[StBernard] Appeals court resolves Lot Next Door dispute in St. Bernard Parish

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Fri Jan 25 20:24:35 EST 2013


Appeals court resolves Lot Next Door dispute in St. Bernard Parish
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on January 25, 2013 at 12:03 PM, updated January 25, 2013 at 12:45 PM Print

An appeals court has ruled in favor of a man who sued St. Bernard Parish
over what he said was preferential treatment in the way a government
commission chose recipients in its Lot Next Door pilot program in 2010. The
court agreed the lot in question should have been sold to David Jarrell
instead of the former wife of then St. Bernard Parish Council Chairman Wayne
Landry.

Jarrell argued that, as the property owner next door, he was entitled to
first dibs, but the parish's Housing, Redevelopment and Quality of Life
Authority Commission instead selected Buffone. Landry was a member of the
commission, but did not participate in the vote since it involved his
ex-wife.

Jarrell lost his suit in District Court in St. Bernard, but appealed to the
state 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, which handed down a ruling in his favor
on Jan. 16. The appeal court essentially said that the parish's own
guidelines give preference to next door property owners.

"The record also reflects that Ms. Landry (Buffone) was given preferential
treatment where this LLT property is concerned," the appeal court said.

St. Bernard Parish Lot Next Door Appeal Decision by

Jarrell, an attorney, now will get possession of the lot.

"It shows David can beat Goliath," he said.

The lot will cost him about $4,500.

"If I wasn't an attorney, the average Joe would not have been able to do
this," Jarrell said, noting the expense of a legal fight. "It shows that
there should be a mechanism in place to hold the parish accountable."

Buffone said on Friday that she is still considering how to proceed.

"I did talk to an attorney about it," she said.

Asked if she felt she had received preferential treatment, she said, "No, I
did not."

After Hurricane Katrina, the state's Road Home program purchased the lots
and transferred them to the Louisiana Land Trust, the nonprofit holding
company for properties acquired by the state under its Road Home program.

The parish then was tasked with the responsibility of disposing of those
properties, and it created the Lot Next Door Program. It was designed to
benefit those who had returned after Katrina by giving adjacent property
owners the right of first refusal to purchase the LLT properties at a
substantial discount.

Who was supposed to get first crack at Lot Next Door properties?

First tier: Owners of domiciled and homestead-exempt homes that are directly
adjacent to the Road Home lot get the first shot. If both homestead-exempt
owners want the lot between them, it will be split.

Second tier: Non-homestead-exempt property owners can buy the lot next door
if a homestead-exempt owner doesn't want it, or agrees to split it.

Third tier: Non-homestead-exempt property owners next door to a Road Home
lot have the chance to buy it. If both want the lot between them, it will be
split.

Fourth tier: Homestead-exempt property owners to the rear of the Road Home
lot have the chance to buy it.

According to the parish guidelines, property owners behind a Road Home lot
have the chance to purchase it only if owners of adjacent homes aren't
interested. The goal is to preserve the appearance of neighborhoods and
prevent oddly configured streetscapes, where front yards are right next to
backyard fences.

Jarrell, who at the time worked for prominent St. Bernard attorney Sidney
Torres III, said he was never notified that the property next door to him
was available for purchase.

According to appeal court's ruling, the classification for Buffone's
property changed three times in the database of Global Risk Solutions, the
contractor administering the purchase agreement process.

The log for Buffone's property shows that someone went into the computer
system in June 2009 to change the property designation from "not next door"
to "possible next door" to "next door," meaning it would be considered in
the top tier of property transfers. That "final change was made per
information from Clay Cossé, (then) Executive Director of the Parish's
Department of Housing and Redevelopment," according to the appeal court
decision.

Jarrell filed suit against the parish the day after the commission voted to
sell the property to Buffone. Although Landry did not cast a vote, at the
time he said he thought Buffone was the more deserving recipient because she
lived in her home, while Jarrell lived elsewhere and had purchased his Birch
Street property as a post-Katrina investment.

Landry did not seek re-election to the council in 2011, opting instead to
run for sheriff where he was defeated in a runoff.

Current Councilman Ray Lauga was the lone commission member to vote against
the transfer to Buffone in 2010, saying next-door property owners should
always be given preference.

The Louisiana Land Trust started with 4,464 lots. Residents have signed
purchase agreements on about 2,400 purchase agreements for Lot Next Door
properties, with about 400 of those still awaiting final sale.

About 1,400 lots are expected to be transferred the parish in May.

Interested St. Bernard residents must put down a deposit and sign a purchase
agreement for a Lot Next Door property by Feb. 1. All closings must occur by
April 15.

Residents can call 504.934.4625, or go to the parish's website, by clicking
here, for more details.




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