St. Bernard Parish property owners interested in purchasing the Lot Next Door may contact Global Risk Solutions, a contractor working with St. Bernard Parish Government to administer the program, at 504-569-1905. Residents will be contacted by mail when further action from them is required.

St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro Jr. said the Lot Next Door program in St. Bernard will allow adjacent neighbors first-refusal rights for the purchase of adjacent Louisiana Land Trust properties.

When you call, you must give the address of the lot you are interested in purchasing. Also, you must give your name, mailing address and phone number. Parish government will request that these properties are prioritized and included in the early transfers. This program is NOT a first come, first serve program. Adjacent property owners will have first right of refusal. There is no need to come in person if lines are busy.

The LRA approved the St. Bernard Parish plan for dispensing of Road Home properties. Like other parish officials, President Taffaro presented the LRA with St. Bernard's plan for utilizing the Road Home properties, including drainage, public entity use, creation of public recreation areas and "green space."

Right now the priority is focusing on lots of neighbors who want to buy the homes next door. Once the properties are cleared for disposition, the parish will mail information to the interested adjacent property owners. If they opt not to purchase the property, it will be bundled for potential redevelopment in different lot sizes.

Rear adjoining properties will be handled on a case by case basis with plenty of notification before the parish begins taking information.

President Taffaro, St. Bernard Parish Housing, Redevelopment and Quality of Life Commission members and Louisiana Land Trust officials have announced that more than 3,500 slabs will be removed from lots where Road Home structures once stood.

"This spurs our recovery one step further," President Taffaro said. "It is much more feasible to restore a neighborhood when the slabs are removed. In total, we hope to have 6,000 slabs removed, including LLT properties and non-LLT properties. We are still hopeful that the Louisiana Recovery Authority will be able to pay for the removal of all the slabs."

The cost for removing the slabs is being picked up by Louisiana Land Trust, the non-profit holding company for Road Home properties across the state. The federally-funded work is expected to cost $10 million in St. Bernard, said Mike Taylor, executive director of the Louisiana Land Trust.

"With over 9,500 pieces of property that must be returned to parishes throughout South Louisiana, we are pleased with the progress being made with the slab demolition in St. Bernard Parish," Taylor said. "This important step gets us closer to restoring these parcels and getting them back into commerce."

Camp Dresser & McKee is overseeing slab removal and home demolition across the state for the Louisiana Land Trust.

"LLT is moving forward quickly with the first phase of slab demolition and site restoration in St. Bernard Parish with this group of nearly 300 properties," said Bob Batherson, CDM Program Manager. "Following closely behind this initial contract will be the next phase of slab demolitions in St. Bernard Parish."

In addition to the more than 3,500 LLT properties where slabs will be removed, there are more than 100 LLT houses that still must be demolished. The work is being bid out in several phases over the next year. Durr Heavy Construction is performing the first batch of slab demolitions. Shortly after the slabs are removed, the contract calls for workers to return, cut pilings to 2 feet below the grade, backfill the lot and sprinkle it with Bermuda Grass seeds.

Removing the slabs is a key step to kicking the Lot Next Door program into high gear and getting the properties to neighbors who want to improve the lots and reclaim their neighborhoods.

The St. Bernard Parish Department of Housing and Redevelopment or a closing agent will oversee the program with Global Risk Solutions acting as an intermediary for the parish on the Lot Next Door transfers.

Once slabs are removed, the process of actually selling the properties will begin. Contact letters from Global Risk Solutions on the behalf of St. Bernard Parish are being sent, by geographical areas, to individuals concerning the purchase of the Lot Next Door.

Once individuals receive the letters, the lots will be appraised and the owners of homestead exempt properties next to the LLT properties will have the first chance to purchase the properties. At that point, interested individuals should send their response to Global Risk Solutions, P.O. Box 1099, Chalmette, LA 70044. Residents interested in purchasing a lot next door should expect a phone call from Global Risk and a letter, detailing what needs to be done to purchase the lot.

St. Bernard Parish has been collecting name and addresses of persons interested in the Lot Next Door program for more than a year, said Clay Cosse, Director of the Parish Department of Housing and Redevelopment.

"If you have called and put your name on the list already, there is no need to call the parish or Global Risk Solutions until you receive the letter," Cosse said.

February 2010 update from GRS

GRS issues updates on the Lot Next Door Program and the HMGP Village Square Acquisition Program

Lot Next Door Program

To date, approximately 3,800 letters have been mailed representing 2,599 LLT lots for which interest had been expressed. GRS expects to have completed mailing initial contact letters for all properties by the end of February. Property owners with questions should contact GRS if they do not receive their letter by early March. The phone number is 504-569-1905. GRS is located in the Gulf Coast Bank building on the second floor at 1801 East Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette.

GRS officials said they are still seeing "interested in purchasing" replies to 25% of the letters mailed and only 5% rejections. The parish has collected a deposit on just over 400 properties and has appraised just over 300 with the average appraisal value continuing to decrease - currently - at $4,865.

Today, GRS is ready to sign purchase agreements on 87 properties. Officials are just waiting on responses from the "other side neighbor" and another 120 properties will be ready to go.

HMGP Village Square Acquisition Program

Of the $24.2 million in four HMGP grants awarded to St. Bernard Parish, approximately $12.9 million either has been or will be expended to purchase properties currently scheduled to close through March. To date, the four grants include 185 properties of which the Parish has purchased 62 Village Square properties. Another 30 are scheduled to close, 44 are somewhere in process and only 42 have not shown any interest.

For more information about Global Risk Solutions, Inc., visit www.globalrisksolutions.com. Address: Gulf Coast Bank Building, 1801 East Judge Perez Dr., 2nd Floor, Chalmette, LA 70043. PO Box 1099, Chalmette, LA 70044.