business

City Council approves $3.3M sales-tax reimbursement to Costco for site work

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Costco Wholesale will be reimbursed with $3.3 million of the sales taxes the new store collects over its first five years to help defray the costs of elevating the South Carrollton Avenue site to meet FEMA requirements, and the city will also make a number of improvements to the streets around the store, the City Council decided unanimously Thursday afternoon. According to the terms of the deal, an estimated 40 percent of the sales-tax revenue generated by the store in its first five years will be set aside for that reimbursement, for five yearly payments of $660,000 each, according to city officials during a discussion of the package at Thursday’s City Council meeting and the report on the project. The city will also make a number of improvements to the streets around the site, such as street grading, curbing, sidewalk repairs, a new traffic signal and a new turn lane on South Carrollton, costing up to about $2.5 million, according to officials and reports. Costco is expected to generate $9.5 million in sales taxes — in addition to $1.7 million in property taxes — over its first five years, so the city will still be receiving well more in tax revenue from Costco’s arrival than it will returning to the company, said District A City Councilwoman Susan Guidry. “I think it’s a very, very rational basis for the tax incentives,” Guidry said.

city government

City Council repeals proposal to limit Tulane stadium

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As expected, the New Orleans City Council formally withdrew a proposed zoning district Thursday morning that would have required Tulane University to seek their permission prior to starting construction on a new football stadium. The issue brought more than 50 people to council chambers, but other than brief comments from university leaders, only four residents spoke Thursday morning — all in praise of City Councilwoman Susan Guidry for creating the IZD proposal in the first place. “Susan, we thank you for giving the neighborhood a voice,” said Teddy Martin of Maple Area Residents Inc. “Otherwise, we would have been rolled over.” Though passage of the IZD had become increasingly unlikely, Guidry and the other council members who had supported it said their decision to rescind the proposal hinged on two points — the substantial amount of information about the project shared in a series of community meetings, and Tulane’s pledge to sign a binding agreement governing stadium operations. Moving forward, Guidry said, she will continue to work to ensure that the neighborhoods are represented in the negotiations over the operating agreement, which university president Scott Cowen has said he hopes will be drafted over the next month.

city government

Tulane hopes to reach stadium agreement with city by end of August

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Tulane University officials pledged Wednesday night to reach an enforceable legal agreement with the city of New Orleans governing the activities and operations at its new football stadium — with hopes of resolving most of the issues in it by the end of August. The proposed zoning district that would have forced Tulane to gain the blessing of the New Orleans City Council for its stadium was already off the table prior to Wednesday night’s community forum. On Tuesday, perhaps in tacit acknowledgement that such a district no longer had a viable path to passage, City Councilwoman Susan Guidry announced that she would withdraw the proposal at Thursday’s meeting of the City Council, and she opened Wednesday’s meeting with an explanation of her current stance on it. “We feel at this time that there’s been a lot of movement on the part of Tulane,” Guidry said. “The council is going to remain involved, but the IZD has not been recommended, and we need to remove that and let this process continue as a voluntary process.

city government

City Councilwoman proposes withdrawing zoning rules for Tulane stadium

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Councilwoman Susan Guidry will ask the New Orleans City Council to withdraw plans Thursday for a new zoning district that would have governed the construction of a football stadium on Tulane’s uptown campus, a day after university President Scott Cowen is scheduled to speak to neighbors about the plans. In early May, the council passed an resolution authored by Guidry asking the City Planning Commission to review an “interim zoning district” that would have blocked all major university construction projects in historic areas of the city. The intent, Guidry and her supporters said at the time, was not to stop the stadium, but to ensure that projects of its scale received ample public review. In June, however, the City Planning Commission recommended strongly against such a district, saying that the university should only have to abide by existing zoning rules that allow the stadium. Meanwhile, Mayor Mitch Landrieu — who had vowed to veto any legislation stopping the stadium — was able to appoint Diana Bajoie to a temporary seat on the council, likely preventing such a veto from being overturned.

business

City Council fast-forwards approval of Costco project

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After a presentation by Costco officials on Thursday morning, the New Orleans City Council enthusiastically and unexpectedly took a vote to approve the Carrollton Avenue project and grant the wholesale retailer’s design requests. “I knew we were doing OK when at one of the neighborhood meetings somebody stood up and said, ‘Enough outreach already. Let’s build it,'” Costco vice president Jackie Frank said during his presentation to the city council. The Costco project was slated for a presentation led by company vice president Jackie Frank on Thursday morning, but before it began, Mayor Mitch Landrieu appeared before the City Council. After spending several minutes describing progress in the city, Landrieu said that Costco’s treatment will be critical to New Orleans’ image for other businesses, and urged the council to give the project immediate support.

business

City accuses Maple Street bar of breaking agreement with neighbors

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A Maple Street bar is failing to live up to an agreement it made with the city to remain open by failing to help the surrounding neighborhood pay for security patrols, neighbors and officials said this week. Last August, after being accused of allowing underage drinking, TJ Quills agreed to a set of strict operating conditions in order to retain its alcohol license: keeping doors and windows shut to reduce noise, for example, and paying $250 a week to the Maple Area Residents Inc. neighborhood association to help with the cost of private security patrols. Next week, TJ Quills reappears on the agenda of the city Alcohol Control Board for an alleged “failure to comply with the terms of the Consent Judgment dated August 10, 2011.” Tommy Milliner, president of MARI, said his group has never received any money or even communication from TJ Quills, and brought the matter to the attention of the City Attorney’s office. Rocco’s, which was under a similar sanction, made its first payment promptly, but Milliner said MARI did not ask for another and never started the security patrol because it was waiting for months to hear back from TJ Quills.

city government

Tulane asks city council to withdraw zoning district or vote as soon as possible

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Seeking to build on favorable momentum created by the City Planning Commission’s vote Tuesday to recommend against a special zoning district that would require Tulane to seek the city’s permission to build a football stadium on its Uptown campus, university president Scott Cowen publicly urged city council members Wednesday to either withdraw the motion altogether or vote on it before the month is out. The university posted a letter addressed to Councilwoman Susan Guidry and copied to each of her six colleagues late Wednesday afternoon on its official website for the stadium. The website also calls on supporters to email council members with language urging the council to withdraw the measure. “Now that the Commission has made its recommendation after thoughtful deliberation, I respectfully request this item either be heard at your next meeting on June 28 or be withdrawn given the recommendation of the City Planning Commission,” Cowen writes in his letter. “We want to get this issue behind us to minimize further damage to the university and to continue our planning and dialogue with the community and appropriate city departments without the uncertainty this process has brought.”

city government

Tulane chalks up win in latest round of stadium battle

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The law that allows Tulane to build a football stadium on campus without any oversight from city leaders may be out of date, and the construction project may raise serious issues that need more scrutiny, but the university ought not to be made to follow regulations that are not yet on the books, the city planning commission ruled on Tuesday. By a 7-1 vote, the commissioners will recommend against creating an interim zoning district that would require universities to seek city permission for large construction projects. What remains to be seen is whether Tulane’s victory Tuesday is fleeting — as the same City Council members who voted to begin the IZD process can ignore the recommendation and vote to approve it — or if it provides a spark of momentum that builds into a win before the City Council as well. The proposed stadium is a permitted use of Tulane’s land under its current zoning, so the interim zoning district was originally conceived by Councilwoman Susan Guidry as way to create a public forum and review of the project. The district was forwarded to the city planning commission by with the assent of three other council members, but the city’s planning staff drafted a report suggesting the district would be an improper way of settling the issues raised by the stadium.

business

LaSalle School redevelopment, Maple Street Jimmy John both win city approval

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An appearance by Saints quarterback Drew Brees before the New Orleans City Council helped his proposed Jimmy John’s sandwich shop over the goal line Thursday afternoon, and the redevelopment of the LaSalle School that has bitterly divided one Uptown neighborhood also won approval without so much as a comment in opposition. Jimmy John’s | The flock of news cameras in the City Council chambers on Thursday afternoon drew an opening quip from Brees, who quipped that they must all be big fans of Jimmy John’s. Even if they weren’t, the City Council was, showering Brees with praise as they approved his restaurant with a 7-0 vote. Brees’ appearance Thursday was necessitated by the fact that the City Planning Commission had previously split over the project with a 4-2 vote known technically as “no legal majority” because it lacked five votes in favor. Neighborhood residents oppose the project in part because they believe too much food-and-drink development has already taken place on Maple Street, and in part because Jimmy John’s is deemed a fast-food restaurant.

business

LaSalle school redevelopment, proposed Jimmy John’s on Maple could get City Council decisions Thursday

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Two proposed developments — the conversion of the historic LaSalle School on Perrier Street into upscale condos and the creation of a Jimmy Johns sandwich shop on Maple Street — could receive long-awaited decisions when the City Council reconvenes Thursday after its recent hiatus. The LaSalle School project has generated intense disagreement among immediate neighbors who strongly support or fiercely oppose it and within the Upper Hurstville Neighborhood Association, which had generally supported the redevelopment until a contentious meeting on the topic in April. The City Planning Commission raised some initial concerns about the projects design, but revisions to the plan satisfied the commissioners and in late April they voted 6-1 in favor of it. The Jimmy John’s sandwich shop — owned in part by Drew Brees — is proposed for 7621 Maple Street, but about 40 nearby residents signed a petition opposing any “fast food” restaurants on Maple. The City Planning Commission gave the project a 4-2 vote, which is officially considered a split decision because five votes are needed for a favorable recommendation.