Alvin J. Benoit
May 11, 2009
Breaking News: Mother guilty of children’s slayings
May 14, 2009
The Terrebonne Parish School Board voted 5-3 to write a resolution opposing a developer’s plan to dig a boat slip near Mulberry Elementary School at last Tuesday’s meeting.
Board member Roger Dale DeHart was absent.
School Superintendent Philip Martin was expected to present a final draft of the resolution for another vote at last night’s school board meeting, which was rescheduled in anticipation of next week’s high school graduations. The final vote is posted online at www.tri-parishtimes.com.
Board members and residents from the Barrios subdivision – the area behind which the slip would be built – said the waterway could increase the chance of flooding from storm surges.
The 3,000-foot boat slip is part of a proposed new subdivision called Hollygrove that South Hollywood Properties No. 1 wants to develop. The slip would be dug from the Intracoastal Waterway between Concord Road and Cougar Drive. It would come within a few hundred feet of Mulberry Elementary.
Terrebonne’s Regional Planning Commission rejected the Holly-grove development by a 4-3 vote at its April 23 meeting. However, South Hollywood appealed the ruling Monday night, and the Terrebonne Parish Council sided with the developer, overriding the planning commission.
District 5 Councilman Johnny Pizzolatto asked school board members to delay taking action until the proposed plan goes through due process.
Pizzolatto told the school board that members would have time to voice concerns once the parish council learns more about the development.
“If you deny due process, you are opening yourself up to litigation,” Pizzolatto told school board members. “It’s too soon to make a judgment because we don’t have any facts. We’re assuming that the slip is going to cause flooding or that the development is going to be passed by the council.”
Board member L.P. Bordelon, who offered the motion, said the resolution opposes not just the proposed slip, but also any artificial waterways that may disrupt the education of schoolchildren and endanger school property.
“There’s no place in the parish right now that is safe from water damage, whether from the Intracoastal Canal or the heavens above,” he said. “What would make us think that Mulberry is not vulnerable?”
Board member Ricky Pitre questioned the timing of the resolution and asked whom the board would send it to.
“Do we send it to the council saying we oppose it? The Legislature? The planning commission?” he asked. “If we get into trying to dictate to the council and the planning commission how to do their jobs, we have a heck of a lot of issues we’d have to address.”
Citing the flood risk to schools further inland, other board members said it was better to take action now against the development.
“If we allow a city school to flood that doesn’t normally flood by allowing this slip, shame on us because the public will never forgive us,” board member Donald Duplantis said.
Voting in favor of drafting a resolution were Bordelon, Ricky Pitre, Duplantis, Clark Bonvillian and Richard Jackson. Voting against it were Roosevelt Thomas, Gregory Harding and Hayes Badeaux.
Barrios residents packed the school board and regional planning commission meetings to encourage board members to reject the artificial waterway.
“Many slips were built behind this area pre-Katrina and Rita,” said Barry Blackwell, a Barrios resident. “If we had to make those same decisions today with our lack of ability to stop storm surges, I doubt those slips would have been supported.”
Barrios resident Gerald Giroir presented the parish council a 380-signature petition opposing the development.
“We have 567 signatures and counting from people in the Barrios and Mulberry subdivisions,” he said. “Their number one priority is that school. I didn’t realize until I started this how proud and protective they are of Mulberry.”
Paula Ferrer, whose child attends Mulberry Elementary School in Houma, addresses the Terrebonne Parish School Board concerning the possible construction of a 3,000-foot boat slip near the school.
