Lafourche property owners fed up with trashy landscape

Fed up with Lafourche Parish’s eyesore landscape, residents are demanding action.

“We are seeking the assistance of the parish to get the yard clutter cleaned up in our area so that our neighborhood can look presentable to people wanting to move in,” said Diane Brown, a resident of the Rita subdivision in Lafourche Parish.

Brown was among residents to address the Lafourche Parish Council at its meeting last Tuesday.

Another Rita resident Sylvester Spears said, “Getting the people to clean up their property is becoming a problem for other homeowners, and it’s bringing down the our property value in the area.”

Councilmen Mark Atzenhoffer and Phillip Gouaux have worked diligently with the community on several occasions trying to put an end to the area’s trash problems.

“Repeatedly, we have tried to notify the homeowners and have them clean up their property. But, notifications go unanswered and, without the proper laws, we can’t just go onto private property and clean it up,” Atzenhoffer said.

According to council clerk Jon Pitre, the parish has an amended nuisance and abatement ordinance that could allow the parish legal authority to clean up such property.

However, the council agreed to defer adopting the ordinance to work out some major “kinks” in the ordinance. “We were still missing some information that will justify us going onto private property and cleaning it up,” Atzenhoffer said.

“This ordinance is something that we need if we want to clean up Rita, and the other areas like Bayou Blue, Raceland and Thibodaux,” Gouaux said.

Ultimately, it is a question of legality.

“We know the parish needs a major clean-up effort, but we feel that the process will take some time because we have to follow the legal channels to get it done,” said council chair Tommy Lasseigne.

When several parish councilmen last tried to clean the Rita area, they were ordered to cease and desist by the sheriff’s office because they were not authorize to use the parish road crew.

Atzenhoffer said, “I wish there was a way for us to utilize the parish road crews or the people that need to do community service with the sheriff’s office because we could really use their help.

“I have made calls to Sheriff Webre to see if we can work something out,” he said.

Repeated calls to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office for comment went unreturned as of press time.

Some Rita homeowners have given the parish permission to clean their property. Saying they can’t afford the work or aren’t physically able to clean their land, the owners are seeking the parish’s help.

“We are more than happy to come clean up the property. But we still have that percentage of the residents that haven’t given us permission,” Atzenhoffer said.

Golden Meadow officials tore down at least 25 rotting structures over the last year, Councilman Brent Callais noted.

“I don’t know what Golden Meadow has done to clean up their city or whether they went about it legally, but I do know we need to start somewhere,” he said.