OPINION | Sucette ordinance a hot mess

Kreller amendments will need to be corrected

Editorial

Something’s not quite right when it comes to the wording of the Sucette Harbor ordinance after recent amendments were added in an attempt to join together parcels D and U.

Developers had once hoped to build a sprawling hotel, events center, adult living apartments, and marina on Mandeville’s western lakefront on land donated to the LSU Health Foundation by Al Copeland Jr.

The proposal has run into staunch opposition by some on the council, who passed an amendment cutting the number of apartments roughly in half at a special meeting July 12th. This led to acting Council Chairman Councilman at Large Rick Danielson pumping the brakes on further amendments at the next meeting July 24th when the developer floated the idea of not even building the new marina if the apartment limit stays at 90 units.

Aside from all this fuss, District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller’s amendments July 12th, attempting to join Parcels D and U together after developer Woodward Interests agreed to the move at the July 5th meeting, have created a bit of a technical mess in the wording of Ordinance 23-16.

Kreller used “Whereas” clauses to require or direct action by the City or Planning and Zoning Commission. A “Whereas” clause should only explain a motivation behind an ordinance or cite what gives the City the authority or reason for doing what’s in the ordinance.

Mandeville Daily believes the ordinance has the following problems:

So all in all, Ordinance 23-16 is one hot mess. Maybe things will get cleaned up at the next scheduled special meeting August 15th. But then again, maybe they won’t.

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