Aug. 27. He alleged in the injunction that the planning and zoning department failed to post a sign on the River Road property at least 10 days prior to the hearing date, and that the department failed to send notice of the public hearing by certified mail at least 10 days in advance to all abutting property owners, which is required by the parish’s zoning ordinance.
Dufrene said that certified mail requires proof of delivery and a signature. Residents who received letters from the planning and zoning department were not asked to sign for them, leading some residents to mistake the letter for junk mail, he said.
Michael Albert, director of the planning and zoning department, said all property owners abutting the subject site were sent a direct mailing via certified mail. The property was also posted with notice of the meeting and an advertisement was placed in the paper with the meeting notice, he said in an email.
Dufrene said the goal of the injunction is to send IMTT’s rezoning application back to the planning and zoning department. Many residents in Davis Heights said the events surrounding IMTT’s purchase of the property behind the neighborhood and its rezoning application have not been transparent. For starters, residents said, IMTT’s purchase of the property in 2023 under the name of Luling Exchange, not IMTT, felt dishonest.
Matthew Rosenboom, IMTT’s chief financial officer, said the company usually names new entities after the location of a new development.
