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Terrebonne Parish Council delays vote on ordinance creating citizen dededication process
Summary
After public testimony and legal questions, the Terrebonne Parish Council voted unanimously to delay consideration of an ordinance that would formalize how citizens apply to revoke public servitudes and rights-of-way until February 2026 so staff can revise fee and procedure language.
The Terrebonne Parish Council on Nov. 19 delayed action on a proposed ordinance that would create a formal process for citizens to seek dededication — the revocation of public servitudes, rights-of-way and other dedicated property — saying the measure needs further work.
Supporters of a simpler, lower-cost route to clear title told the council the draft shifts too much risk and cost to property owners. "The way this ordinance reads ... all the legal fees that the parish would obtain ... put onto the citizen who's trying to get that done, seems not only unfair," said Dustin Pellegrunt, an attorney who described representing Price Brothers Shipyard in a years-long title effort. Pellegrunt said his clients spent close to $20,000 pursuing dededication and that an open-ended cost-recovery approach could disadvantage low-income residents.
A second public speaker, Alec Ostheimer, urged the council to safeguard the public interest and avoid a process that allows titles to remain clouded while the public loses protections. "It would appear that the single main goal is to charge any person requesting a dededication ... all of the costs that are associated with the process, with the government paying nothing," Ostheimer said.
Parish staff defended the ordinance's cost-recovery language as a response to several prior cases in which the parish spent significant time and legal fees only to find dededication was not possible. Assistant parish counsel explained departments must check utilities, roads and historical records and sometimes archival courthouse records are required, which can become resource-intensive.
Council members pressed staff on alternatives: a fixed application fee, a searchable bank of prior requests, and clearer triggers for when the parish would itself pay for record searches. Councilmember comments emphasized fairness and record-keeping: "I don't think landowner property owners should be paying for inadequacies of the government's record keeping," one councilmember said during debate.
After closing the public hearing, the council voted unanimously to delay reconsideration until the second meeting in February 2026 to allow revisions and stakeholder input. The council asked staff to produce clearer options on fixed fees, protections for claimants who previously had denied requests, and a process to reduce duplicate expense for repeated requests.
The ordinance as introduced would add a new section to chapter 2 of the parish code (new Article 19, new section) spelling out application requirements and procedural steps; the text will be subject to rework and a future public hearing before a final vote.
