[StBernard] St. Bernard prepares to enter new phase of post-Katrina redevelopment

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard prepares to enter new phase of post-Katrina redevelopment

by Maya Rodriguez / Eyewitness News

wwltv.com

Posted on January 31, 2011 at 6:53 PM

ARABI, La. -- This week, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its first look
at local population level changes for a handful of states, and Louisiana
will be among them. The numbers will show just what population changes
occurred in local parishes post-Katrina. The announcement also comes as one
of those parishes, St. Bernard, prepares to enter a new phase in
neighborhood redevelopment.

For 24 years, Marie Dornan called her Arabi house her home. She had to leave
that home for three years after Hurricane Katrina, and when she finally
returned, it was a much different neighborhood than the one she left.

"Sometimes, you look at it and you say, 'oh, that's their house,'" Dornan
said, as she stared at the empty lot next door.

What was once a house next door has now become part of the "Lot Next Door"
program in St. Bernard Parish. It's designed to get cleared lots into the
hands of next door homeowners. On Monday, Dornan put down her deposit for
the lot next door to her.

"It gives you a lot more space, opens up your home and property value should
go up," she said. "So, I think that would be some pluses with it."

According to the parish, nearly 5,000 letters about the program went out to
St. Bernard residents. In the first phase, the option to buy an empty lot is
offered to the two homeowners who live next to it. If both want it, the
space is split in half. In Dornan's case, her other neighbor didn't want it,
so she'll get a chance to buy the whole thing.

"I have a daughter and she'll be able to be in the yard now -- a bigger
yard," she said.

In Chalmette, Glen Fernandez's mother-in-law put down her deposit for a lot
next door more than a year ago.

"You're increasing your whole lot. This is yours. Once it's yours, it's
yours," Fernandez said. "You could put a swimming pool, golf course, tennis
court, garage, boat shed."

So far, though, Fernandez said he is frustrated with the program's slow
progress in getting the lot into his mother-in-law's hands.

St. Bernard officials did not return multiple calls for comment on this
story.

"We'd all like to see it done, over with, over a year ago," he said. "I
don't know if it's political tie-ups or what, but they do not want to
release the lots."

Thousands of empty lots dot the St. Bernard landscape. In the first phase of
the "Lot Next Door" program, more than 1,100 residents signed up to buy one.
The sale of the lots, though, is only part of the recovery process here.
Just how far it still has to go may become clearer this week, when the
official census numbers are released for local municipalities in Louisiana.
Those numbers could provide the best indication yet, of how many people
actually live there.

As for the "Lot Next Door" program, the deadline for placing a deposit for
the first phase of it is on Feb. 1. After that, other nearby property owners
will get a chance to buy the lots.