St. Tammany News

However; Smart Growth Tammany says there is still work to do in parish

After more than a year of going back and forth the developers of the Colonial Pinnacle Nord du Lac shopping center and the members of the citizen's group Smart Growth Tammany have come to an agreement. However, according to Smart Growth Tammany Board member Andrew Varvoutis, the group's work is long from over.

Members of Smart Growth Tammany, a citizens group that formed in opposition to the proposed development, has agreed to pull its opposition, in exchange for the proposed Wal-Mart and Sam's Clubs stores being removed from the plans.

The agreement, which was signed last week, prohibits any big box stores from being built on the property located in the northeast quadrant at the intersection of Interstate 12 and Louisiana Highway 21.

In exchange, Smart Growth will drop all lawsuits it had filed against the parish in response to the development, and retract all letters of opposition it had filed with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Highway Administration concerning the permits necessary for the development.

The two sides came to the verbal agreement more than a month ago, but Varvoutis said it took this long for both sides to agree on a definition for a big box store.

The agreement sets a limit on the square footage allowed and restricts certain named stores, including Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Super Target, Super Kmart and Costco. It does allow for larger "big mall stores," which Varvoutis said does not attract the same traffic as the wholesale warehouses and large discount stores. He would not give examples of what stores the group would allow, saying they are listed in the agreement, which has not been publicly released yet.

"This is the best Christmas present, and we look forward to a new year with a much better development in our neighborhood," Varvoutis said.

He said he would have been happier knowing he would still be able to enjoy the trees along the Tchefuncte River but he understands that the landowner has a right to develop his land.

"The reality is something is going to be built, and we just wanted to ensure it was something that fits into our community," he said.

While the issues with the Nord du Lac development seem to be resolved, he said, Smart Growth Tammany still has work to do.

He said while he is happy with the agreement, he feels it is a shame it even had to come to that point, and he had hoped the parish would have not approved the project so easily. He said parish officials should have helped work out some of the issues the residents were having with the development before approving it.

"It just took us a year and a lot of our personal money to do what the parish should have done," he said.

Varvoutis said while this particular development brought to light a lot of issues and initiated the formation of Smart Growth Tammany, the real problem is much bigger than one development, and it lies in the process and the leadership of St. Tammany Parish.

"I am still concerned with how the parish is set up, and the people in power seem to not envision a long-term plan for development," he said. "The developers pay the fees for everything in the parish and they seem to have the control."

Varvoutis said Smart Growth will continue its work monitoring developments in the parish and will voice its opposition in any way it can against developments it does not feel are appropriate for the area.

"We want to stay active and watch for specific growth issues," he said. "We want to work from the top down to end inappropriate development."

He pointed out that Smart Growth will be paying close attention when the St. Tammany Parish Council members come up for re-election in October 2007.

"We will work through the ballot box," Varvoutis said, referring to this election.