Bed Bath & Beyond wants to expand its store at 3414 U.S. Highway 190 in Mandeville.

Stirling Properties Project Manager Richard Cyr attended the Mandeville Planning and Zoning Commission work session Tuesday night and presented a plan that includes adding an 8,600-square-foot extension to the rear of the building.

Cyr said this added space will be used by the store as an additional retail department. The site plans call for the expansion to encompass the existing service drive behind the building. The store proposes to form a new service drive in the area directly behind the new expansion that will be nearly 18 feet wide. In doing so, two utility poles would have to be relocated to accommodate the drive. The issue the commission has with the extension concerns a drainage servitude and wooded area that separates an existing apartment complex behind Bed Bath & Beyond. The patch of trees growing between the two structures forms a barrier between the buildings, but the commission is concerned the construction and movement of the utility poles will result in some of the existing trees being removed. To ensure a barrier remain in place, the commission suggested planting bamboo or some other mass of plants to form a secondary screen that will prevent the occupants in the apartments from seeing the new building.

The commission will vote on the issue at the March 25 meeting.

Another issue before the group concerned two lots at 130 Lamarque St., where owner Jeff Robertson wishes to separate the two single lots into four lots. Robertson said the lots have been on the market for some time, and he believes by splitting the property in halves, buyers would be more attracted to purchase the land.

However, several residents who maintain properties on Lamarque Street and are opposed to the separation of the lots came forward Tuesday night. Their argument was by selling smaller lots, smaller houses would be constructed in that location, which would disrupt the existing façade of the area.

The commission accepted the opinions of the residents and said they would be taken into consideration at the next meeting when a vote is taken.