The St. Bernard Parish Housing, Redevelopment and Quality of Life Commission on Wednesday held a hearing to get several parish businesses into compliance with new signage requirements. The commission also discussed a possible program whereby property owners could swap their lots for others on the market that are of equal value. Commission members also talked about a potential "parade...
The St. Bernard Parish Housing, Redevelopment and Quality of Life Commission on Wednesday held a hearing to get several parish businesses into compliance with new signage requirements. The commission also discussed a possible program whereby property owners could swap their lots for others on the market that are of equal value.
Commission members also talked about a potential "parade of homes," where developers would be given lots to develop homes that could showcase remaining Hurricane Katrina lots.
The parish initially cited about 155 properties, mainly for signs that had been in disrepair since Katrina, but since then, only about 35 businesses remain in noncompliance. In part, the sign regulations state that if a sign has been abandoned for more than 100 days, it must adhere to new parish beautification rules.
St. Bernard Parish in 2008, with a still-typical landscape of empty lots. The parish is still working to rebuild its infrastructure and population after the 2005 hurricane.
The new regulations can be viewed by clicking here, and scrolling to Section 22-7-4.5,"Dimensions, conditions, and restrictions for sign types."
"To me, the abandonment of signs is a sign of the lack of concern of a community," said Polly Campbell, one of the commission members. "We must change the way that they look so they are attractive and add to the value of St. Bernard Parish."
The move comes as parish government and various committees and commissions are trying to find ways to attract new residents and businesses to the parish.
Before Katrina and the levee breaks laid waste to most of St. Bernard in 2005, the parish had about 65,000 residents. Now, the parish population is estimated at about 40,000. That about 38 percent decrease has not only led to spotty housing and abandoned businesses, but also to a decreased tax base, and thus decreased financing for government programs.
What do with the empty lots that still dot the parish is another major question on the commission's agenda. Former St. Bernard Parish President Charlie Ponstein, who recently joined the commission, suggested on Tuesday that the parish introduce a swap program. The thought, in part, is that someone might be willing to exchange a lot in one area of the parish for a more preferable lot of equal value.
"Mr. Ponstein and I have been discussing this for the past couple of weeks," said parish Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Graves, who also sits on the commission. "I'm willing to draft an amendment to the distribution plan that addresses this process and present it at the next HRQL commission meeting."
Another commission member, Earl Dauterive, suggested that the plan also might free up lots in flood-prone areas that could then be donated to the Lake Borgne Levee District. "I can tell you now, the way flood insurance rates are, in the northern part of our parish, flood rates are going to go up enormously," Dauterive said, referring to the impending flood map changes. "So, I think it behooves us to allow people to swap for economic reasons as there are going to be certain parts of our parish that are going to be deemed nonbuildable for economic reasons.
"The flood insurance program will make some of these houses in the floodplain, in what they consider the floodplain, unsellable," he said. "I think (the land swap idea) is a no-brainer. People are going to want to swap their lots."
The parade of homes idea, giving lots to developers to build "model homes," likely would involve several areas across the parish, said Dauterive, who said he will draft a plan on specifics to present to the commission.
"St. Bernard I believe right now is very ripe for an influx of people, because every day there are people moving from Braithwaite up, there are people ready to leave New Orleans because of crime, and there are people looking to move to St. Bernard who left" after Katrina, he said.
In speaking of Braithwaite, Dauterive was referring to many of Plaquemines Parish's east bank residents who have decided to move behind St. Bernard's more substantial levee protection system after the devastation that befell them last August during Hurricane Isaac.