You can understand a property owner wanting to make improvements on his property without any, or at least with minimum restrictions by local government.

But you can also understand that government sometimes needs to put limits on an individual in an effort to protect the interests of a larger group.

So seems the dilemma facing Iberia Parish Government about the Iberia Parish Council’s granting a variance for a drainage servitude that would allow a homeowner to build in an area that is currently limited by a 100-foot drainage servitude.

At a previous council meeting the property owner was given a 40-foot reduction so he could proceed with his building plans.

But eight members of the council have asked Parish President Larry Richard to veto the reduction in the servitude granted recently.

Richard hasn’t yet announced his decision.

When the variance to the servitude was granted, there was discussion that doing so would open a can of worms. They feared that granting one exception would encourage others to seek their own exceptions.

Sure enough, not long after the variance was granted five more variances are being sought, reportedly for structures already built in areas that were designated for no construction.

The idea was to keep the area within the servitude clear so the drainage system can be cleaned and maintained to keep it functioning properly.

It’s easy to understand property owners want to be able to develop their property as they’d like. But if doing so affects the drainage system, that might increase the chance other property owners would flood, does an individual property owner’s interest outweigh his neighbors?

Maybe the first thing that needs to be considered by the parish is just how much access is really required to maintain the drainage system in question. If the rules ask for 100 feet to be kept clear but the reality is 75 feet or 50 feet is adequate, then it’d seem the first step isn’t to grant individual variances to individual property owners but to change the limits along the drainage system.

But also it’d seem before the parish should consider granting an exception to a servitude’s requirements, it would require a property owner to provide some reliable drawing that shows the distance from the drainage canal of existing and proposed structures, so those being asked to consider granting an exception, and others interested in the proposal can have an accurate perspective on what might be the implications of a variance.

In the issue currently before Parish President Richard no survey or other accurate drawing has been provided showing what’s there and what’s proposed.

A variance may well be called for in this matter and the others soon to come before parish government but right now there seem to be a lot of questions, especially about the process of seeking and getting an exception granted.

WILL CHAPMAN

PUBLISHER