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Residents in BR neighborhood oppose parking lot expansion at nearby school
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BATON ROUGE - An empty lot sits across St. Joseph's Academy on Broussard Street. The school plans to ask the city to allow it to build a parking lot on the land, but residents in the quiet neighborhood nearby hope that those plans don't go through.
People in Hundred Oaks Farms neighborhood say a new parking lot would be unsightly and create noise.
"I think there will be noise, I think there will be slamming doors, it's supposedly going to exit right here in front of my house," resident Patrice Ellis said.
Patrice Ellis has lived in her house for more than four decades. She says the school's idea to turn the empty land into a parking lot is not welcome in the neighborhood.
"I don't think anyone can say they want a parking lot directly across from their home," Ellis said.
Ellis says students parking on neighborhood streets is the evidence that the school has to do something. She just wishes they'd consider something else, somewhere else.
"It is their land, but it is zoned for A1 residential lot, and that's what it should be used for, we feel like," Ellis said.
This is not the first time the school has tried to change their property into a parking lot. Neighbors say they will do whatever it takes to prevent this from happening.
"Don't want my home, that I have been here since 1978, to devalue, and have the nuisance of a parking lot across the street," Ellis said.
St. Joseph's declined to speak with WBRZ today. All they would say is that anyone with concerns should attend the Planning Commission's meeting on April 18.
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