City records show that the property located at 811 Saint Peter St. was fined April 27 for operating as a short-term rental and was levied an amount of $8,075, which has not been paid as of May 23.
Up to 16 open violations are listed under the property since November 2021, including advertising an illegal STR and excessive occupancy, according to records.
Owners of the property are listed as 811-13 St. Peter LLC, located at 840 Tchoupitoulas St., #311, and 811-13 St. Peter Street LLC, located at 3535 Canal Street, Suite 100, both in New Orleans.
The short-term rental ordinance was passed in December 2016 and took effect on April 1, 2017. A permit is required to operate as an STR in the French Quarter. Short-term rentals under 60 days in the Vieux Carre had been illegal under city code prior to the ordinance’s passage, according to officials.
The ordinance was amended in 2019 and took effect on Dec. 1 of that same year over concerns for affordable housing and STR proliferation.
Under the new rules, only owner-occupied properties were allowed to operate as STRs in residential areas. In addition, STRs in the French Quarter were limited to certain areas. A city map shows permitted STRs scattered throughout the French Quarter, including along Bourbon Street.
On April 1, officials issued a new interpretation of the STR ordinance. Under the new rule, commercial STRs are now zoned the same as any commercial-use property.
Previously, commercial STRs were considered residential use in primarily commercial areas.
Applicants for new commercial STR permits will also need to apply for a building permit before they are eligible for an STR permit, according to officials. The new zoning interpretation can be read here at nola.gov.
(Photo: Infrogmation | CC) The French Quarter Management District last week launched a program that is designed to build awareness about sanitation through decals, magnets and local partnerships and with the goal that it will encourage people to not litter in the French Quarter.
Launched on May 10, the Keep the Quarter Clean campaign builds on Clean up NOLA and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’ Keep Louisiana Beautiful program, and includes free decals and magnets that are meant to encourage residents and visitors to keep the neighborhood clean.
The intent of the program is to maintain a higher level of cleanliness, where all stakeholders feel a sense of ownership in promoting the Keep the Quarter Clean campaign and driving a greater level of litter abatement and sanitation amongst our visitors, residents, businesses, and government agencies providing services in the French Quarter, according to FQMD Executive Director Karley Frankic.
Lead by the district’s Livability Committee, the campaign’s is also designed to highlight laws and improve sanitation conditions in the French Quarter.
Despite efforts by local businesses and residents to keeping their property facades in orderly condition during the initial COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020, Frankic said improved sanitation is needed in the French Quarter.
“It is all of our responsibility to preserve the French Quarter. Keep the Quarter Clean will utilize a multi-pronged campaign to be rolled out in collaboration with our appointing entities, political partners, and friends throughout our community,” Frankic said.
Additionally, residents and visitors are encouraged to report “sanitation opportunities” directly to Nola 311.
The decals and magnets are available at the FQMD offices located at 400 N. Peters St., Suite 206. They were recently distributed at Cabrini Park Mother’s Day picnic on Sunday.
For more information, contact Frankic at 504-323-5801 or email at kfrankic@fqmd.org.
(Photo: Infrogmation | Flickr CC) The New Orleans Planning Commission earlier this month rejected a request to change residential zoning to commercial for a building located at the intersection of Bourbon and Dumaine streets, where a recently closed neighborhood laundromat once existed.
Planning commissioners at their April 12 meeting voted unanimously, 8-0, to adopt the staff report recommending denial of property owner’s request for a zoning change that would allow a gelato shop to open in the bottom floor of the three-story building at 841 Bourbon Street, the former location for the Washing Well Laundryteria. Commissioner Robert Steeg recused himself from the vote.
Adopting the recommendation came after both sides spoke on the matter, including those in opposition, who cited a fear that a zoning change will set a precedent that would potentially allow a bar to occupy the location, disrupt quality of life and drive away residents.
“The question is not and never is what business is intending to go in, the question is where could that business going in end up,” said Commissioner Kyle Wedberg, who introduced the motion to adopt the staff recommendation.
Washing Well Laundryteria’s occupational business license was not renewed in 2019 and the application to rezone the property was filed by building owner Floris Cairo on Nov. 15, 2021, official records show. In addition, the request asked to rezone the building’s 804 and 808 Dumaine Street addresses.
The application requested a zoning change from VCR-1 residential to VCC-1 commercial, in order for the building’s bottom floor to be occupied by the gelato shop, which is owned by Yanis Kolev, a Bulgarian resident and Tulane graduate.
The April 5 preliminary staff report cited the “historic non-conforming use” policy, which allows spot zoning for businesses in certain instances where the building is “clearly distinct from surrounding properties that are nearly uniformly residential.”
Kristiana Lubomirova, who spoke on behalf of the applicant at the April 12 meeting, said the zoning change does not interfere with the Vieux Carre master plan. The staff agreed with Lubomirova, but said the policy had never been used in the district and that changing the zoning would grant preferential treatment to a parcel “not sufficiently dissimilar” to nearby properties, according to the report.
“They are policies, they are not law and they are philosophical in nature,” Lubomirova said. “And this specific spot has been in commercial use for at least 73 years, if not longer.”
Other meeting participants noted that such a zoning change is permanent and creates a path for bars to set up shop under the guise of restaurants, using liquor licenses.
Erin Holmes, executive director for the Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates, cited a previous example of an ice cream parlor going out of business and replaced by a bar. Little Vic’s gelato shop, formerly at 719 Toulouse St., was replaced by The Will & The Way bar.
“Permitting deviations are rarely ever enforced,” Holmes said. “In fact, safety and permits code enforcement have a reputation for underperforming, so much so that that have been targeted by the city council to have their funding frozen until they can prove otherwise.”
One resident, a woman, who opposed the application referred to comprehensive zoning ordinance negotiations years ago in which residents were promised that businesses grandfathered into the historic non-conforming use policy would be replaced with residential units after they permanently close.
In addition, the resident noted the decline at least half a dozen laudromats in the French Quarter over her more than two decades in the district.
While “it’s a marginal business at best,” the resident said, the gelato shop would be better located at Jackson Square. Of laundromats, Lubomirova said: “It’s just simply a business that is no longer feasible.”
Lubomirova said the gelato shop turning into a bar is a “huge hypothetical.”
“They should not be held accountable or be punished for or viewed in a different light just because somebody else took their application to that zoning and turned their establishment into something else,” Lubomirova said.
(Photo: VCC) A longtime vacant shotgun home on Barracks Street received conceptual approval for renovation by historic landmark staff last week, including an expansion, after it was purchased by new owners in 2021.
The Vieux Carré Commission conceptually approved the renovation of the home located at 740 Barracks St. at their March 16 meeting, with details to be worked out at the staff level, following purchase of the home by new owners last year.
“We are relieved that this long-neglected contributing shotgun will be renovated and returned to the community,” said Erin Holmes, executive director for the Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents and Associates during a a Feb. 22 meeting. “The forward extension of the camelback will provide increased space and usability while maintaining the historic character of the original building and streetscape.”
The house was recently purchased by the new owners, listed in the VCC property summary report as the Brad Michael Williams Irrevocable Trust. for $403,000 in August 2021, Zillow records show.
The renovation includes an expansion of the rear, second-story “camelback” portion of the house, according to the application filed by Andrew Scott on Nov. 11, 2021.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom single shotgun home located steps from Bourbon Street was recently issued a permit for interior demolition, with exterior work, on March 16, according to online records.
At the March 16 meeting, the new owner indicated that it will be a “second” home.
Historical records show that the home was built around 1898 and has a “green” rating by the VCC, which means it has local architectural and/or historical significance.
The previous owner is listed as Guido A. Sutter, a retired Gulfport, MS dentist.
Sutter was ordered to pay at least $4,575 in fines and court fees stemming from nine VCC violations after losing an appeal in 2018, court records show.
Owners of French Quarter homes must obtain permission from the VCC for any work on the structures in order to preserve their historical significance.
The VCC was created on a permanent basis after Louisiana voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution in 1936.
The French Quarter neighborhood itself became a designated National Historic Landmark in 1965 in response to plans to build an expressway through the location. The road project was canceled in the late 1960s after a years-long court battle.
(Photo: Quinn Dombrowski | CC Flickr) A local business association is seeking volunteers needed to help clean up graffiti in the French Quarter on May 8.
The French Quarter Business Association announced on April 21 that its all-volunteer graffiti abatement program will return on May 8 for a two-hour cleanup and any individual who signs up to help could get a free t-shirt showing that they did.
Volunteers can sign up at fqba.org or by calling 504-309-1423. They can also sign up by emailing graffiti@fqba.org.
On the day of the graffiti removal, volunteers will meet with officials at the New Orleans Police Department 8th District station located at 334 Royal St. at 9 a.m. and work until 11 a.m.
All cleaning supplies will be provided, according to the FQBA. Coffee and beignets will be provided by Cafe Beignet, according to the FQBA.
Clean-up will consist of removing stickers and small tags from public property in assigned areas.
Volunteers are advised to wear protective eye wear, long-sleeved shirts, work clothes and comfortable walking shoes.
A post-cleanup lunch will be provided and, while supplies last, those who volunteered will receive a t-shirt, according to the FQBA.
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