A trial to determine whether the Plaquemines Parish Council erred in establishing a construction moratorium targeted at preventing a Walmart from opening in Belle Chasse ended Friday and a ruling is not expected until late this month. Judge Franklin Foil told lawyers for Moretco Inc. and Plaquemines Parish that he expects to rule shortly after Jan. 26. Susan Poag/The...
A trial to determine whether the Plaquemines Parish Council erred in establishing a construction moratorium targeted at preventing a Walmart from opening in Belle Chasse ended Friday and a ruling is not expected until late this month. Judge Franklin Foil told lawyers for Moretco Inc. and Plaquemines Parish that he expects to rule shortly after Jan. 26.
A judge is expected to rule by the end of the month on an injunction request by the developer of a proposed Walmart, which challenged Plaquemines Parish's construction moratorium and new ordinances governing large scale projects."It doesn't take me long," he said of making a decision.
Moretco is seeking a preliminary injunction that would invalidate both the parish's moratorium on building construction in Belle Chasse and a new ordinance that sets more stringent guidelines for developers of large scale projects. James Garner, Moretco's attorney, argued the council only adopted those ordinances to stop the construction of a Walmart Supercenter at the corner of Woodland and Belle Chasse highways, and that the new ordinances were enacted after developers filed an application for a building permit.
But council attorney David Waguespack argued that Moretco still must follow parish rules and an application for a building permit is not the same thing as an actual permit.
On Thursday and Friday, Waguespack attacked one of Moretco's most explosive claims, that Councilman Keith Hinkley sought the moratorium out of fear that Walmart might attract black residents from New Orleans. Waguespack called two witnesses who attended a meeting where Moretco officials claim Hinkley made those comments, and those witnesses denied the statements were ever made. But the testimony contradicted an account by Parish President Billy Nungesser, who said he heard Hinkley mention "those people." Hinkley did not testify.
Waguespack argued the company's permit application was handled properly although it was not complete. He said documents the company claimed had been submitted, but that the parish never received, suddenly appeared at parish offices Thursday.
Mike Metcalf, who heads the parish's building permit office, said that he found the files in an area where they did not belong, and they were markedly different from other documents submitted by Moretco in early January.
"Nobody, including myself, has ever seen those plans," Metcalf said. "I honestly do not have any idea how they ended up here."
But Garner said the documents are the same ones an engineer working with Walmart said he submitted in January 2011 in an e-mail sent at that time to store officials updating them about the project. Moretco has always maintained that it submitted a complete set of plans to the parish. Garner said the documents appeared in the parish's offices only after another search turned up documents the parish also couldn't find.
In his closing argument, Garner said this case centers on whether Plaquemines Parish can change its guidelines on a whim and apply those new rules to developers who have already begun conducting business under the old rules. He said the racial allegations may make some people "uncomfortable" but they show the parish opposed Moretco's plans for reasons that have nothing to do with the best interests of residents.
"At some point people need to stand up for what's right and that's what Moretco has done," he said.
However Waguespack said Moretco "cobbled together" its permit application in a race to beat a moratorium it knew was coming, and that gamble backfired. When the company realized its lawsuit was collapsing, it turned to racial allegations.
"This lawsuit is a setup for the next one," Waguespack said. "That's the only thing that makes sense."
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Allen Powell II can be reached at apowell@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3793.