The St. Tammany Parish Council approved two more pieces of the parish’s comprehensive rezoning map Thursday night.

The council adopted the first piece, the South Central Area Zoning Map, at its April 2 meeting.

The Southwest and Southeast Study Areas were adopted at the Parish Council meeting Thursday night. Councilman Marty Dean’s district falls in Southwest Study Area.

“People in this district have taken a beating when it comes to the onslaught of development,” he said. “This comprehensive rezoning should be one of the best things to happen for this council since I’ve been up here.”

The Southwest Study Area is generally bounded by Louisiana Highway 59 on the east, Lake Pontchartrain on the south, the Tangipahoa Parish line on the west and the Tchefuncte River to Louisiana Highway 36 and U.S. Highway 190 on the north.

The other area adopted Thursday night was the Southeast Study Area, which is generally bounded by the Town of Pearl River on the north, U.S. Highway 11 on the west, Lake Pontchartrain on the south and the Mississippi state line on the east.

Councilman Gene Bellisario said this area was much easier to tackle because most of it is already developed and therefore the Zoning Commission knew what uses where already there and could zone accordingly.

Through the comprehensive rezoning process, the parish is reviewing the zoning classification of every property in the unincorporated parts of the parish. The process began with the adoption of a new development code, which replaced the old zoning ordinance that was drafted more than 20 years ago.

To facilitate the process, the parish was divided into five areas.

The St. Tammany Planning Department, like it has with the three previous areas, has gathered public input on the fourth area, the Northeast Study Area, and has presented it to the Zoning Commission.

The commission will hold a public hearing on this area Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers and again on Oct. 13.

Mike Sevante, council administrator, said he expects the zoning commission to make a recommendation following the October public hearing and he anticipates this area coming before the council for approval in November at the latest.

The Zoning Commission will then begin work on the final part of the comprehensive rezoning. The parish Planning Department will present its recommendations for the Northwest Study Area to the Zoning Commission at 6 p.m. on Sept. 22 in the Council Chambers.

While the public will be allowed to attend this meeting, no public input will be taken at that time.

The public will have one month to review the proposal and can make comments at public hearings scheduled for Oct. 20 and Nov. 17.

This area includes all unincorporated property northwest of Abita Springs, including the communities of Folsom, Barker’s Corner, Lake Ramsey, and north Covington.