[StBernard] St. Bernard plans to launch buyout for Village Square

[Westley Annis]

By Karen Turni Bazile

St. Bernard Parish officials are trying to get information from property
owners interested in an $11.2 million federal grant program to buy out
apartment complexes, some doubles and businesses in the Village Square area
of Chalmette. 

Officials said the program is important because it offers pre-Katrina value
for flood-damaged investment properties, unlike the state's Road Home
program which is focused on residential properties. Officials also say it
will provide a way for the parish to create green space or widen drainage
canals in flood-prone areas. 

The program is one of two being pitched for the long-blighted Village Square
area. 

In the other program, CBO Financial Inc., a private company from Maryland,
seeks to use federal tax credits to buy flood-damaged apartment complexes
behind the Chalmette Centre shopping center, formerly known as Village
Square, on West Judge Perez Drive, demolish them and create an area with
fewer houses. 

St. Bernard Parish government grant writer Jerry Graves Jr. said owners
should sign up for both programs. 

"We don't want anybody to get left out in the cold and get stuck with
dilapidated properties," Graves said. 

Graves said the parish is eligible for $11.2 million as part of the federal
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program being administered by the Governor's Office
of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. 

That money is for acquiring property to lessen flooding hazards and create
green space that can never be redeveloped. Graves said the parish is
targeting the area north of the shopping center because it includes large,
slab on-grade apartment complexes, which would be difficult and expensive to
elevate. 

Even though 55 of the 130 eligible property owners signed up already, Graves
said the parish has submitted every eligible address on its application
information so far. But it is important for owners to contact the parish and
express interest to further justify the program. 

Graves said most of the property owners who have signed with the hazard
mitigation program own property between Oak Tree Lane and the service alley
in the area of apartment complexes behind the shopping center.

The western boundary for the parish's grant is the Chalmette Vista Canal;
the southern boundary is the service alley; and the northern boundary is the
Florida Canal. 

The eastern boundary varies. It is the Guichard Canal from the service alley
to Oak Tree Lane and it continues north on Phillip Court, including the land
that housed the former medical complex and Chalmette Medical Center and a
nursing home. 

The parish chose that area because it was one of many at risk for flooding,
and because it had so many properties that weren't owner-occupied. 

"It benefits the property owners specifically by giving them a chance to be
made whole," Graves said. "Because so much of this area wasn't
owner-occupied and would be excluded from Road Home, this gives people a
chance to get something similar to Road Home but on investment property. The
likelihood of the area being redeveloped anytime soon is really low." 

The area includes 124 structures condemned and tagged for demolition. Many
have already been demolished. 

Under the program, the federal government prohibits any structures with four
walls and a roof from being developed on the property for 100 years. 

Graves said the land could be used as a park with a pavilion or some of it
could be used to widen the Chalmette Vista Canal to improve drainage. 

Offers will be for the pre-Katrina value of the property, minus benefits
received from insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the
Small Business Administration. Eligible properties are listed on the parish
Web site, www.sbpg.net 

Forms should be submitted to Graves or Mike Bayham at Trailer K-6 in the St.
Bernard government complex parking lot. Call Graves or Bayham at 278-1032
for more information.