When peeling back the layers, the Bossier City Council’s recent decision to deny a rezoning request isn’t about accommodating a commercial enterprise at the edge of a residential neighborhood but illuminates a consequence of poor spending choices made in the city’s past.
Last week, the Council, contrary to the recommendation of the Metropolitan Planning Commission, voted 6-1 to deny the request – for a second time – to open a chiropractor clinic at the corner of Douglas Drive and Benton Road. South along the east side of Benton Road up to that point are a string of commercial establishments, but behind these are the older neighborhoods. The west side of Benton from just south of Douglas is all large-lot residences almost to Viking Drive.
Councilors introduced multiple reasons to deny the request again. One questioned why the owner, who lives nearby, wouldn’t buy a more suitable commercial property as the location to transfer his business, with speculation that he was trying to get a price break and then count on changing the zoning. Another noted that the city was in the process of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new master plan and any zoning decision should wait until after its completion rather than carving out what could be a last-second exception.
