P.J. considers restitution for damages

The Acadia Parish Police Jury took the first step toward settling a two-year dispute with a property owner over damages caused by a parish road crew.
The jury voted unanimously, with Robert Guidry and David Savoy absent, Tuesday night to authorize legal counsel to research claims made by members of the Premeaux family for damage to their property during a ditch reclamation project in April of 2013.
But it took some convincing.
The room was eerily quiet when Jury President Julie Borill first asked for a motion.
Then Dale Trahan broke the silence.
“I think we were wrong for going on their property,” he said, explaining that supervisors had “a wrong date” on the right-of-way permit that should have been corrected.
“We did damage their land and we should repair it,” he said. “I don’t think the demands are that big.”
Danna Premeaux Guillot has claimed that parish road crews, “using an illegal right-of-way, trespassed” on the Holland Road property owned by she and her sister Jerrie Premeaux St. Amant and “proceeded to uproot in excess of 1,100 linear feet of mature trees.”
The sisters want the jury to:
• Remove the trees that were cut down, including the ones that were buried.
• Re-dress the land with 3 inches of top soil and level it.
• Plant 1,100 linear feet of mature pine trees and grass all along the west side of the property at parish expense.
• Pay Guillot and St. Amant $15,000 in damages in addition to the value of the trees for loss of property value, aesthetic appeal, privacy from road, emotional distress and anguish, etc.
“If we had done this two years ago these people could be mowing their grass like they want,” Trahan said.
“We can’t plant big trees,” the juror told Guillot Tuesday night, “but we can replant your trees for you.”
In other action, jurors:
• Adopted a resolution approving the holding of a 10.6-mill property tax renewal election in Iota Fire Protection District on Saturday, Nov. 21.
• Adopted a resolution approving the holding of a 6-mill property tax renewal election in Bayou des Cannes-Nezpique Gravity Drainage District on Saturday, Nov. 21.
• Authorized the jury president to execute a contract with Charles Habetz for the operation and maintenance of the Crowley/Rayne Industrial Park.
• Accepted the resignations of Derek Bisig from the Acadia Parish Planning Commission and Richard Myers from the Mermentau River Harbor and Terminal District.
• Adopted ordinances setting a 35-mph speed limit on Monceaux Road and a 25-mph speed limit on Bulldog Lane.