At the December 3, 2024, a local resident raised concerns about people buying lots under one of the Parish programs, but then failed to build a house on those lots. This was a legitimate concern. If the buyer failed to build as promised, the ownership of the lots automatically reverted back to the Parish and the buyer would not get any money back. This would allow the Parish to sell those lots to new buyers who would build on those lots. There would be a double benefit to the Parish. One, it would stimulate home building activity as was originally intended by the program. And two, it would raise revenue for the Parish by selling those lots for a second time.
At the very next meeting on December 17, 2024, Councilman Everhardt introduced a resolution to:
A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THAT THE ADMINISTRATION COMPILE AND PROVIDE TO THE COUNCIL A LIST OF ALL PROPERTIES SOLD UNDER THE BUY AND BUILD PROGRAM OR THE LOT NEXT DOOR PROGRAM THAT FAILED TO COMPLY WITH ANY REQUIREMENT IMPOSED BY ST. BERNARD PARISH GOVERNMENT.The Council voted unanimously in favor of this resolution. Here we are two months later, where is the list? According to Mr. Everhardt, the list has not been provided yet.
In what I’m sure some will say is just a complete coincidence, on February 11, 2025, the Housing, Redevelopment, and Qualify of Life Commission (HRQLC) called a meeting for February 18, 2025 solely for the following purpose:
Motion to adopt Resolution HRQLC# 34-02-25, a resolution authorizing an extension of two (2) years for purchasers of properties under the Buy and Build Program to comply with their obligations thereunder and related matters.We don’t even have list of the buyers who are not in compliance with the requirements of the program, so why would you propose a blanket extension of two years to comply with the program?
If we don’t know who is on the list, then we how could we know why each buyer failed to build within the time frames required by the program? Perhaps some buyers have good reasons worth considering, but perhaps other buyers have a bad reasons not worth considering or that some simply don’t have any reason at all. All of this just seems really suspicious.
What’s even more suspicious is that the HRQLC does not hold regular meetings. According to the Parish’s website, the HRQLC has not met since December 1, 2020. Take a look for yourself!
It just seems really suspicious that a list of non-compliant buyers was requested over 60 days ago, that the list of names hasn’t been published, and then all of a sudden and before the list is ever published, the HRQLC who hasn’t met in over four years, calls a meeting to consider an automatic extension across the board for everyone who failed to follow the rules.
As connect the dot specialists, we can be fairly confident that at least some of the names on that list must be some familiar and important names. Otherwise, no one would go to all of this trouble. But this is just our opinion – something stinks about this move!
It will be interesting to see who takes the dive on this one!
