[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish President clarifies policy on demolitions

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard President Craig P. Taffaro clarifies demolition procedures 

 

St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro clarified the procedures for
demolitions in a Friday morning interview on WWL-TV, saying residents who
are trying to stop a demolition on their house should come to his office
with the proper paperwork to document progress on the property. It is not
necessary to file a Temporary Restraining Order with the courts until after
the parish president and his demolition team have provided this final
review.

 

 "We are moving on with our recovery. Since Hurricane Katrina, we have taken
down over 7,200 homes as a means to eliminate blight to stabilize our market
and basically catapult our recovery into a reasonable and responsible
level," Taffaro said on WWL-TV. 

 

"This is about saving our community," Taffaro said. "If you are working on
your home and legitimately moving forward, we want you to do that."

 

People coming to appeal a demolition should bring:

*	A building permit
*	Construction schedule
*	Photographs of the inside and outside of the home to show the work
*	Any litigation papers or succession documents
*	Any paperwork showing the resident is awaiting Road Home funding

 

Having a building permit alone will NOT stop a demolition. If residents have
appealed their demolition and received a letter stating they have not met
the criteria to stop the demolition, and if they are sincere about quickly
rehabilitating the property, they may file the above information with the
President's Office.

 

"All a building permit says is that 'I intend to build.' It doesn't say,
'I'm doing something.' A building permit doesn't stop any process. That is
clearly indicated in documents that have been given to people. What we want
to know is the construction schedule..We recognize it is very difficult for
some people to let go of that property. But if it is in blighted status, and
there is no real way for them to fix it, then it is not fair to the rest of
the community to keep it in a blighted status," Taffaro said.

 

"The real issue is people want the neighborhoods; people want the parish
cleaned up. That's why we started the Building a Week program where we
started to take down commercial structures. There are commercial structures
that are blighted. We are doing that on our own nickel."

 

March 31 is the deadline when FEMA will cease its demolition funding, which
means that after that date, the parish must pay for any demolitions of
unsafe and blighted structures. Once that happens, the property owner will
have a lien placed on their property.

 

Taffaro said the parish is trying to complete as many demolitions as
possible before the March 31 deadline so the parish can continue on its
strong path of Recovery and Growth.

 

 "We have the fastest growing community since Hurricane Katrina - two years
in a row. We are identified as the top level municipality in any recovery
area for public assistance projects and for work being done. Our population
is about 55 percent of pre-storm numbers." 

 

President Taffaro reiterated that residents with demolition concerns can
come by the President's Office with the proper documents.

 

"We will see them. We will process their requests, and if they are
legitimately working on their properties, we want them to continue to do
that. But we don't want people to show up there to try to scam St. Bernard
Parish residents into, 'I am going to keep a blighted property forever.'"

 

For more information about Recovery and Growth in St. Bernard Parish, visit
our website at www.sbpg.net <http://www.sbpg.net/> .

 

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