MANDEVILLE — The City of Mandeville and Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman have filed motions to dismiss a complaint filed in October by the developer of the rejected Sucette Harbor project, Woodward Harbor, LLC, and the LSU Health Foundation.
The city filed two motions on the following grounds:
Zuckerman’s motion claims that as an elected official, he has “absolute” and “qualified” immunity from the plaintiff’s complaint.
The original Sucette Harbor complaint was filed with the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, on October 6th. Zuckerman is being sued individually. 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 4-3 vote on April 17th. The complaint also asks for monetary compensation from Zuckerman and the city.
The City Council voted unanimously at the October 26th council meeting to confirm City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert’s selections to provide legal representation for the City and Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman.
Section 2-6 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Mandeville stipulates the city “shall” provide legal representation to council members, as well as most other employees and officials, in situations where they are individually targeted in lawsuits. However, the law also requires that these officials would have to reimburse the city should the jurisdictional court find them at fault.
District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller read a prepared statement at the October 26th meeting expressing that he was initially opposed to the city funding Zuckerman’s legal fees but that after discussions with Sconzert, he would support the measure.
Mariner’s Village Master Association President Eric McVicker, who has served as a campaign consultant for Kreller during the Sucette Harbor application process, submitted a statement to the City Council and asked that it be read into the record at the October 26th meeting, opposing the city funding Zuckerman’s defense.
It was McVicker who penned a letter of endorsement for the Sucette Harbor project on behalf of the Master Association board of directors, which was presented to the City Council by Woodward Interests President Bill Hoffman at the May 25th City Council meeting. That letter was later disavowed by petitions from a group of 45 property owners in Mariner’s Village.
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 City Council unanimously rejected the Sucette Harbor project Ordinance 23-16 September 5th. However, it was Zuckerman, District III Councilwoman Jill McGuire and District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush who had opposed various aspects of the proposed project, enough to have adopted what turned out to be a wrecking amendment that significantly cut the density of the project, which ultimately led to its demise.
Councilman at Large Rick Danielson and Kreller, on the other hand, both have expressed support for development on the property since 2021, having given supportive statements to local media outlets, including the Times-Picayune/Nola.com on August 2, 2021.
Woodward Harbor LLC (Woodward Interests) has until December 26th to file responses.
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Mandeville Daily 
I think I understand. Woodward or whatever they are calling themselves this week is trying to circumvent The council via our wonderful court system. The people who were the most supportive of Woodward, in my opinion, in a very underhanded way, wanted to deny Zukerman representation in order to assist in said circumvention.
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