Your voice needs to be heard! Once developed – it can’t be undone.

1. Port Marigny is NOT a done deal! It still must be approved by the City Council and they look like they will take their time to make sure this is done correctly. It is unlikely the current council will vote on this.

2. The current density is 422 living units (6/24 note – changed to 416 I’m told – need to verify) – with 204 of those being apartments, 71,000 commercial sq ft, 120 room hotel. This one development will increase the population of Mandeville by 10% in an space that represents approximately 1.5% the area of Mandeville.  The owners defend the density of their proposal (422 units) by stating that it is less than the maximum density allowed by the CLURO (578 units). What they fail to mention is that their proposed density significantly exceeds the minimum density allowed by the CLURO which is 182 (6/24 note – that is rounded up – actually 181)  !!!

3. At virtually every one of the 12 Planning & Zoning public hearings on Port Marigny,  the citizens spoke out about decreasing the density proposed development and yet the owner offered no significant modifications in terms of density but rather added more apartments and parking on Massena Street.

4. The Development Agreement is supposed to provide development milestones and measures to protect the city from unforeseen or underestimated negative impacts (such as traffic), but upon close review of the document, it clearly fails to provide any protection of the city or checks on the developer. It even had some math conflicts.

5. The owners have had this property for over 30 years and are trying to pressure the City Council to hurry up and vote on it, when there clearly is a mountain of information and legal matter to go through.

6. The attorney for Port Marigny, wrote up an addendum to the ordinance which modifies the CLURO by removing the City Council from future Port Marigny permitting. This appears to essentially removes our elected officials from future decision making of this massive development.

7. The original Port Marigny master plan called for a green belt on Massena Street.  The current plan, despite the public’s, and the Mayor’s, objections calls for parking on Massena Street because the planners were unable to meet the parking requirements within the development due to the “packed in like sardines” density.

8. The guiding principles espoused in Mandeville’s Comprehensive Plan state “Mandeville’s small town atmosphere draws residents to the community.  The City should continue its efforts to ensure that infill development, particularly in the older neighborhoods, is consistent with the existing scale and character.”  Port Marigny, as proposed, includes more residential units (422) than the combined number of residential units (391) of 6 of the surrounding neighborhoods and the Port Marigny units are crammed into less than one fourth of the area!

9. The new preliminary traffic study performed by the Parish – points out the need to widen Lambert Street for the sake of the proposed Port Marigny development. This will likely require expropriating land/homes from  some Mandeville residents living on Lambert St.  Is this extreme real estate acquisition justified by a development many don’t even want?

10. The “ideas” for solutions to the traffic nightmare Port Marigny will create, are only ideas and not solutions included in the Port Marigny Ordinance or Development Agreement. The Causeway Commission will not allow a pass through from Mariner’s Village to South Causeway. The Mariner’s Village connection between the proposed development and Mariner’s Village is not approved by the landowner.  Other solutions mentioned include a Round-about at the Monroe-East causeway Approach intersection; and widening Monroe between East Causeway and Port Marigny into a 4 lane freeway.  For this last option, it appears the real estate exists on the southside of Monroe to make it a viable option. The bottom line is there exists no real mitigation measures as required by Policy 12.1 of the City’s Comprehensive Plan relative to development of the pre-stressed site; “Coordinate with the property owner to mitigate traffic and other constraints to this site and plan for a mix of uses at intensities that can be supported without introducing unacceptable levels of congestion to Old Mandeville.  Primary access should be provided through Mariner’s Village and from Monroe Street.”

11. The new City council  council will be sworn in on July 1.

About the author: I’m not a paid to write this blog – it is the way I express myself and my opinions. I’m writing things that I believe to be true.  These are my 2 cents FWIW!