Gasket manufacturer’s neighbors angered over driveway expansion

Discussion was heated between Terrebonne Parish Council Chairman Alvin Tillman and Ronald LaBauve, owner of Bluewater Rubber Gasket Co. at 1131 Barrow St. in Houma, at the council’s meeting Wednesday night.

Bluewater constructed for its facility a rear-entrance double driveway on Clay Street because business for the gasket manufacturer has been expanding, LaBauve said.

“As we grow, we need space,” he said. “It’s bursting at the seams.”

Tillman said that Bluewater did not receive proper permits from the Terrebonne Parish Department of Planning and Zoning to construct the driveway, and that the increased truck activity on Clay St. resulting from the new rear entrance poses a safety hazard for residents living in the small number of houses lining the street.

He also said that the parish did not receive input from Clay Street residents before building the driveway.

“No way that driveway should have encroached” on the people living on Clay Street, Tillman told LaBauve. “What you guys done was wrong. There was disrespect shown.”

Tillman made a motion to authorize Terrebonne Parish’s Legal Department to place an injunction on Bluewater’s use of the driveway, but the motion failed.

“I tried,” Tillman said. “Big business wins. You (Clay Street residents) don’t matter.”

A later motion passed, however, requesting the attorney general’s opinion about the driveway’s construction.

Tillman said that Clay Street residents do not have the wherewithal to press their concerns in court about the increased truck activity on their street.

“People should have been notified” that the new entrance was being constructed, Tillman said. “This is classism. In other districts, I wouldn’t have this problem. The permit wouldn’t have been issued.”

LaBauve said that 18 to 20 rigs arrive daily at the Bluewater facility.

Even though the flow of vehicles is overwhelming the main Barrow Street entrance, he said that Bluewater only sends pickup trucks to the Clay Street entrance.

Tillman, however, claimed that 18-wheelers can be found regularly on Clay Street. LaBauve said those rigs belong to Marshall Durbin Chicken.

In addition, LaBauve said that people play basketball on Clay Street during the day.

Tillman said that Bluewater could have brought the basketball goal issue to the council’s attention prior to Wednesday’s meeting.

“You should not have put the residents in the spotlight like this,” Tillman said.

LaBauve apologized to Tillman if any disrespect was shown.

“I wanted to make a case for my business,” he said. “I want my business to run safe, clean, and to grow.”

Tillman replied, “Nothing personal. I respect your opinion.”

Earlier, Raceland-native Roger Bourgeois complained to the council that the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum (7910 Park Ave. in Houma) and the Terrebonne Folklife Culture Center (317 Goode St. in Houma) have been receiving unfair negative publicity recently.

Bourgeois donated tools and decoys to the Folklife Center for use as exhibits.

He noted the criticism leveled at the Waterlife Museum by Councilwoman Teri Cavalier that the museum does not rotate exhibits, and the claim from a candidate for parish president that, if elected, he would close down the Folklife Center, using it as his office.

“Instead of being negative, we should be involved in the community, and encourage volunteer participation,” Bourgeois told the council.

He acknowledged that the Waterlife Museum building needs some repairs, but the facilties operate on a thin budget and their Web sites are not kept current.

Bourgeois pointed to the absence of signage on roadways in Terrebonne Parish directing cars to the museums.

Also, he said that the tax revenue deriving from the boom in hotel construction in Houma should fund museum maintenance.

Councilpersons Harold Lapeyre, Kim Elfert and Clayton Voisin supported Bourgeois’ statements concerning the parish’s hotel-motel tax.

“The Folklife Center and the Waterlife Museum have not been properly marketed,” Lapeyre said. “They are valuable assets.”

Elfert said that the Houma Area Convention and Visitors Bureau does not properly promote the two museums.

Voisin said, “We have a beautiful parish, but it’s not properly advertised. We need signage and marketing to showcase what we have here. I doubt more than 25 percent of people in Terrebonne know about the museum.”

Additionally, Bourgeois suggested that Main Street in Houma from Lafayette to Barrow streets could be made into a public square.

Councilman Peter Rhodes asked Tillman to appoint a trio of council members to look into Bourgeois’ ideas.

Both Bourgeois and Councilwoman Christa Duplantis lamented the loss of the Downtown on the Bayou festival.

Finally at Wednesday’s meeting, the council voted for Stephanie Hebert, a personal financial consultant with All State Insurance in Houma, to replace Don Hingle as South Central Industrial Association’s representative on the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority’s board.