The Baton Rouge Growth Coalition has released the responses to a questionnaire presented to four of Baton Rouge’s leading mayoral candidates.
Independent Darryl Gissel, Democrats C. Denise Marcelle and Sharon Weston Broome, and Republican Mack “Bodi” White provided written answers to questions the coalition posed about issues deemed important to the development community.
The questions covered topics ranging from the city-parish’s permit process to the proposed 90-day Highland Road building moratorium and the incorporation of the proposed city of St. George.
Marcelle is the only questionnaire participant who deemed the proposed Highland Road moratorium reasonable and a necessity.
Marcelle also says she does not support outsourcing the city-parish’s permit and inspection division to a commercial entity nor does she support the use of a third-party plan review in lieu of the permit office.
“Outsourcing avoids the problems,” she says. “There is a need to determine why plan reviews are slow and sometimes inaccurate. Development is ever changing, staff need training to keep up with new materials, processes and techniques. Performance standards must be set and adhered to. Furthermore, a third-party review will slow the permit and inspection process.”
Gissel supports the idea of outsourcing the permit and inspection office and allowing for a third-party plan review.
“I do not have a problem with the concept of third-party review, but it would certainly have to be created thoughtfully and monitored continuously and diligently to thwart abuses to the system,” he says.
Weston Broome says she supports a third-party review process, but does not support outsourcing the permit and inspection division because “it would be a huge fiduciary encumbrance to the role of our municipal government.”
As for the third-party review process, Weston Broome says she does believe in a system of checks and balances for licensing requirements and to make sure that outsourced vendors are adhering to the city-parish’s Unified Development Code.
“It is my sentiment that the vendor performing these inspections pay a percentage of their fee to the permitting and inspection division,” she says.
As for the moratorium, Weston Broome says she believes that government should not direct private business and that moratoriums should only be used to protect public health and safety.
Like Gissel, White also supports the use of a third-party review and is in favor of outsourcing the permit and inspection division to a commercial entity. He also does not support the proposed Highland Road moratorium.
“There may be a small percentage of situations where a moratorium would be justified, but that would be evaluated on a case by case basis,” White says.
Other candidates in the mayoral race include Republicans “Smokie” Bourgeois, Braylon Hyde and John Delgado; Libertarian Rufus Craig; Democrats Greg LaFleur and Byron Sharper; and independents Beverly Amador and Cade Williams. Read a recent Business Report cover package on Baton Rouge’s mayoral race.
(Click the candidate’s name to read the responses to the questionnaire.)
