Codes & Ordinances

What are Codes & Ordinances

An ordinance is a local law or decree adopted by a municipality, or a city/town government. In East Baton Rouge Parish, these laws dictate how the parish must build and develop in their communities.

The Unified Development Code (UDC) is a single document that includes all development-related regulations, including zoning and subdivision regulation. These codes give us the minimum requirements for how we build and develop structures and land. This includes building codes, electrical codes, drainage requirements, etc.

Importance of Codes & Ordinances

Codes and ordinances serve as a mechanism to ensure development is constructed with a set of rules and regulations/standards that are in the best interest of the parish. The codes and ordinances provide a basic set of standards for a structure to be built.

Codes & Ordinances + Stormwater Master Plan

Throughout the parish, commercial and residential development, like homes, buildings, playgrounds, parking lots to name a few, are governed by codes and ordinances. Current and new developments have an impact on the natural flow and storage of stormwater. The Stormwater Master Plan Project Team is evaluating the current codes and ordinances to determine their effect on stormwater then will recommend changes in an attempt to ensure future development does not have a negative impact on drainage and the flow of stormwater.

2021 Interim Changes to the Unified Development Code (UDC)

The Stormwater Master Plan Project Team has proposed several interim changes to the UDC. These interim changes were adopted by the Planning & Zoning Commission.

STORMWATER CONVEYANCE CHECK: Required that Drainage Impact Studies include a measurement of the impact of conveyance change caused by proposed development.
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PRIORITIZATION: Incorporated requirements for the prioritization of green infrastructure solutions in transportation improvements. It creates a planning methodology for incorporating green infrastructure “opportunity areas” within proposed projects.
UDC CHAPTER 15 CLARIFICATIONS: The goal is to clarify requirements in the UDC to result in the approval of proposed developments that comply with the intent of the requirements.

What are some Potential Future Changes to UDC?

MINIMUM SLAB/BASE FLOOD ELEVATION

POTENTIAL CHANGE:

According to FEMA, increasing the minimum slab elevation by one foot can reduce annual flood insurance premiums by 50 percent.

PROTECTING NATURAL FLOODPLAIN FEATURES

POTENTIAL CHANGE

FUTUREBR, the comprehensive plan for East Baton Rouge Parish, assessed the streams in the parish and recommended the conservation and restoration of numerous streams, and their respective floodplains.

FILL REQUIREMENTS

POTENTIAL CHANGE

Requirements for fill (dirt or material dug from another site) to be examined to look at how building-up the elevation of a development can impact how water flows in an area, as well as that area’s ability to hold and manage stormwater.

DRAINAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW DEVELOPMENT

POTENTIAL CHANGE

As the scientific models are completed, the master plan team will be able to use them to evaluate current and proposed drainage requirements.

What do the recommendations mean and how will they affect me?

The Stormwater Master Plan encompasses best practices from other municipalities, public feedback, and data evaluation. This information is used to plan for future development throughout the parish. These developments include both commercial and residential. There are several components of a development that are affected by these proposed changes: conveyance, drainage, fill, base flood evaluation, etc.