NEW ORLEANS, LA - A civil court judge partially reversed himself today to block a controversial multifamily housing development that had become a touchstone for rebuilding in eastern New Orleans. Orleans Parish Civil District Judge Kearn Reese granted a preliminary injunction to stop the Levy Gardens development off Bullard Avenue, just across a small lake from the mansions of the gated Eastover community.
Reese also suspended the developers' permits to build 12 multistory apartment buildings, the same city permits the judge said in November were granted "in compliance with all laws, regulations, ordinances and orders of all governmental authorities."
The ruling means that the Levy Gardens proposal will have to go through a public hearing process to receive the building permits. That's a big change for the developers, who got almost $12 million in federal grants and state tax credits to build 100 single-family townhomes, then were gradually allowed to alter the project to 100 units in three-story apartment buildings without any public notice.
But while the developers have changed their plans during the process, governing bodies also changed the rules of engagement. Reese based his latest decision Tuesday on a City Council ordinance passed in December that clarified the zoning for the lot in question, after Reese had already allowed the building permits for Levy Gardens and long after local legislators had begun fighting the project.
In his ruling today, Reese said there were conflicts in various city zoning ordinances over the years, with a 1995 zoning ordinance contradicting one from 10 years earlier. But, Reese said, the December vote by the City Council made it clear for the first time that multifamily housing at Levy Gardens' location, a 7-acre site near the intersection of Levy Drive and Bullard Avenue, is not simply permitted, but conditional and subject to a public hearing process.
Source: NOLA.com