Meeting Summary

The St. Charles Parish Council held its final regular meeting of 2024, recognizing four retiring board and commission members and hearing year-end reports from the RSVP volunteer program and the Personnel Office, including news that the parish is transitioning RSVP into a new "Primetime Seniors" program. The council's most contested item was a rezoning request for property on Lakewood Drive in Luling, which drew extensive public testimony on both sides and ultimately failed. The council also approved the transfer of the Cross Bayou Pump Station from the Pontchartrain Levee District to full parish ownership and maintenance, created the Luling Bridge Economic Development District No. 1 to support a proposed retail development, and approved a construction contract for lighting improvements at the East Bank Bridge Park.

Watch Items

• The following ordinances were introduced and are scheduled for a public hearing on Monday, January 6, 2025, 6:00 p.m., Council Chambers, Courthouse, Hahnville:

- 2024-0419, An ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of a Professional Services Agreement with McKim & Creed, Inc., to perform engineering services for the Water System Modeling (Project No. WWKS 115), in the amount of $253,278.00. - 2024-0420, An ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of Change Order No. 1 (Final) for the St. Charles Parish West Bank Spray Park (Project No. WBSP2112) and additional parking located at the Edward Dufresne Community Center, to decrease the contract amount by $48,348.60 and increase the contract time 148 days. - 2024-0421, An ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of Amendment No. 3 to Ordinance No. 22-7-2, which approved the Professional Services Agreement with Digital Engineering & Imaging, Inc., to perform planning services for Road Maintenance 2022-23 (Project No. P220501), in the amount of $52,306.00. - 2024-0422, An ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of Change Order No. 2 with Kass Bros., Inc., for Concrete Maintenance 2023-24 (Project No. P230803), to increase the contract amount by $328,314.80 and to increase the contract time by sixty (60) days. - 2024-0423, An ordinance of the Parish of St. Charles providing that the Code of Ordinances, Parish of St. Charles, be amended by revising Section 15-5, Motor Vehicles and Traffic, of said Code, to provide for the installation of "NO OVERNIGHT PARKING" signs on the south side of Carriage Lane from the property line dividing 98 and 96 Carriage Lane and along the entire length of Dunleith Court as it transitions from Dunleith Drive to the dead end at the Carriage Canal in Destrehan. - 2024-0424, An ordinance to approve a purchase and/or expropriate from the heirs of a certain 20.776 acres parcel of property owned by Clyde J. Melancon, et al to St. Charles Parish located along the Southern side of the Hahn Street Extension, being partially adjacent to the Department of Public Works site at 166 Scorpio Street and the Hahnville Sewer Treatment Plant. - 2024-0425, An ordinance revoking a Special Permit Use for automobile sales in a C-2 zoning district on Lot 1, Autin Subdivision, 16830 Highway 90, Des Allemands.

• The Lakewood Drive rezoning request (2024-0405) failed, but the underlying property remains zoned for residential and apartment development. Residents on both sides of the issue raised concerns about future traffic, drainage, and school capacity if the land is developed under its current zoning, and the property owner indicated he would not purchase the land without the rezoning. Residents should watch for whether this property comes back before the parish in a different form.
• The Luling Bridge Economic Development District No. 1 was created, but parish staff indicated a future cooperative agreement outlining the terms and use of the district will need to come back to the council for approval.
• The Department of Water Works was asked to look into resident complaints about a sharp increase in the fee charged for processing water bill payments by phone.
• The parish's new "Primetime Seniors" program, replacing the federally constrained RSVP program, will hold a kickoff event on January 9 at the Edward A. Dufresne Community Center to gather resident input on programming.