Neighborhood objects to company’s Moss Street proposal
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LAFAYETTE — The administration is making one more attempt to get Greyhound Lines to move its bus station to a new location downtown — not where the company plans to move now, next to a neighborhood on Moss Street.
In a letter sent to Greyhound representatives Wednesday, City-Parish President Joey Durel asks Greyhound to re-consider moving into the yet-to-be-built Rosa Parks Transportation Center, which is just down the street from the current Greyhound station in downtown Lafayette.
Greyhound’s planned move to Moss Street, which has drawn opposition from the neighborhood, was approved by the previous City-Parish Council in one of its final acts.
Ordinarily, bus stations would not be allowed next to neighborhoods, Greyhound and IberiaBank — which once owned the Moss Street property — had to apply to rezone the land as industrial.
Staff for the Planning, Zoning and Codes Department and the Lafayette Planning Commission recommended against the change, saying a bus station is not compatible with a neighborhood.
But the council late last year voted to allow the change, as long as Greyhound builds a fence and only operates the property as a bus station.
Eight of the nine councilman are new this year and some have said the previous council was wrong to grant Greyhound and IberiaBank’s requests.
Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux, who represents the area, successfully got six other members to agree Tuesday to introduce an ordinance that would repeal the previous council’s zoning change.
Should that ordinance eventually pass, it could cause legal problems because Greyhound has already purchased the property from IberiaBank to use as a bus station. If the zoning change is repealed, Greyhound would not be able to use the land for a bus station, something that could prompt a lawsuit.
Boudreaux said he is hoping to reach a compromise with Greyhound that could be a “win-win” for everyone. He’s asked that the council give the administration a month to reach a deal.
The city is near beginning construction on the new Rosa Parks Transportation Center at the site of the post office at Cypress Street and Jefferson Street.
Boudreaux said he and the administration are trying to convince Greyhound that the center will be a better location for the company.
In the letter, Durel writes that the original plans for the center called for Greyhound to be a tenant. But when the plans were nearly complete, Greyhound pulled out of negotiations.
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