T’bonne trying to stiffen nuisance fines

Fines for Terrebonne residents allowing tall grass and junk on their property will be increased if the Terrebonne Parish Council passes an ordinance amending the parish code at the council’s regular meeting on June 24.

Last week, the parish council’s Policy, Procedure, and Legal Committee introduced an ordinance raising nuisance fines for property owners in Terrebonne to $250 for the first violation, $500 for the second violation within the calendar year, and assessing criminal penalties for the third offense. Fines are currently $100, $250, and $500 for the same set of violations.

Councilman Kevin Voisin suggested the new penalty levels at a parish council committee meeting in April. He and Councilwoman Arlanda Williams said at the meeting that the $100 initial fine was too readily paid by residents.

“People take advantage of only paying $100,” she said. “Two hundred and fifty dollars means we’re not accepting this anymore.”

The ordinance changes wording in the parish code that allows residents to build fences to conceal junk compiled on their property.

“I’m saying a fence is not a proper remedy,” Voisin said.

Parish attorney Courtney Alcock said the proposed ordinance prevents residents from putting up a fence to avoid a violation. She said abandoned cars in backyards are permitted but not in driveways.

Councilman Alvin Tillman called junk and debris on property a greater nuisance than tall grass.

“(Prohibiting fencing) makes sure you don’t hide it,” he said.

“If charged, you can’t go back and put up a fence,” Williams said. “We’re not saying you can’t put a fence.”

Councilman Clayton Voisin, who opposed the ordinance, said the new law discriminates against residents living outside of zoned areas of the parish.

“This is just another form of zoning in unzoned areas,” he said. “We’re telling people you can’t do what you want to do.”

Councilmen Joey Cehan and Pete Lambert, along with Clayton Voisin, voted not to introduce the ordinance. At last week’s regular parish council meeting, Voisin asked Alcock whether the prohibition on fences could be dropped from the wording.

“All three council members who live in the outlying areas (Clayton Voisin, Cehan and Lambert) voted against,” he said.

The ordinance also reduces the amount of time residents are allowed to comply with nuisance citations. Currently, violators are permitted ten days to comply with a nuisance citation before the parish dispatches a contractor to cut tall grass at the property owner’s expense. The ordinance reduces that period to five days.

Councilwoman Arlanda Williams recommended reducing the time allowed for compliance at the committee meeting in April.

Additionally, the ordinance provides for properties to be automatically inspected 30 days after owners who were in violation comply with the law.

“This will get rid of repeat offenders,” Kevin Voisin said.

At the Community Development and Planning Committee last week, Councilwoman Teri Cavalier sought to give the parish administration 60 days to submit a new ordinance governing the construction of multiple residential units on a single lot in non-zoned areas of the parish.

Alex Ostheimer, a member of the Regional Planning Commission, said that rules for single lots containing multiple housing units need to follow the same policies overseeing mobile home and recreational vehicle parks.

“It fits in with trailer parks,” Ostheimer told the committee. “The analogy is adequate.”

However, problems exist with mobile home regulations, he said.

The parish’s Subdivision Regulations Review Sub-Committee will try to work quickly to come up with recommendations, he said. A single lot containing multiple housing units typically has one owner, according to Ostheimer.

He said the Regional Planning Commission looks at other parishes’ regulations to help resolve problems in Terrebonne.

Councilwoman Teri Cavalier said residents living in rental units do not have the same stake in the community as homeowners.

“We have no rules,” she said. “People who have $100,000 homes now have multiple residences (nearby).”

She said she does not want the value of homes to depreciate and emphasized that current restrictions only apply to zoned areas of the parish.

Terrebonne Planning Director Pat Gordon assured Cavalier the administration could devise a new ordinance governing multiple housing units on a single lot within the 60-day time period.

Also at the meeting, the committee considered expanding the area in which residents are notified when zoning adjustments are made to properties.

Currently, only adjacent property owners receive notices when changes occur. Committee members recommended that owners with property located up to 250 feet from where a zoning change occurred receive notification. More action will be taken at the next council committee meeting on June 22.