A local developer’s plan to build a construction and demolition debris landfill near Welsh appears off the table after the applicant pulled its request with the Jeff Davis Parish Police Jury.

A separate request to rezone property on La 383 near Iowa for a small engine repair business is also dead after police jurors denied a request from the property owner.

Police Jury President Steve Eastman said Wednesday the applicant withdrew its rezoning application request for the proposed landfill after police jurors received emails, texts and phone calls from residents opposed to the plan.

Police Juror Butch Lafargue, who represents the district, said he only had one person in favor of the new landfill. That person was concerned about the future of the existing parish landfill which also takes commercial and demolition debris, he said.

Sweetlake Land and Oil Company approached the Police Jury last month about rezoning 86-acres north of the Jeff Davis Parish Landfill on Landfill Road near Welsh from agriculture to heavy industrial for a proposed construction and demolition debris landfill.

The rezoning was needed so the company could move forward with its permit application with the DEQ, according to Environmental Consultant Blaine Johnson.

Johnson told police jurors the landfill would collect construction and demolition debris classified as Type 3, including concrete, wood waste and yard waste. The landfill would not accept items with asbestos, household waste, paint or oils, according to Johnson.

Claude A. Leach of Sweetlake Land and Oil said the need for the landfill was brought to light following recent hurricanes in Southwest Louisiana.

In other matters, the Police Jury unanimously denied a request to rezone property near Iowa to allow for a small engine repair business.

Mark Geissler requested rezoning property located at 17825 Hwy. 383 from agriculture to light industrial to allow for a small engine repair business.

Robert Denison, of Iowa, spoke against the rezoning saying the property was divided in 2006 with restrictions that all tracts were to be used for construction of single family dwellings with no commercial use allowed.

Legal counsel Lance Person said the restrictions were an agreement made between two private parties when the land was sold and not the Police Jury. The Police Jury cannot enforce agreements made between private parties, he said.

Person said the Police Jury considers the health, safety and welfare when considering rezoning issues. A private agreement is not considered as a reason to approve or deny a rezoning request, he said.

Denison said the reason the property was restricted is because it was a residential development.

Having a small engine repair business in a residential area would likely affect the values of home, increase traffic and open the area to further development of light industrial businesses, according to Denison.

Eastman said there was a miscommunication in the way the designations were written and that the property could be rezoned commercial and restricted to a small engine repair business.

Curtis Zeissler, who owns the property, said the focus of the business would be repair, rebuild and maintain small engine repairs including water pumps, lawn mowers, off road motorcycles, ATVs and utility vehicles. The business would be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and engines would be tested and operated during business hours only. All vehicles would be stored inside the shop building to keep the property clean and presentable to the surrounding community.