Planning and Zoning Commission

City of Gretna Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting January 7, 2026 – 5:30 PM The Planning & Zoning Commission of the City of Gretna, Louisiana held the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 7, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. at 740 Second Street, Gretna City Hall, Gretna, LA 70053. Notice for the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting was duly posted as law requires on the bulletin board, at Gretna City Hall main entrance, 740 Second Street, Gretna, Louisiana 70053. 1. Call to Order and Roll Call: Roll call taken; Commission members present James Rolf, Rory Cadres, William Tomasak, and Tommy Tingstrom. Chairman, James Rolf was in the chair, and the City Clerk was present. A quorum of four members being present, Chairman Rolf, called the meeting to order at 5:35 PM. Member William Tomasak entered at 5:38 AM. City Staff present: Norma Cruz, City Clerk; Amelia Pellegrin, Director, Planning and City Development and Qudsiyyah Noorulhaaq, City Planner. District Council Members Rudy Smith and Mike Hinyub attended the meeting.  -Chairman Rolf recapped on the matter for review this evening—a major site plan review for 99 Westbank Expressway and a variance request for #36 Gelbke Drive to install a generator in the front yard, concealed by plantings. The commission will consider the staff recommendation. Reports will be provided by the Director of Planning and City Development; consider public comments on each item will publicly deliberate the items; and based on the reports and evidence provided, and publicly either for or against the requests or with further conditions. Questions may be raised by the applicant and Staff. Recommendations will be made to the City Council for their final approval at the January 14, 2026, Council Regular meeting. 2. Major Site Plan: 1. 99 Westbank Expressway (Walmart Neighborhood Market, proposed remodeling) The Planning and Zoning Commission to review the Major Site Plan application for proposed remodeling at 99 Westbank Expressway (Walmart, Louisiana 5102, Daniel Cardoso) revise site and signs, parking lot, painting of exterior signs and landscaping. (District 2) Chairman James Rolf informed that the Planning and Zoning Commission members were meeting tonight to review the request for a major site review request of the property at 99 Westbank Expressway by Walmart Neighborhood Market, Applicant. Miss Amelia Pellegrin, Director, Zoning and City Development informed packets were available on the table and proceeded to review staff report. The applicant proposes to redevelop the property to have additional signage and a pickup addition. This will expand the building’s footprint. 1. Parking changes—meets UDC requirements, no comments. Minor reduction in parking by 8 stalls does not affect compliance per square footage for retail. 2. Traffic access and circulation plan for construction period and post construction- change in rear west side access, transforming from 2-way to 1-way (in only), will reduce cut-through traffic. Addition of striping to reduce width. No physical hindrance to emergency service access. Trucks will be able to access at all times. Mayor reiterated that trucks should be using Westbank Expressway, never Willow Street. Andrew Harris confirmed that existing drive aisle width will not be affected by pickup addition. 3. Landscaping changes- square footage of landscape areas are missing, plant schedule does not meet Section 58-274 of UDC. Irrigation/maintenance of landscape will need to be included in plan. 4. Signage changes- reduction in attached signage area, like for like changes to detached. Page 1 of 3  P & Z Commission Meeting (January 7, 2026) Update post meeting from Walmart: The existing fuel station only has the Walmart sign on one side of the canopy. Our drawings are proposing to update the branding to include the Walmart sign on all 4 sides, a clearance sign on two sides, and adding a sign to the fuel station building for Checkout. The fuel station signage square footage would be 79.9 square feet. The following highlighted UDC sections are not currently in compliance and must be revised in the sign plan: 58-194 (a) Directional signs limited to four (4) square feet in area or less, limited to three (3) feet in height from grade when detached, and conforming with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. 58-197 (e) (12): Pole Sign Design. Pole signs shall have permanent decorative cladding of brick, stucco, or other durable material approved by the Planning Director that extends from grade to twenty (20) feet or the bottom of a secondary sign face. The decorative cladding shall extend at least four (4) inches and no more than twelve (12) inches beyond the outside diameter of the pole. Pole Sign Landscaping. The base of the sign shall be located within a landscaped area not less than one hundred (100) square feet, with a minimum depth and width of not less than five (5) square feet. Pole sign landscaping may not result in the reduction of required parking for a site. Plantings shall include at least one (1) class B tree and four (4) shrubs and comply with applicable provisions of Division 9 of this Chapter. 5. Exterior lighting & photometrics—one new parking lot light is non-compliant with UDC. Photometrics calculations provided exceed requirement of 0.5 footcandles at residential property line, plans show 0.7-1.9. 6. Utilities- meets UDC requirements, no comments. 7. Shopping cart management plan- will be required to be submitted to Licensing Officer per 2022 letter and in place before a new permit is issued. Mr. Daniel Cardoso stated that he is working on a cart management plan and will provide local contact at store. 8. Public / neighborhood comments- shopping carts in neighborhood and canals are an ongoing issue, as is trash/litter around property. Multiple complaints have been received by the City. Miss Pellegrin recommended approval of the major site plan review, subject to compliance with the Unified Development Code (UDC) requirements for signage, lighting, and submission of a shopping cart management plan. Specifically, these requirements include cladding the existing pole sign up to 20 feet, providing additional landscaping, including a plant schedule and square footage of planting areas, ensuring proposed directional signs for pickup meet height limits, and installing new exterior lights that comply with the 0.5 footcandle illumination standard. Chairman Rolf proceeded to call on comments from the Commission members. Commission members raised several questions. The questions raised by the Commission members were answered in depth by Miss Amelia Pellegrin, Director. -Chairman James Rolf asked if the proposed development was enough to trigger the creation of a stormwater management plan. Miss Pellegrin replied no. -Member William Tomasak asked about safety provisions due to the increased amount of cars arriving to use pickup services. Miss Amelia explained that rear west side access will be transformed into a 1-way to reduce cut through traffic. Additional striping and signage will also be provided. -Chairman James Wolf asked about the age of the survey and what use permitted in C-1 would require the most cars and parking. He also expressed concern about zoning and spillover effects into nearby R-1 zoned properties. Miss Pellegrin responded restaurant and gym, if parking is available. Chairman James Rolf asked the members for a motion for consideration prior to public comment. Chairman Tomasak made a motion for approval based on the conditions put forward by City Staff, to include re-subdivisions and sight-obscuring fence, as written by Staff. This motion was seconded by Member Elizabeth Strohmeyer. Chairman James Rolf opened the floor to applicant for comments. - Mr. Andrew Higgins and Mr. James Black introduced themselves, stating they will bring landscaping and plantings up to code. They stated they would address all issues brought up and are working on solutions. Page 2 of 3  P & Z Commission Meeting (January 7, 2026) Chairman James Rolf asked if they could meet all conditions proposed by Staff. Applicants replied to the affirmative and that they were working on a cart management plan. They also provided samples of potential cladding for the pole to the Council. Chairman James Rolf opened the floor to public comment. -Mrs. Edna Hepting, a Gretna resident, questioned if there will be new signage blocking her view; and wanted clarification about existing pickup parking. Applicants replied. Chairman James Rolf asked for further comments, hearing none, closed the floor to public comment. On a motion by Member Willliam Tomasak and seconded by Member Tommy Tingstrom, IT WAS RESOLVED to favorable recommend the major site plan request, with Staff recommendations for cladding the existing pole sign up to 20 feet, providing additional landscaping, including a plant schedule and square footage of planting areas, ensuring proposed directional signs for pickup meet height limits and installing new exterior lights that comply with the 0.5 footcandle illumination standard. The same was approved by the following vote: Yeas: Members James Rolf, Rory Cadres, Tommy Tingstrom and William Tomasak Nays: None Absent: Member Elizabeth Strohmeyer  5. Meeting Adjournment. There was no further business to conduct, and on a motion by Member William Tomasak and seconded by Member Tommy Tingstrom, the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting for Wednesday, January 7, 2026, adjourned at 6:26 PM, and the same was unanimously approved. Respectfully submitted, Amelia Pellegrin, Director, Planning and City Development Page 3 of 3