Judge rejects parish's plea in zoning fight
In a one-page judgment issued Friday afternoon, a St. Tammany Parish judge denied the parish's request that he reconsider his ruling that voided a controversial permit that would have allowed a garbage-transfer station to be built on Louisiana 434 in Lacombe. In August -- after months of hearings, depositions and a trial -- Judge Martin Coady issued an 11-page ruling that invalidated the permit and deemed the zoning ordinance under which it was issued to be unconstitutional because it was too vague. Coady described the planning director's interpretation of that ordinance as "arbitrary and capricious."
Residents, organized under the name Concerned Citizens of Lacombe, along with many within the parish government thought that, with the judge's ruling in their favor, the long-contentious issue had finally run its course.
"I'm happy with the decision," Parish President Kevin Davis told The Time-Picayune. "And I would recommend to the Parish Council that we don't appeal."
But less than a month later, the parish attorney and IESI Corp., the company that intended to build the waste-transfer station, filed a joint motion for a new trial.
Parish attorney Neil Hall said the motion was filed because the judge's decision -- that certain industrial zoning ordinances are unconstitutional -- could have sprawling legal consequences for the parish far greater than the single transfer station in question.
He contacted each of the council's 14 members individually, and each informally deferred to his legal expertise, he said.
"We shouldn't be doing this," said the district's councilman Al Hamauei, who believes he was unfairly targeted in citizens' protest over the project. "This is a matter of losing something and not accepting defeat. We've spent a fortune defending an arbitrary and capricious decision."
The motion infuriated the Concerned Citizens of Lacombe and prompted a three-hour "heated debate" during a executive session at a Parish Council meeting Wednesday night.
Davis asked the Parish Council to drop the appeal and simply fix the faulty zoning ordinance. The council adjourned from executive session and announced that it would defer a decision until its meeting on Thursday, drawing heckles from the waiting crowd.
Meanwhile, Rick Richter, attorney for the citizen's group, was working on a response to the parish's motion for a new trial. Typically, the other party would file their response, a hearing date would be set and the judge would hear arguments from both sides.
But, Coady ruled late Friday afternoon before Richter responded.
In his one-page judgement, Coady wrote that the court can skip a hearing "if the motion simply reiterates issues thoroughly considered at the trial on the merits."
"We didn't have to file a brief, we didn't have to go to court," said Rick Franzo, chairman of Concerned Citizens of Lacombe's legal committee. "That's a sure sign that Judge Coady is strong in our favor. In my opinion, the judge told the parish to get their act together and go fix the ordinance. That's what this whole thing is about -- one flawed ordinance."
Hall could not be reached late Friday. The parish and IESI could still appeal to a higher court.
Davis said he will meet with the council on Thursday to discuss the issue, along with the "gray area" in the parish charter over whether Hall had the authority -- lacking executive permission or public hearing and formal council vote -- to file the motion in the first place.
"Hopefully this means this is finally the end of it," Davis said.
Claire Galofaro can be reached at cgalofaro@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4828.