[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish to continue Lot Next Door program

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Wed Feb 8 00:41:48 EST 2012


St. Bernard Parish to continue Lot Next Door program

Published: Tuesday, February 07, 2012, 10:15 PM

By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune

St. Bernard Parish will continue its participation in the Lot Next Door
program through at least June 30, Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Graves
said Tuesday. The program, approved by the Louisiana Recovery Authority in
October 2008, lets private property owners purchase vacant Louisiana Land
Trust lots abutting their properties.

The state's Road Home program purchased the lots with U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant funds and
transferred the properties to the Louisiana Land Trust, the nonprofit
holding company for Road Home properties.

The program had the goal of shifting about 4,400 St. Bernard vacant lots
sold to Road Home. Graves said on Thursday that there are about 2,200 lots
remaining and that St. Bernard probably will remain with the Lot Next Door
program until it ends, as early as June or as late as Sept. 1.

Under the program, properties can be used only as a yard or for home
expansion, such as a pool, garage or an attached guest house, not for new
home construction. The parish previously has estimated the average price of
a lot at about $5,000, with price per square foot ranging from 60 to 90
cents.

The St. Bernard Parish Housing, Redevelopment and Quality of Life
Commission, which approves any LLT sale, also is reviewing proposals to use
remaining lots to create pocket parks, Lake Borgne drainage improvement
programs and several other potential projects, according to Parish President
Dave Peralta.

The parish hired the New Orleans planning firm Waggonner & Ball Architects
to recommend what should be done with the lots that aren't sold through the
program.

While the program continues, Graves said, the parish probably also will
attempt "targeted auctions" of LLT properties, focusing on specific parish
neighborhoods "to see if it works at bringing people into areas that are
still largely vacant." Nearly 80 percent of St. Bernard's housing units had
severe damage from Katrina's storm surge, according to federal estimates.
The parish's population fell by 47 percent from its 2000 figure of 67,229,
according to the 2010 Census.

Those interested in a property should contact the parish at 504.278.2268, or
Global Risk Solutions, the Miami-based company contracted to administer the
purchase agreements, at 504.569.1905.

In other matters, Councilman Nathan Gorbaty at the Tuesday evening council
meeting reminded the public of a 2007 parish ordinance that states, along
with other stipulations, that a home built where a post-Katrina home once
stood cannot be less square footage than the previous home. He says that
ordinance is necessary to keep real estate values high by preventing a batch
of smaller homes from replacing large ones.

The council also voted to keep Clerk of Council Roxanne Adams's salary at
about $77,000, and to hire two deputy clerks at $25,000 apiece and eliminate
the council assistant post. Previously there was just one deputy clerk who
made $41,300, and council assistant who received $24,340. The move saves the
council about $15,000 a year.

Council President Guy McInnis also announced that the council has
digitalized the council's bimonthly agendas so people now can access
supporting documents for various agenda items. The electronic agendas and
documents can be viewed on the parish's website, www.sbpg.net, by clicking
on Parish Council and then clicking on Meeting Minutes and Agendas.

The move was praised by parish residents in attendance, many of whom had
complained throughout last year about not having easy access to the
documents that explain items discussed by council members.

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



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