Berwick council rejects zoning changes

The town council decided against considering zoning changes to prevent the spread of businesses that keep so-called “junk” in outdoor storage facilities.
Councilman Damon Robison attempted Tuesday to introduce an ordinance that would have amended parts of the town’s zoning rules. The ordinance failed introduction by a vote of 3-2.
Council members Duval Arthur, Troy Lombardo and Greg Roussel voted against introducing the ordinance, while Robison and Councilwoman Jacki Ackel voted for it.
The proposed ordinance would have amended the zoning definition of outdoor storage, added a definition of junk, removed farm equipment sales and service from highway business districts, added farm equipment sales and service to light industry districts, added truck sales, rental and service to highway business districts and added heavy equipment sales, rental and service to light industry districts.
Complaints Robison received about property on La. 182 “with the junk that’s been there” sparked his efforts to try to change the zoning ordinance, he said. The business, AAERCO of La., is located across La. 182 from A.J. Dohmann car dealership.
Ackel said she has had several complaints regarding the property.
AAERCO buys old equipment and sells it, Robison said.
Robison’s proposed ordinance was designed to prevent the business “from getting any worse or happening again in a (highway business district) zone,” he said.
That area is zoned as a highway business district that doesn’t allow for junkyards but allows for “outdoor storage,” Robison said. Outdoor storage was defined broadly in the ordinance so Robison wanted to refine some of the ordinance’s language.
Town attorney Allen McElroy said, if the ordinance had passed, AAERCO would have been grandfathered in under the current ordinance. But if the property went out of use for over six months, then the grandfather provision would no longer apply.
Roussel said he was “against changing an ordinance because of one issue.” Roussel does not “want to chase off any business” with the proposed changes to the zoning ordinance, he said.
Arthur said AAERCO’s owner has “made an effort to try to clean that place up.” The town should give the business owner a chance without passing an ordinance that may run him out of business, Arthur said.
The purpose of zoning is to put similar types of businesses in the same areas, Robison said. The council should also consider the people who live near the property and how they are affected.
Lombardo said the definition of junk is vague and what is junk to one person is useful to another.
“It seems like a witch hunt,” Lombardo said.
Now is not the time to try to limit what types of businesses can come to Berwick with the downturn in the economy, Lombardo said.
If someone is in violation of a zoning rule, the town should approach the person and allow him or her to fix the issue, Lombardo said.
The business owner in question has always done what town officials asked him to do in regard to zoning rules, Lombardo said.
Also during the meeting, Berwick High School students Katherine Theriot and Kristina Theriot presented an idea to the council to implement a Crossing Generations Program, which encourages the interaction of old and young people in the parish. They had presented the idea during March’s New Generations Conference hosted by the Morgan City Rotary Club.
The students proposed holding monthly meetings for young people to teach the older generation things they are not as familiar with such as technology. The older generation could then teach young people life skills such as balancing check books, sewing and cooking, they said.
Ratcliff said the program is a great idea and offered Town Hall or the Berwick Civic Complex as meeting places.
St. Mary Council on Aging Executive Director Beverly Domengeaux said the idea is the best one she has heard and the Council on Aging is ready to help.
“I believe that our elderly can give y’all a lot of knowledge about growing up, having families and family obligations,” Domengeaux said. “But also, I think y’all can bring us a light into your world because we don’t understand it.”
The council presented The Beacon Shines On award to Katherine Theriot for being selected as the No. 1 alternate in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Inspire National Research competition. Her project analyzed the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease in accordance with the perceptions and misconceptions of the disease.
In other business, the council
—Appointed Janie Brashear to the Berwick Housing Authority board.
—Approved a one-year extension to the wharf lease with Three Brothers Seafood.
—Accepted a $31,000 PILOT tax payment from the housing authority.
—Called for a public hearing to consider an animal keeping permit.
—Introduced an ordinance for millage rates rolled forward reassessment for 2016.
—Introduced an ordinance for adjusted millage reassessment for 2016.
—Introduced an ordinance to set the drainage fee for 2016.