LEONARD GRAY

PHOTO: PRIMROSE ESTATES houses sprout like mushrooms behind Wal-Mart in Boutte. A new fence is planned to replace the present one, to screen the store from the subdivision. Meanwhile, court action on the Wal-Mart fence is scheduled for a court hearing in Hahnville before 29th Judicial District Judge Kirk Granier, who will rule on the action of the Zoning Board of Adjustment against the fence. (Staff Photo by Leonard Gray) HAHNVILLE – Wal-Mart remains open for now in Boutte, the issue resolved over a six-foot screening fence alongside neighboring Primrose Estates subdivision. Remaining at issue is the store’s zoning compliance, which will get a court hearing on June 15, where Wal-Mart will seek a declaratory judgement against a parish enforcement action. Attorneys for the various sides involved had a horse-trading session Wednesday morning in the courthouse lobby, prior to a scheduled hearing. Once inside 29th Judicial District Judge Kirk Granier’s court, a bench conference resulted in the granting of a preliminary injunction favoring the store and allowing it to stay open. That injunction is against enforcement of the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s revokation of Wal-Mart’s zoning compliance certificate. “I’m delighted with that result,” said Planning and Zoning Director Bob Lambert, who said he opposed the ZBA’s decision. Granier also scheduled a further hearing on the remaining issues, which include the validity of the ZBA’s decision and their own makeup, both called into question, according to Tommy Anzelmo, representing Wal-Mart. Prior to Wednesday’s hearing, the homeowners association and Wal-Mart came to terms over the fence, with both sides deciding to split the cost of a suitable and acceptable replacement fence and re-grading the lots to correct drainage problems at the rear of each lot adjoining Wal-Mart. That settlement, though, needs the blessing of the Planning Commission and the St. Charles Parish Council, as it affects the subdivision’s acceptance by the parish. The next available Planning Commission meeting to make the agenda is June 7. The next parish council meeting following that is June 18. “All they want is to fix the fence,” said New Orleans attorney David Loeb, representing the homeowners association. The association contended that on Jan. 19, Lambert issued a final certificate of zoning compliance to Thompson Construction Company, which built the Wal-Mart store on U.S. Highway 90. However, this improperly allowed Wal-Mart to have a 6-foot fence without accounting for the two feet of lot fill used by the subdivision’s neighboring residents. That made the fence, in essence, a 4-foot fence on the lots’ side. On the other hand, along Wal-Mart’s property line with one side of Coronado Park, an 8-foot fence was built, as requested by those homeowners. The homeowners took their concerns to the ZBA, which heard the matter March 15. In a 6-1 vote the seven-member ZBA sided with the homeowners. The June 15 hearing before Granier will rule on the zoning compliance certificate and also whether the ZBA is properly made up. In June 1988, following several months of chronic absenteeism on the board, the ZBA was reconstituted by parish ordinance to be made up of seven members, each representing a council district. However, according to state law, that makeup of the ZBA is illegal, as the law mandates a ZBA shall be comprised of five members and may include two alternative members who will participate only when called upon to form a quorum.