[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Council working on ethics board, master land use plan

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish Council working on ethics board, master land use plan

Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 9:25 PM     Updated: Tuesday, January
24, 2012, 9:34 PM

 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

Two weeks after St. Bernard Parish Council and Parish President Dave Peralta
took office, an parish ethics board is in the works, and a master land use
plan is gaining steam. But the news was not all positive for the newly
installed officials; Peralta announced during the Tuesday council meeting
that an overpayment on recovery projects through 2011 may force the parish
to pay back up to $14 million, as it deals with a parish 2012 operating and
capital budget with a potential $2 million shortfall.

Peralta said his administration will "ensure that services do not suffer as
a result" and will establish "new financial mechanisms" to "more closely
monitor recovery funds going forward."

Peralta said the ethics board will be a four-member body and applications
for the post will be forwarded to the Appointments Review Board and then to
the council. The council must ratify qualified candidates.

He said that University of New Orleans political science professor John
Kiefer is aiding the administration and council in establishing and
understanding functions of such a board.

And Earl Dauterive, chairman of the parish's Planning Commission, said he
discovered early Tuesday that part of about $300,000 set aside for the
betterment of the parish in last year's $145 million Murphy Oil settlement
potentially could foot the bill to create a master land use plan. A lack of
a master plan was partly what placed the parish in such legal hot water when
it attempted time and time again to deny permits for four multifamily
housing units the last several years.

Dauterive said he hopes to hold several public hearings scheduled throughout
the parish to educate the public on the master land use process.

Council Chairman Guy McInnis noted that Waggonner & Ball Architects is
wrapping up its recommendations for what should be done with the lots
leftover from the Lot Next Door program, and that the council plans to speak
to the firm on incorporating ideas for dealing with the lots in the master
plan.

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Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch at timespicayune.com or
504.826.3321.