120-day moratorium planned for Valhi Corridor

The Terrebonne Parish Council’s Public Services Committee on Monday decided to postpone proposing the banning of billboards along the Valhi Boulevard Extension in Houma from St. Charles Street to South Hollywood Road and along the new Valhi Boulevard Corridor for two weeks.

The parish council wants to place a 120-day moratorium on billboards along Valhi Boulevard.

After that period, the council would have to come up with permanent regulations, said Parish Manager Pat Gordon.

The council has previously discussed banning the signs, requesting that the issue be taken up by the Houma-Terrebonne Regional Planning Commission.

The new Valhi Corridor will run from Hollywood Road to a possible connection with Savanne Road, paralleling Louisiana Hwy. 311. Valhi begins near the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center where it runs through a heavily residential area to St. Charles Street.

Plans are for the new road to go to Equity Boulevard, Gordon said.

The Valhi Corridor is expected to have a more upscale appearance, Gordon said. Nearby Louisiana Highway 311 is in an overlay district requiring buildings to meet more demanding landscaping and architectural standards.

Valhi, which is not located in that district, is zoned both residential and commercial, though the new corridor is zoned all commercial and light industrial. The parish council may soon vote to place the Valhi Corridor in the overlay district.

The proposed ordinance states that the parish is concerned about signs cluttering the new corridor.

Parish zoning ordinances require the signs to be at least 500 feet apart and prohibit billboards in residential areas.

Councilman Harold Lapeyre suggested a compromise allowing billboards along the Valhi Corridor to be 1,000 feet apart.

A representative from the Lamar Advertising Company told the committee the concern is that the signage “will take away the aesthetics” from the area.

“These signs generate a lot of revenue,” he said. “If you tell us we can’t advertise on this artery, that puts a strain on us. This (the Valhi Corridor) won’t be the only new artery.”

He added, “We can make some suggestions.”

Lapeyre wrote a letter to Gordon in August asserting he would like to see a permanent ban on signs and billboards along the Valhi Corridor.

“In my opinion, this will be a beautiful section of roadway and I don’t think we should have the area littered with signs,” he stated.

At the Budget and Finance Committee meeting Monday, the committee rejected a proposal by Councilman Johnny Pizzolatto to dedicate three-fourths of the increase in parish receipts from the state severance tax to levee-building and coastal restoration, should state Constitutional Amendment No. 4 pass.

The amendment increases the cap on state severance tax revenue the parish can receive from the current $850,000 to $2,850,000 by 2010. The cap will increase regularly after that.

The amendment also requires that the parish spend half of the revenue increase on transportation projects. The other half will be deposited in the parish General Fund.

Pizzolatto wanted one-quarter of the increase to go into the General Fund and the rest dedicated to levee-building. He said the measure gives the council the ability to determine where the money will go.

The request would be in the form of a resolution, not an ordinance.

Parish Council Chairman Clayton Voisin opposed Pizzolatto’s measure, saying he was concerned that dedicating the money would hurt levee-building in southern Terrebonne.

“If we don’t spend it now, we’ll spend it further north,” Voisin said.

Disagreeing with restrictions on spending the money, Lapeyre also opposed the move.

The measure failed, with council members Teri Cavalier and Alvin Tillman voting with Pizzolatto.