After public concerns about developers and legal risk, council advances ordinance to study accepting private roads

The Iberville Parish Council voted on Nov. 18 to advance an ordinance that would allow the parish to evaluate and accept selected long‑existing private roadways into the parish road system, conditioned on land donations or permanent easements.

Administration presented an ordinance and a prioritized list prepared by parish engineer Tom Davided naming candidate roads (including Jesse Romeig Road, Just Clair Road and Komo Drive) that predate the Unified Development Code. Diane Shaw, a local developer, urged the council not to accept substandard private roads built by developers who she said failed to follow required standards, telling the council: "If we don't follow what we've set forth as law... I'm not for that and I'd like to be compensated for my expenses."

Councilmembers debated legal exposure and process. One member displayed a list of past lawsuits and warned that accepting private roads could invite litigation. Administration argued most candidate roads are older than the UDC and that an engineer's scoring matrix prioritized roads by public purpose (safety, bus routes, businesses, number of homes served). A substitute motion to table the ordinance indefinitely for additional legal review was moved and seconded but failed on a roll-call vote. The main motion to set a public hearing then passed on a subsequent roll-call.

The council's action simply schedules public hearings to review specific roads and allows time for ordinance wording to be refined; it does not itself accept any roadway into the parish system. Parish staff said that when the item returns, the engineer and administration will present cost estimates, right‑of‑way requirements and the legal framework for acceptance.