Asks court to force city to approve Sucette Harbor project
Names private citizens who attended meetings, spoke in opposition
Targets councilman at large individually
Updated October 6, 2023, at 10:04 p.m. — Expands coverage and background.
MANDEVILLE — The City of Mandeville and Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman are the targets of a federal lawsuit filed yesterday, October 6th, by Woodward Harbor, LLC, the developer behind the rejected Sucette Harbor project.
The lawsuit was filed with the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana. Zuckerman is being sued individually in the civil suit. The suit asks the court to force the city to approve the Sucette Harbor project as it was recommended by the Planning and Zoning commission by a narrow 4-3 vote on April 17th, 2023. The City Council rejected Ordinance 23-16 in a 5-0 vote September 5th, 2023.
Sucette Harbor would have been a massive hotel, events center, apartment complex and marina at the western end of the Mandeville lakefront between residential neighborhoods and Lake Pontchartrain:
- 82-room hotel and events center
- Restaurant
- 201 presumably HUD-age-exempted apartments*
- 103-slip marina
The main allegations of the suit are that the City of Mandeville and/or Zuckerman violated Woodward’s rights under the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution, didn’t follow the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Regulations Ordinance (CLURO), violated Robert’s Rules of Order at one or more meetings on Sucette Harbor, among other allegations.
Click to download the suit here (PDF format).
The suit additionally claims that Zuckerman and District III Councilwoman Jill McGuire used their personal opinions to gin up opposition to the project and consulted non-city attorneys during the months leading up to the failed bid.
“With Zuckerman taking the lead in unrestrained opposition, and McGuire supporting his efforts, their comments in denying the ordinance were best described as personal and individual interpretations of the CLURO, and all of their comments were intentionally designed to “kill” the proposed project and to prevent future, similar applications,” the suit reads.
The suit mentions attorneys Ernest Burguieres and Kevin Vogeltanz and local architect Vaughn Sollberger by name as those consulted by Zuckerman.
The suit also alleges violations of Robert’s Rules of Order on August 15th when presiding officer Councilman at Large Rick Danielson upheld two points of order by Zuckerman, not allowing a previously adopted amendment which capped the number of apartment units at 90 to be nullified or then reconsidered.
Woodward is saying the nullification of the amendment should have been allowed, but according to RROO, new amendments cannot nullify previous amendments on a motion (RROO §12:25) and a motion to reconsider must be done at the same or next meeting (RROO — §6:26 (4), §37:8 (b), §37:10 (b)) that the original amendment was adopted. The August 15th meeting was the second meeting after the 90-unit amendment was approved.
Related:
Sucette Harbor killed, 5-0
Attempt to break 90-apartment limit fails after procedural gaffe, standoff among council members, attorneys
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Mandeville Daily 
How much has the city spent on legal fees so far????
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I believe the city council rightly voted as the citizens of Mandeville wanted them to do. Many citizens write emails asking the council members to NOT pass this project!!! I wrote two sets of emails!!!!
Thank you, Mandeville City Council members.
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