16th Section land sale bill dies in Legislative Session
Wed, 06/17/2015 - 13:49
AvoyellesToday.com
But resolution asking Congress to re-establish right-of-way is passed
By RAYMOND L. DAYE
An apparent settlement of a lawsuit between the Avoyelles School Board and U.S. Department of the Interior over a right-of-way to a 16th Section tract has apparently died with the closing of the Louisiana Legislative Session.
The settlement adopted earlier this year was contingent on the School Board obtaining permission from the Legislature to sell the 16th Section property along Bayou Jeansonne and Bayou Natchitoches and purchase land outside of the parish. The session ended this past Thursday with the bill to grant that permission never coming up for a vote.
State Sen. Eric LaFleur filed the bill on behalf of the School Board.
After the board approved the settlement on a 5-4 vote, three board members had a change of heart and passed a motion to rescind the approval on a 7-2 vote at a special meeting a few days later. However, the vote was largely symbolic since action had already been taken by other parties to implement the agreement based on the initial adoption.
It was noted at that time that the Legislature would have the final say because the parish would have to have permission to sell the property and purchase land outside the parish.
A previously passed law authorized the board to “swap” the 16th Section land for property of equal or greater value within Avoyelles Parish. To sell and purchase land outside of Avoyelles required a new bill.
LaFleur said the bill was passed out of committee, “but no further action was taken because there did not appear to be a consensus of the School Board members that they wanted to do that.”
“We’re back to square one,” Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said. “We will wait to see if we can get a right-of-way and see how much it will cost if we do get it. If we do not get a right-of-way, we can either wait until next year to try to get Legislature approval or lease the entire tract to the high bidder. We’re in a holding pattern right now,” he added. “The board hasn’t decided its next step because we were waiting to see what would happen in the Legislature.”
Resolution to congress
LaFleur and State Rep. Robert Johnson shepherded through a concurrent resolution that they hope will resolve the situation.
That resolution calls upon Congress to “take such actions as are necessary to re-establish a right-of-way through the Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge in order to provide access to property owned by the Avoyelles Parish School Board.”
The resolution notes that the Department of Interior designated a section of Lake Ophelia NWR “as a black bear habitat, which in turn has prevented ingress and egress to a 640-acre tract owned by the Avoyelles Parish School Board.”
It further states that in past years this 16th Section tract had been available for public hunting, camping and other outdoor recreational activities which provided economic benefit to the parish.
“Without these outdoor activities, businesses in Avoyelles Parish that rely on recreational activities in the area including hunting, fishing and camping for their income have been and will continue to be negatively impacted by the loss of access to the acreage owned by the Avoyelles Parish School Board,” the resolution continues.
The resolution concludes that “simply having the Department of the Interior allow a limited right-of-way access to the School Board-owned lane will solve the problem.”
It then repeats its opening remarks and calls upon Congress to re-establish a right-of-way through Lake Ophelia NWR to provide access to the board’s property.
Johnson said neither he nor LaFleur pushed to have the “right-to-sell” bill move speedily through the Legislature to become law.
“The bill was filed only because the School Board felt its hands were tired and they were forced to go down that road or face contempt of federal court if it didn’t,” Johnson said.
“Time was right”
Johnson said he never thought it was a good idea to sell the 16th Section land, and a financial review of the property indicates that even if the board had to purchase a right-of-way to gain access to the property, it would make $300,000 more than if it sold the property.
“Another issue was there is no suitable land to purchase, so there was the potential of that money sitting idle for several years,” Johnson said. “Another issue is that there seemed to be agreement that the appraisal of that property was too low.”
He said recent comments from federal officials indicating the black bear may be removed from the protected species list prompted him to consider asking Congress to re-establish the right of way through Ophelia that was taken away when black bears started showing up in the parish.
“Eric and I just thought the time was right to ask the federal government to give the parish back that right-of-way,” Johnson said. “If Congress agrees, it could settle the entire suit. If that happens, everybody is happy.”
Johnson said he hopes to put together a meeting with the congressional delegation to discuss the prospects of the request being granted.
“It’s a feasible solution,” he said. “But I have to say that we are just asking. The Congress still has to do it before it can happen. There is no question that a right-of-way to the property will make that property more valuable,” he continued. “We need to get the right-of-way to increase the value of the property which will then increase the amount of money the property can generate for the school children of this parish.”