SLCA Meeting Minutes - April 18, 2010

STARING LANE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
April 18, 2010
Magnolia Woods Club House

The meeting was called to order at 5:10 p.m. by the president. People who were present introduced themselves.

The president gave an overview of the meeting’s objectives: update on any contracts about possible appraisal offers and to determine if we’ll take some type of legal action in reference to these proposed offers.

Pam Labbe, secretary, was unable to attend; Judy Barbay acted as recording secretary.

The minutes were read and two corrections were noted:
1. Only 2 people have been present when their land was appraised.
2. The value was approximate of $3.50 per square foot.
Pete Territo made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected; Judy Barbay seconded the motion and the motion carried.

It will cost 46.4 million to place utilities underground.
Property owners on O’Neal Lane have received $14/sq. ft. for commercial and $7 for residential.
The majority have received letters asking if they wanted to be present when the appraisal was done.

Publicity Committee—no report

Membership Committee—It is hoped that all present will become members.

Finance Committee—There is $320.00 in the account.

Nominating Committee—Some members have moved so we will wait until there is more stability before filling the positions.

OTHER NEWS:
The majority of people have been contacted.
Six people have had their property appraised: O’Rourke, Herke, Territo, LaCaze, White, Singleton
Three people have had offers: Territo, Singleton & White
Two have rejected the offers.

PRESENTATION BY GWYNN SHAMLIN, ATTORNEY
If one rejects the offer, they must make a proposal with documentation for rejecting the offer. If the City-Parish doesn’t agree, they will do a “quick take” and it will go to court. We may want to do group appraisals.

Pete Territo presented the correspondence he had received from Pete Newkirk responding to questions that had been posited by the Association.
Underground Utilities: City-Parish is going to provide high poles like on Essen Lane to avoid the trees (will not run lines underground).
Cable and Telephone Lines: Same as above.
35 MPH Speed Limit: DPW will make this determination.
Servitude Ending at Construction Line: 5 foot will be needed for actual road construction and 17 foot of “back grade” for future development.
Double driveway entrances: Won’t outright agree to this. Residents should insist they need a double driveway if the road is close to the house to provide easy access.
Preservation of existing trees: Planning to put high electricity poles to avoid the trees. However, the construction workers will not respect the trees. The engineers said they were going to clear the right of way. You will have to be paid for fence removals.
2-Lane Street: City-Parish is planning to develop it as a 4-lane street as voted on in the Green Light plan. Can develop as 5 lanes but can put in fewer lanes if they thought it was better.

It was indicated that it was still in question as to whether the house at the corner of Hyacinth and Staring was going to be taken. The Thomases haven’t had any information recently.

Gwynn Shamlin, Attorney, reviewed the Association’s Two Options:

Option One: Challenge City-Parish’s right to take property. Attorney Gwynn Shamlin did research and the “quick take” process to take property requires court. Even though this “quick take” procedure has been under criticism (statute is too broad, gives too much power to the municipalities); if we were to take legal action, we would have to establish that the law has been unconstitutional and it would be expensive to do so. The City-Parish would probably get a stay of order until the decision is rendered. The money would be put in an escrow account and would go to court; but they will go ahead and take the property. The money could be accessed during the court procedure but you will have to pay expert witnesses when you go to court and an attorney would want one-third as payment. Attorney Shamlin will break down the law for us and send it to everyone.

Option Two: Property owners could negotiate a better offer based on a private appraisal. Property owners need to negotiate and not take the first offer and make a counter offer based on a certified appraisal. The key is getting an appraisal done. Must take into account noise, heat, etc. Will need an appraisal comparable to the City-Parish’s appraisal.


Attorney Gwynn Shamlin will help without asking for anything but he is not a “takings” lawyer. His phone number is 225 772-0341. He will answer questions via the Q & A site he has established at his website.

Other points made:
· We must understand the legal ramifications of any action that we take.
· When we begin to negotiate, we want to consider future possible commercial value of the land.
· Appraisers giving out questionable information such as don’t worry about the “set back,” you can do what you want with the servitude which isn’t correct.
· Pete Territo’s comps were based on vacant land.
· A show of hands indicated that a majority would have an appraisal.
· Three agents are working the Staring Lane project: Ronnie Rabalais, Robert Cain and one other one.
· Home owners will work through the agents and not the appraisers.
· Green Light is over budget on all projects.

An amended motion passed to have an executive committee meet with outside appraisers and come back with a report to the group.

Meeting concluded at 6:55 p.m.