[StBernard] St. Bernard housing rules pit neighbor against neighbor

[Westley Annis]

>In the near term, Taffaro said there are plans in the works to craft a

>rental licensing ordinance that would improve enforcement and verify that

>properties with permits are actually being rented.


And please Craig, find a way to make sure they are ***not*** being rented as
Sec. 8 properties.

As for Mr. Jarrell, assistant blood-sucker to the chief blood-sucker Mr.
Torres, I 
feel no empathy or pity or sorrow for him.  Out to make a quick buck and 
that was it.



>"I wanted to be here in St. Bernard,

>and make St. Bernard a better place. It frustrates me that the parish has a

>system that is hurting people like me."


Are **you** living in St. Bernard Mr. Jarrell?  Owner-occupied is the best
way to help
St. Bernard.  

JY





	-----------------------------------------------------
	St. Bernard housing rules pit neighbor against neighbor
	By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune
	October 25, 2009, 5:39AM
	
	In a quiet corner of Arabi, the 7200 block of Success Street has
become the
	latest battleground over post-Katrina housing in St. Bernard.
	
	On one side is David Jarrell, a landlord seeking a parish permit to
rent out
	his property. On the other are two neighbors, Christine Roig and
Joanna
	Ragas, who applied for the permit earlier but have no immediate
plans to
	rent.
	
	Parish regulations prevent two rentals within a limited space, so
	technically Jarrell's permit request is invalid. He has since
brought the
	matter to state court, and the decision is pending before the Parish
	Council.
	
	"They talk about the free market, " Jarrell said. "Well, this is the
exact
	opposite of that."
	
	
	As St. Bernard's real estate market stagnates after the double
whammy of
	untold destruction and economic recession, concerns about the
proliferation
	of rentals have prompted homeowners to take block-by-block stands in
	subdivisions across the parish. In some cases, residents are using
the
	parish's own rental ordinance to prevent new rentals near them,
using a
	provision that prevents more than two new permits within 500 feet.
	
	For many St. Bernardians, the fear of rentals is a gut reaction to
the
	changes wrought by Katrina. Neighborhoods once filled with
generations of
	familiar faces have failed to come back, and renters symbolize a
new,
	transient element.
	
	"It wasn't to keep anyone in particular out, it was to just keep out
the
	influx of rentals, to the point where all of a sudden it's not a
	neighborhood anymore, " said Sandy Farragut, who applied for a
rental permit
	on Lyndel Drive in Chalmette but has no immediate plans to rent.
	
	But the trend points to shortcomings in the parish's controversial
rental
	process, which does not require property owners to show proof that
the
	property is actually being leased and includes no sunset on the
rental
	permit.
	
	Rental policies in St. Bernard have been the subject of two separate
federal
	court cases. The most recent version, with the 500-foot limits, got
the
	green light from U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance last fall.
	
	But since her ruling , there have been practical problems with
enforcing the
	law. Parish administrators don't ask for a lease agreement, meaning
those
	that receive the permit need not prove that they are actually
leasing their
	property. Officials say it would be too burdensome to monitor every
lease at
	every property.
	
	In addition, there's no formal way to revoke a permit for landlords
who fail
	to maintain their property or are a nuisance to neighbors. And many
rentals
	fly under the radar, where property owners never apply for permits
until
	they are reported.
	
	The Parish Council last week tabled several dozen permit requests,
citing
	problems with the rental law. Some council members and Parish
President
	Craig Taffaro are considering major revisions.
	
	But because St. Bernard has been under the legal microscope,
politicians
	have been hesitant to alter the law and face additional lawsuits.
	
	"I don't like the ordinance at all the way it's written," said Earl
	Dauterive, the chairman of the parish's Planning Commission, which
reviews
	reams of permissive use permits before they go to the Parish Council
for
	final approval. "But I've got to live with it."
	
	In the case on Success Street in Arabi, Jarrell began refurbishing a
house
	he bought this spring. Before he was done with the renovations, his
	next-door neighbor, Christine Roig, had applied for a permissive use
permit
	-- in essence formal permission to rent her property. Joanna Ragas,
a
	neighbor on the opposite corner, did the same.
	
	Roig's permit was approved last month, technically preventing
Jarrell from
	renting out his property. He has already leased out the property, in
	violation of parish leasing regulations, and has protested the law
at
	several recent council meetings.
	
	"You're making it where it's a dice roll, " said Jarrell, a lawyer
who works
	at the law firm of Sidney Torres III. "I wanted to be here in St.
Bernard,
	and make St. Bernard a better place. It frustrates me that the
parish has a
	system that is hurting people like me."
	
	The response has not been receptive.
	
	"You took a chance, by buying a property that was not properly
zoned, and
	now you're upset because it didn't work out, " Councilman Ray Lauga
said
	recently.
	
	Ragas, the other property owner on the block, defended her permit
	application.
	
	"I am going to be looking for a bigger house, because if I expand my
family,
	I'm going to need a bigger house, " she said. "The ordinance doesn't
say
	that I have to rent the house within 90 days, 190 days or anything."
	
	The rental fears in St. Bernard are largely the byproduct of a real
estate
	market in a tailspin.
	
	Even before Katrina, St. Bernard's home values were noticeably lower
than
	neighboring parishes. Obviously in 2006 those sales prices
plummeted, with
	abandoned and flooded homes in some cases going for less than half
of their
	pre-Katrina values.
	
	Average sales prices have continued to increase, but are still below
	pre-Katrina levels and are priced much less than homes in Jefferson
Parish
	or Belle Chasse, according to a recent report commissioned by the
Greater
	New Orleans Foundation.
	
	What's saddling home values overall in St. Bernard are the massive
	differences in the type of properties for sale: some vacant lots,
some
	abandoned and gutted homes, some completely refurbished ones.
	
	"The sprinkling of homes and shells of varying types makes it
difficult to
	value, with the result being that St. Bernard is both a discounted
market
	and a split one where the impacts of the split reduce all values, "
	according to the Greater New Orleans Foundation report.
	
	Drive down any block in the parish, and the number of "for sale"
signs is
	striking. Many houses and lots have sat on the market for more than
a year,
	and often property owners have no choice but to make up the
difference by
	renting out property.
	
	The scattershot approach has led to unintended consequences, where
neighbors
	feel obliged to protect their investments and prevent a backslide of
	property values.
	
	"I think that you have more of an ad-hoc reaction to events when you
don't
	have a plan that guides you - an overarching plan, " said Marco
	Cocito-Monoc, director of regional initiatives for the Greater New
Orleans
	Foundation.
	
	The recently released report from his group points out the real
estate
	trends, but also urges the parish leadership to be more proactive in
	demolishing vacant commercial buildings and homes. The outcome would
be a
	landscape with more open space, but less overall blight.
	
	Taffaro in the past has run up against opposition to demolitions
from some
	homeowners, and significant FEMA roadblocks in demolishing
commercial
	property.
	
	In the near term, Taffaro said there are plans in the works to craft
a
	rental licensing ordinance that would improve enforcement and verify
that
	properties with permits are actually being rented.
	
	"If that accomplishes the same goal, then maybe we could look at
doing away
	with the current ordinance entirely, " Taffaro said.