Finally,the last position on the Planning & Zoning Commission was filled by the Ascension Parish Council at their December 16th meeting in Gonzales. With a packed council chamber, citizens again asked for new representation; someone who would listen to the people and support the community's vision for our parish. In a letter to Personnel Committee Chairman Todd Lambert, Sherri Sliman withdrew her name prior to the meeting. The Council passed over Beverly Barre, the commissioner up for reappointment who lost her seat in the first round of appointments. Susana Gradine, one of the four remaining applicants, was appointed. Without the participation of so many citizens this would never have happened. Kudos to all those who worked so hard to secure these three new appointments!
We will continue to monitor the work of the Planning & Zoning Commission and especially the subcommittee that should be forming soon to update our current 39 page Master Plan.
Residents of Keystone recently met with representatives from the Ascension Parish Planning Department, Quality Engineering and Parish President Tommy Martinez and asked for concessions prior to the final approval of the planned unit development (PUD) in that subdivision. All concerned citizens are asked to attend the Council Meeting in Gonzales, Thursday, December 16th at 6:00 p.m. The final approval is on the agenda and citizens will have an opportunity to address the Council once again.
PLEASE WEAR RED TO SHOW OPPOSITION TO THE PUD AS PROPOSED!
Keystone Residents
A move by some commissioners to amend the motion of September 20th which scrapped the Master Plan in its entirety with its accompanying maps and language was postponed indefinitely at the Commission meeting on December 8th.
An amendment to the motion to create a subcommittee of the Commission including citizens and stakeholders to review and amend the current 39 page Master Plan failed for lack of a second and will not come back.
It is our hope that a subcommittee will be formed soon and work will begin on updating the current Master Plan.
Thursday, December 9th the Parish Council Personnel Commmittee met to rank the remaining applicants. Two of the commissioners who were not originally reappointed were included in the ranking: Sherri Sliman and Beverly Barre. These two commissioners strongly supported the proposed Master Plan which failed and was rejected by the people. It is insulting to the public for the Parish Council to continue to push commissioners who do not share the vision of residents for our community.
Deliberations were made privately and Chairman Todd Lambert announced after the meeting that three applicants of the six remaining will be presented at the Regular Council meeting of December 16th at 6 p.m. at the Gonzales Courthouse: 1.Sherri Sliman 2. Beverly Barre' 3. Susana Gradine. Members present and voting included Chairman Todd Lambert, Councilmen Dennis Cullen, Benny Johnson, and Adrian Thompson.
We encourage all concerned citizens to attend the meeting on the 16th to ask for the third time that new commissioners be appointed to these four year positions.
The two new appointees, J.B. Esnard and Daniel Satterlee, will be sworn in on Wednesday,December 8th at the monthly Planning & Zoning Commission meeting which starts at 6:00 p.m. at the Gonzales Courthouse. Items 11 & 12 on this agenda are for consideration to amend/rescind two motions. The first motion scrapped the proposed Master Plan in its entirety with its accompanying maps and language. The second motion called for a subcommittee to be formed including citizens and other stakeholders to revise the current Master Plan. At the November 10th meeting Commissioner Howard Dalton expressed his desire to rescind his vote to scrap the Master Plan. Some on the Commission hope to resurrect the proposed Master Plan which called for high density development throughout Ascension.
We encourage citizens to attend the December 8th meeting and continue to support those on the Commission who are listening to the people. Citizens attendance will communicate to the Commission that we are ready to work with them to update the existing Master Plan.
Item 9 on the Planning & Zoning Commission's agenda for December 8th is a public hearing for the preliminary plat for Mossy Oak Subdivision, formerly Mossy Oak Planned Unit Development (PUD). In the plat one Hundred thirty-nine homes are being proposed and every tree on the property will be bulldozed. We encourage Ascension Parish residents to attend the meeting. The following link on the Ascension Parish website gives more details:
http://www.ascensionparish.net/downloads/planning/120810planmeetpacket.pdf
Three commissioners on the Planning & Zoning Commission were up for reappointment on October 15th. All three supported the proposed Master Plan which was overwhelmingly rejected by the people of Ascension Parish. Two new commissioners were approved by the Parish Council on November 18th; J.B. Esnard and Daniel Satterlee. The third and final position is yet to be filled.
The Personnel Committee met on November 29th to discuss the remaining appointment to the Planning & Zoning Commission. Citizens were told at the November 18th meeting that the committee would choose the third commissioner from the four existing applicants. However, Personnel Committee members Benny Johnson, Chris Loar, and Adrian Thompson decided they would not choose any of the four existing applicants, but would readvertise for the position. This decision was contrary to past actions in making appointments. (Readvertising in the past occurred when no applications were received for an advertised position.) Because of this scheming decision, phone calls were made to targeted councilmen who might be open to representing the vision of the people by appointing one more new person to the Commission. While contacting councilmen, some of them told citizens the plan to readvertise would allow Alan Krouse to reapply so that they could reappoint him to the Commission.
Readvertising for the remaining position to the Planning & Zoning Commission was on the Council's agenda for the December 2nd meeting. Alarmed by this information, citizens filled the Donaldsonville Council chambers to once again demand that the Council follow their own established procedures and choose a new member from the existing applicants who had filled out applications, submitted resumes within the deadline and had been interviewed by the Personnel Committee.
A motion was made by George Valentine and seconded by Todd Lambert not to readvertise and to nominate Cindy Quick to the open position. Some councilmen tried to throw a curve ball in the process by having legal counsel give solicited advice suggesting that readvertising was necessary because the Personnel Committee had not ranked the candidates according to their established bylaws. This requirement has not been followed in the past. After further questioning from Councilmen Valentine and Joseph, it was apparent that this was all part of a political ploy by certain councilmen and Tommy Martinez's administration to readvertise and bring back the reappointment of Alan Krouse who had been rejected in a 4 to 3 vote on November 18th. In the end, the Council unanimously approved a motion to have the Personnel Committee rank the existing applicants and come back to the Full Council with a recommendation. This may be as early as the Council's December 16th meeting in Gonzales. We will keep you posted.
