The Westwego City Council lifted an 8-year-old moratorium on airboat businesses Monday.
The Westwego City Council on Monday lifted an eight-year prohibition on airboat tour businesses inside the city limits, a move that allows a company to set up shop at the city's entry to lower Jefferson Parish's bayous and marshes. But after hearing several residents voice concerns about noise, the council decided to put restrictions on the businesses, modeled after a Jefferson Parish ordinance that, among other things, keeps the fan-driven boats at least a mile from residential areas.
Joe Spinato of Ultimate Swamp Adventures, who already was planning to open his business on Laurossini Street in Westwego even before the council took action, urged council members to lift the ban, citing the business swamp tours will bring to the city. During Monday's public hearing, he was the lone voice in favor of lifting the moratorium.
"Just one airboat company in Lafitte does over 100,000 people a year," Spinato told the council. "And that's just one. I really think we're missing out on an opportunity for Westwego."
While several residents from Westwego's Segnette Estates subdivision said they opposed lifting the moratorium because of noise concerns, Chuck Gautreaux urged council members to consider the environmental affects the businesses will have on marshes, particularly on the "flottante," or floating land over which airboats can travel. He likens the damage airboats cause to that done by oil companies that cut canals through the marshes.
"You did a good job in protecting the people in that area," Gautreaux told the council. "You did a good job by putting a moratorium on these people."
Cindy Manzella of Segnette Estates urged the council to regulate airboat businesses. "I just think the city needs to adopt the same type of ordinance the parish has," she said.
The City Council enacted the moratorium in July 2005, in response to a particular airboat operator in the Lafitte and Crown Point area who has since moved, said Mayor Johnny Shaddinger, who was a newly seated councilman when the ban was put in place.
Shaddinger and Councilman Johnny Nobles, who has sought to lift the moratorium, said they spent time on an Ultimate Swamp Adventure airboat last Thursday, while Westwego police officers armed with decibel meters measured the sound at three locations.
Police Chief Dwayne "Poncho" Munch said the readings were minimal, but he attributed those to the airboat operator, who apparently did not open the engines full-throttle. "I don't see it being a problem with this group," Munch said of the airboat company.
Nobles and Council members Glenn Green and Norman Fonseca voted to lift the moratorium. Council members Larry Warino and Garrison "Gary" Toups abstained from the vote. Green asked that City Attorney Joel Levy draw up an ordinance regulating the businesses inside the city.
In other action, the council:
- Set a special meeting for Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. at City Hall, to discuss proposed FEMA's preliminary flood elevation maps that could mean higher flood insurance rates. "Everybody needs to make some noise," Shaddinger said.
- Set the city's millage rate at 23.93 mills. The rate did not change. The general city tax is 3.45 mills; street lighting, 2.56 mills; park maintenance and lighting, 2.56 mills; fire protection maintenance and operation, 4.28 mills; police maintenance and operation, 4.28 mills; and ambulance service maintenance, 6.80 mills.
- Began proceedings to have property owners enclose open drainage ditches. "The burden on paying, it's going to be on the homeowners," Warino said, calling it "a public safety issue." The council authorized City Attorney Joel Levy to seek outside counsel to handle the city's creation of a special assessment for property owners in enclosing the ditches. "It's something that needed to be done for some time," Shaddinger said.
- Authorized Shaddinger to accept from the Barbe family the donation of about 20 acres, land that is adjacent to about 60 acres of former airport property in southern Westwego. The city has plans to convert the land into a part for physically challenged children.
- Agreed to Nobles' request to explore curbside recycling. "It's just a shame we're throwing away cartons and stuff that can be recycled," Nobles said. Shaddinger will seek proposals from recyclers to determine costs.
- Considered Warino's request to set pay scales for municipal employees, to stop the "random raises" the city gives out in light of its tight budget. "We get caught giving out raises during election times because we don't want to make anybody mad," Warino told the council.