Calcasieu Parish jurors reject ordinance to require parish takeover of community sewer systems

On Jan. 9 the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury defeated an ordinance that would have required community sewer systems for new residential subdivisions and provided for their turnover to the police jury, voting 6 in favor and 8 against.

The ordinance, presented to the jury by a staff member, would have required community systems for all new major and minor residential subdivisions and included a six-month up to two‑year grace period for projects already in the development pipeline. Staff said it also removed a previously proposed transfer fee and language requiring parish SCADA monitoring from the draft while publishing a baseline spec for systems the parish would accept.

The measure drew more than a dozen public speakers and sustained debate among jurors about who should pay for infrastructure, whether the parish would be inheriting a “pig in a sack,” and whether a mandatory transfer without a repayment mechanism would amount to an uncompensated taking. Developer and business representatives told the jury that forcing turnover without a cooperative payback…