Rob Buettner

COVINGTON nn Intervention by the Eden Isles Homeowners' Association into a lawsuit against the parish was short lived, as Judge Reginald Badeaux dismissed the group's petition Thursday and refused to let the association enter the case. "People were shocked," said Eden Isles Homeowners' Association president, Dale Wood. "It's pretty obvious the judge didn't read the petition. It (Oak Harbor's Planned Unit Development zoning) is either unconstitutional or it's not." According to a press release from the homeowners' association, the petition filed by the Eden Isle homeowners and Save St. Tammany alleged that the Oak Harbor PUD and development agreement were illegally created. The petition further alleged that St. Tammany Parish unconstitutionally delegated its zoning authority to the developers and stated that a PUD is a hybrid of zoning districts meant to "thwart the intent of the state's Constitution." Badeaux cited higher court decisions in other cases which have upheld the constitutionality of parish zoning laws in asserting his dismissal of the petition and attorneys for both the developers and the parish filed briefs against the association's positions, arguing that they would invalidate all zoning in St. Tammany Parish. Citizen's group Save St. Tammany withdrew from the petition earlier, saying it was because the homeowners' position contested the legality of all parish zoning laws. In a petition campaign in July of 2000, Eden Isles residents managed to stop the development of an 80,060 square foot self-storage facility proposed for the entrance to Eden Isles/Oak Harbor by appealing to the St. Tammany Parish Council. The council upheld the Zoning Commission's denial of a conditional use permit for the Oak Harbor Investment Properties proposed development. This led to the October, 2000 revival of an Azalea Lakes Partnership and Oak Harbor Investment Properties lawsuit, originally filed in 1997, against St. Tammany Parish claiming that the parish had violated its development agreement with the developers, acting "arbitrarily and capriciously" in denying their zoning requests, and that this constituted a breach of contract. The two developers are asking that their development agreement with the parish be voided. Oak Harbor developers entered into a development agreement with the parish in 1988 which affirmed PUD zoning for Oak Harbor. PUD zoning allows flexibility in development of the land and permits mixed uses, including residential and commercial. The development agreement between the two parties also provided for the payment of impact fees by the developers to the parish, with the developers paying the parish $750-$1,000 for each single family residential lot that is sold in Oak Harbor. In their suit against the parish, the two developers state that the parish, among other misgivings, capriciously denied conditional use permits and sign approvals in a pair of business deals that would have netted the developers $782,500. "The parish's attorneys have made the same arguments we made," said Wood. "But the parish doesn't want to effect the impact fees." Eden Isles residents are worried that if the developers should win their suit, they would have the freedom to sell the empty land by Interstate 10 to large scale businesses. Their decision to actively participate in the lawsuit came after the group protested plans in December to build two gas stations and a grocery store at the I-10 entrance to Eden Isles/Oak Harbor. "Several individuals are now talking about going into the case," said Wood, when asked what Eden Isles homeowners plan to do now. "Some people are contemplating going to federal court over this." The lawsuit between the parish and the Oak Harbor developers remains in litigation.