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2026-09-03 - City Council

Summary

Built from the official minutes (final, revised). No video is posted. The minutes record motions and votes but not the discussion, and the 45-page document lists agenda items out of order.

  • Regular meeting opened at 10:00 AM with all seven members present: President Morrell, Vice President Willard, McCarron, Harris, King, Green and Hughes. Aisha R. Collier was Clerk of Council. Adjourned at 12:00 p.m.
  • Adopted the sanitation fee reform ordinance as amended, 6-1 with Hughes opposed (Sanitation fee reset and recycling costs).
  • Adopted the contractor responsibility ordinance as amended, 6-0 (Contractor Responsibility Ordinance), and the Carnival Gap Fee as amended, 7-0 (Carnival Gap Fee).
  • Denied an accessory bed and breakfast on Carondelet Street 7-0 and approved a St. Claude-area commercial short-term rental 6-1 (Commercial short-term rental conditional uses); approved a Carondelet Street hotel and an indoor amusement facility, each 7-0.
  • Directed the Sewerage and Water Board to approve a plan to repay the city by October 1, 7-0 (Water Board Repayment Directive).
  • Passed a substitute on EMS hiring pay 7-0 and deferred 18 older pay plan motions to November 5 (Civil Service pay plan changes).
  • Deferred to September 17 or later: several zoning dockets, the monastery planned development, the short-term rental package and the Sanitation budget ordinance.
  • Approved the minutes of August 6 and August 20, 2026 (6-0, Morrell absent); the consent agenda was adopted 7-0.

Sanitation fee reset and recycling costs

  • Calendar No. 35,384 (Morrell, by request): the Joint Budget and Public Works Committee made no recommendation; speaker cards were filed. An amendment delaying the new fee formula to January 1, 2028 and using a fixed-fee model from October 1, 2026 passed 6-1, and the ordinance as amended passed 6-1 (Hughes opposed). Details are on the issue page.
  • Calendar No. 35,117, the Sanitation budget subdivision ordinance, was deferred to September 17.

Contractor Responsibility Ordinance

  • Calendar No. 35,543 (Willard and all members), introduced August 20; Economic Development Committee recommended approval. Amendment (Willard, King seconding) 6-0; ordinance as amended (Willard, McCarron seconding) 6-0 with Morrell absent.

Carnival Gap Fee

  • Calendar No. 35,495 (King, by request): tiered fee by pull units for the 2027 through 2031 seasons. Amendment and ordinance as amended each 7-0.

Commercial short-term rental conditional uses

  • Docket 63/26 (accessory bed and breakfast, Carondelet Street): the Planning Commission recommended approval; Harris withdrew the approval motion (M-26-318) and the substitute to deny passed 7-0.
  • Docket 66/26 (Joseph Guillaume Place): Motion M-26-367, King, seconded by McCarron, passed 6-1 with Morrell opposed.
  • Docket 59/26 (Toledano Street) deferred to September 17.

Carondelet Street Hotel Conditional Use and Carondelet Street Indoor Amusement Conditional Use

  • Docket 68/26: Motion M-26-363 (Harris, Willard seconding) approved with two provisos, 7-0. Docket 69/26: Motion M-26-364 (Harris, McCarron seconding) approved with three provisos, 7-0. Speaker cards were filed on both.

Philip Street Porch Column Appeal

  • Motion M-26-365 (Harris, King seconding) affirmed the Historic District Landmarks Commission and denied the request, 6-0 with Morrell absent.
  • Two new appeals were received for hearing on September 17: retention of decorative railings and tiered shutters on an Ursulines Avenue mixed-use building, and the commission's conceptual approval for a camelback addition on Louisa Street (appealed by Neighbors First for Bywater).

Carrollton Avenue Car Wash Conditional Use

  • Docket 67/26 and Motions M-26-357 (deny) and M-26-358 (approve and modify) deferred to September 17; speaker cards filed.

Monastery Adaptive Reuse Planned Development

  • Docket 73/26 and Motion M-26-366 deferred to September 17.

Non-Commercial Short-Term Rental Ban

  • Calendar No. 34,385 and Motions M-23-426 and M-23-427 deferred to September 17.

Restoration Tax Abatement Hearings

  • Two District B applications and four resolutions deferred to October 1.

Civil Service pay plan changes

  • Consent agenda: Motions M-26-40, M-26-44 and M-26-355. Motion M-26-198 pulled, withdrawn and replaced by a substitute adopted 7-0. Motions M-25-182 through M-26-242 (18 items) deferred to November 5.

Water Board Repayment Directive

  • Motion M-26-368 (Morrell, McCarron and King): the Board is directed to approve a proposal to repay its obligation to the city no later than October 1. Adopted 7-0.

Other fiscal and policy actions

  • Adopted without discussion: Zoning Docket 49/26 (vocational facility on Lake Forest Boulevard), Docket 61/26 (neighborhood commercial on Broadway Street) and Docket 42/26, a text amendment widening the definition of small multi-family affordable dwellings to include permanently affordable for-sale housing and community land trust ground leases.
  • Deferred to September 17: Docket 50/26 (Esplanade Avenue bed and breakfast and rezoning, Planning Commission recommended denial), Docket 64/26 (child care center), Dockets 70/26 and 71/26 (recording studio live entertainment).

Utilities and appointments

  • Consent: Entergy and Delta Gas monthly adjustments and 2026 formula rate plan filings received (Entergy Formula Rate Plan Extension); Entergy Integrated Resource Plan resolutions R-26-360 and R-26-361 adopted.
  • Council Appointment Confirmations: Prenatal-to-Three Task Force members appointed 6-0; the Chief Administrative Officer's appointment of Austin P. Wilty as Property Management director received.
  • First reading: ordinances 35,544 through 35,566 introduced and laid over. A servitude on Tchoupitoulas Street (No. 35,533) was adopted 7-0.

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