St Mary Council says no to rezoning

By: Howard J. Castay, jr.

The St. Mary Parish Council voted against rezoning 20 acres of land in Franklin from agriculture to heavy industrial.

The request, from Ursin “Sonny” Boudreaux of Chauvin Lane in Franklin, asked the council consider the idea about the property, which is located near the Baldwin Bridge.

Boudreaux, who did not speak during last night’s council meeting, wrote in a letter to his neighbors, “I was contacted by a company to lease to lease approximately five acres in the southwest corner of the 20 acres. Their plans are to purchase drilling barges, move them to the property, then with 10 to 12 workers, remove any fluids and accessories, dismantle them, cut the barges up, load the metal onto trucks and transport the metal to a scrap yard.”

He continued, “Their plans are to transport the scrap yard, six trucks per day, Monday thru Friday, with the last truck leaving around 4 p.m.”

He said the remaining portion of the property, approximately 14 acres, would act as a buffer zone between his neighbors’ properties and the industrial site.

The Parish Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the Parish Council vote against the rezoning proposal, presenting them with a petition with more than 60 signatures opposed to the idea.

The petition stated the opponents had health, property value, safety, and noise concerns.

Camelia Soprano was one of the opponents who appeared before the St. Mary Parish Council on Wednesday. “We are not opposed to new businesses and industries coming to our parish. St. Mary needs to grow. We just ask that thought be put into where these companies locate.”

Soprano also pointed out concerns over barges being located on the property, citing an incident in Lydia where the bridge broke in the wake of flooding from Hurricane Ike. “We’re sure you are familiar with the amount of flooding the area received due to Hurricane Rita and again for Ike. You also must be familiar of the destruction of the bridge between Lydia and Weeks Island due to the barge that broke loose and struck the bridge during the flooding from Ike. The barges in the area they are wishing to rezone would also be subject of breaking free during flooding and striking the Katy Bridge, the old Baldwin Bridge and the railroad bridge.”

And she commented about children who live and play on Chauvin Lane, “…a very narrow road that will be used by this company to truck the scrap metals out. That street runs through a strictly residential area and is the only way for these trucks to come in or out.”

In other business, the council passed a resolution to raise the tipping fee at the Parish Landfill in Berwick, by $1 per ton, to maintain operational costs associated with the facility in Berwick.

After the meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Bo LaGrange said the cost would be passed on to the five municipalities in the parish – Morgan City, Berwick, Patterson, Franklin and Baldwin, who have a solid waste disposal agreement with the parish, to dump residential garbage at the facility.

“What we did here tonight will probably cost each of those municipalities an extra 10 cents per household. Now, whether or not their leaders pass this cost onto them, that’s up for them to decide,” LaGrange.