[StBernard] planning commission to hear oil drilling case

[Westley Annis]

Having just read in the paper that the planning commission is supposed to
hear the case for a rezoning of the Mereaux Foundations' field in Chalmette
from commercial to industrial property in order for the oil drilling/testing
to proceed, I urge anyone in favor or opposed to come to the meeting and
express your opinion.

The planning commission process is inclusive-that is to say, the community
has input and the applicant can reply to the comments made by the public. It
is very orderly and you only have to state your name and address and briefly
say your supporting or opposing thoughts.
At the end, the applicant has a rebuttal statement opportunity.

The planning commissioners will ask questions of the applicant, too. Often,
the public's comments are a huge help in identifying key questions and
concerns to ask the applicants to respond to.

The planning commission meetings are at 4pm and the next meetings are
Tuesday, August 7 and August 21. Until I see the official agenda I won't
know for certain which meeting this issue will be placed on the agenda.

And in this age of information technology, I'd welcome reading the comments
of this forum regarding this issue. In your opinion, has Katrina changed
anything since this was denied several years ago? I am asking myself that
question now.

Deborah Keller