Meeting Summary

This was the St. Charles Parish Planning & Zoning Commission's regular meeting on May 7, 2026. Commissioners approved four routine minor-subdivision/waiver requests with little discussion, but the meeting's main event was a lengthy, often contentious public hearing on a proposed ordinance (2026-3-ORD) to define "data centers" in the zoning code and permit them in the M1 (light industrial) and M2 (heavy industrial) districts. Parish President Matthew Jewell and Planning & Zoning staff said no data-center project is currently proposed for the parish, but residents, an ex-officio commission member, and a council member pushed back hard on noise, buffer, and enforcement gaps before the commission voted to forward the ordinance to the Parish Council with staff-proposed changes.

Watch Items

• Council vote on 2026-3-ORD: The data center ordinance now goes to the full Parish Council for a vote on introduction/adoption, incorporating the three staff-proposed amendments. Residents should watch for the council hearing and whether Pillar's and O'Daniels' noise concerns get incorporated before that vote.
• Noise standard for low-frequency/"infrasound" noise: Raised by Walter Pillar and Michelle O'Daniels as unaddressed in the current draft; staff acknowledged the ordinance could be amended later ("ordinances can be amended, we can take further action later" [00:56:42]).
• No pending data center application: Staff confirmed there is no current project, application, or pre-application meeting for a data center in the parish, but the ordinance is being adopted preemptively. Whether/when an actual project emerges should be tracked.
• Sewage/utility connection requirements for 2026-3-MIN (12238 River Road subdivision), staff said this would be addressed later "during the building permit phase," not resolved at this meeting. [00:02:15]
• Ambiguous or garbled vote/motion attributions on multiple items (2026-3-MIN, 2026-5-MIN, 2026-6-MIN, and notably 2026-3-ORD), the official written minutes should be checked to confirm exact movers, seconders, and whether the ordinance vote was actually unanimous or had a dissenting/abstaining vote from Mr. Price.
• Speaker name inconsistencies, several speakers' names were transcribed inconsistently (e.g., "Milton Alamo" vs. "Talamo"; "Michelle Berg" vs. "Mrs. Barrow") and should be verified against the sign-in sheet or official minutes before being reported as fact.