Property developer says Kaplan officials wrongfully prevented mobile home park project.

VERMILION PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- A property developer says Kaplan city officials must pay up after violating its property rights.

In a lawsuit recently moved to federal court, the developer claims the city wrongfully rezoned property the developer had purchased and prevented it from creating a mobile home community.

LECO Properties LLC said in the lawsuit that it purchased the property -- Legion Park Subdivision -- in September 2022. At that time, the property was zoned as an R-2 Residential District, meaning it could be used for mobile homes as long as those homes complied with certain requirements, the developer said.

The developer claims that city officials were aware of its plans to create a mobile home community on the property and that Kaplan Mayor Michael Kloesel was initially supportive of the project. However, things changed once the mobile homes were moved onto the property.

"Shortly after LECO lawfully moved the first three homes to the site, defendant Kloesel expressed his opinion to LECO that he did not like the way these homes looked and that LECO needed to remedy their appearance to 'Kaplan City Standards,'" the developer said.

LECO asserts that the mayor requested changes to the mobile homes that are not required under the R-2 Residential District zone and that the mayor refused to allow utilities to the property until those changes were made. According to the lawsuit, some of the mayor's requests included cleaning and painting the mobile homes, and adding shutters and skirting, among other things.

The developer said that under zoning regulations, the city must supply utilities to homes that meet the R-2 zoning requirements, which the developer said it properly met.

"Despite repeated requests following the satisfactory inspection of the homesite, Kloesel prevented the supply of utilities," the developer said.

"Kloesel's refusal to order the utilities to be connected at the homesite, despite LECO meeting the actual requirements of R-2 Residential Districts, and possession all city approvals, was intentional, arbitrary, capricious, without just cause, and in direct contravention of LECO's existing property rights," the developer continued.

LECO said the city voted in October 2023 to re-zone the property from R-2 to R-1, a zoning that prohibits "mobile homes or travel trailers to be used as dwellings."

The developer said that on top of the $300,000 it paid to purchase the property, it spent money hiring engineers, obtaining permits, buying mobile homes, mailboxes, meters, and other property improvements.

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