Driving the overall rate upward were St. Tammany Parish, which grew by 32 percent, and Ascension Parish with a 31.6 percent increase. State demographer Karen Patterson has said that both statewide and in Ouachita Parish suburbs outside metropolitan areas account for much of the in-state migration. For city and parish officials, the general trends had been evident for some time, but the Census gives the first official measurements of it. In both Monroe and West Monroe, a lack of land available to develop for residential property is a factor. The cities Gene Tarver, Monroe s interim director of Planning and Zoning, said the city of Monroe hasn t annexed anything except commercial property in the last decade and isn t likely to in the future.
State law requires that annexation be initiated by the land owners.
Businesses may seek annexation for water and sewer services, but people in new residential areas are less inclined to seek annexation, Tarver said. Basically, the city hasn t had any areas for residential development, Tarver said. We re kind of land-locked. The only exception he noted is an area that recently opened up in north Monroe with new links between Forsythe and Lamy Lane. In West Monroe, Mayor David Norris had a similar observation.