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BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (WAFB) – Members of the Ascension Parish Council have just decided to put new developments in the parish on hold, but builders and developers are already worried about how this will affect their livelihoods.
It takes more than one person to build a house, and Bart Waguespack knows it very well. For every home or new development he and his team work on, they follow parish ordinances, but the moratorium makes them feel like their business is being targeted. It’s scrutinized by the parish, they have their own engineering companies that they work with that go through, I mean, every square inch subdivision, from drainage to sewage, everything, Wageuspack says. He says at this point the moratorium doesn’t just affect him, it affects anyone who builds for a living or has a product that goes into a new home. This includes electricians, plumbers, and even landscapers.
Waguespack says he’s worried about his employees, without new projects they don’t know how they’re going to be able to make a living. I and my workers and all those involved in this industry are 100% responsible and you are 100% aware of the suffering that will result from this moratorium. All we’re asking is why hasn’t this been fixed already, Waguespack asks?
Builders and developers, like Waguespack, say the reaction from citizens and other officials is misleading. He says construction is not the cause of the flooding problems in the parish, but his industry bears the blame. However, some members of the parish council believe that a 9-month moratorium was the best solution for everyone. They are blamed. Are they partly to blame? Or this extreme development that has been passed and is taking place in the parish, partly to blame? Of course it is. Do these people comply with the laws presented to them? They are. They get the permits because the laws are written that way, says council member Corey Orgeron, who is above District 4.
Waguespack says he expects there will be a housing shortage in the next few years where new owners may struggle to find housing in the parish.
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