[StBernard] DIVINE INTERVENTION

[Westley Annis]

DIVINE INTERVENTION
Parish steps in to cite ungutted St. Mark in Chalmette for violating its
ordinance to clean up 
Sunday, February 25, 2007
By Karen Turni Bazile
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau 

Grass and weeds clutter the entrance to St. Mark Catholic Church and School
in Chalmette, where open doors show the campus and church to be ungutted
nearly 18 months after Hurricane Katrina flooded it and a nearby oil spill
contaminated it. 

 
On Friday, St. Bernard Parish government cited the property for violating a
parish ordinance requiring structures to be gutted, secured and cleared of
debris, weeds and high grass. The Archdiocese of New Orleans faces $100
daily fines until it brings the property into compliance. 

St. Mark is one of the highest-profile properties among thousands in the
parish to run afoul of the ordinance, which set an Aug. 29, 2006, deadline
for gutting and securing and last week was formally amended to set fines for
high grass, clutter and unsecured windows and doors. More than 5,600
properties were condemned because owners never gutted them. 

Last week, Parish Chief Administrative Officer Dave Peralta told the council
he had not included St. Mark in a list of properties to be condemned by the
council due to ignoring the gutting ordinance because church officials had
promised to clean the property. The archdiocese has properly maintained its
other flood-damaged facilities in St. Bernard Parish. 

Only one Catholic church and school have reopened in St. Bernard Parish. 

But the situation at St. Mark has drawn numerous complaints from residents
and parish officials. 

Max Moldenhauer, who lives in a camper next to the school's grassy soccer
field, blames a rodent problem in his tiny, temporary home in front of his
house on the school, where he said grass was 4 feet high until recently
being cut. 

"They had so many mice when they let it grow so high," Moldenhauer said. 

Moldenhauer said it has been better since that one field was cut a few weeks
ago, but Peralta said the rest of the campus has rodent-harboring debris,
crumbling temporary buildings and high grass, as well as unsecured windows
and doors. 

The Rev. William Maestri, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said Friday that
the archdiocese delayed cleaning the property because officials wanted to
wait until a class-action lawsuit stemming from the oil spill was resolved.
He promised gutting and cleaning work will begin in two weeks. 

However, Peralta said the archdiocese and other owners in the area affected
by a spill from the Murphy Oil Refinery during Katrina were still
accountable for complying with the parish's Aug. 29 gutting deadline, as
well as the recent amendment imposing $100 daily civil penalties for owners
who don't cut their grass or board their broken windows or doors. 

Maestri agrees with the ordinance. 

"I think that it's very responsible for public officials to want to have
properties cleaned and moving forward," Maestri said. "The archdiocese wants
to be part of that process and not to be exempt from that process. We are
moving forward . . . so we will be able to responsibly operate our
institutions so they can serve the common good. . . . We are not looking for
special treatment." 

Although inspectors are fanning out across the parish in search of
properties in violation of the ordinance, Peralta said he is first sending
them to areas where residents have complained. 

The parish has started listing addresses on its Web site, www.sbpg.net, as
being in violation. 

"We received a tremendous amount of complaints from the people in the
neighborhood," Peralta said. "That's why we reacted to it." 

Fines mount daily until the property is cleaned or the fines exceed the
property's assessed value and the parish seizes it. The law allows the
parish to forgive fines once owners have verified the work is done. 

To file a complaint, residents can call (504) 278-4225. 

. . . . . . . 

Karen Turni Bazile can be reached at kturni at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3321.