– The St. Martin Parish Council held another lengthy discussion of the possibility of placing noparking signs on Orchard Park Drive and also discussed the parish Planning & Zoning Commission’s decision to not grant a zoning change for a requested parking lot next to a night club near the entrance to the Orchard Park Subdivision at this past Tuesday’s council committee meetings.
Councilman Vincent Alexander, who introduced the ordinance to place no-parking signs on both sides of Orchard Park Drive at a meeting a couple of months earlier, opposed business owner Andrew Babineaux’s rezoning request.
Babineaux applied to rezone property at 1002 Orchard Park Drive, next to his club, to be used as parking for the club.
Alexander reintroduced the ordinance for no parking signs after Eric Babineaux, who lives on Orchard Park Drive near Andrew Babineaux’s night club, had asked Alexander to introduce the ordinance. Eric Babineaux said his wife and daughters had seen someone urinating on the side of the road near their parked vehicle during a trail ride event.
Alexander said that the public works director had said no parking signs couldn’t be placed only in front of that house but had to be on the entire road. The majority of people on the street want parking prohibited on the road, Alexander said.
“They don’t want people blocking their driveway,” Alexander said. “I support the people of Orchard Park who don’t want parking there.”
Patricia George, who had brought a petition signed by a large number of Orchard Park residents opposing the no-parking signs at a previous meeting, again spoke against placing no parking signs. Many people who don’t have space in their yards to park are against the signs, she said.
Rachel Noel, who lives on Orchard Park Drive, also spoke out against the no-parking signs.
Another resident on the road also said she didn’t think there should be no-parking signs on the road.
Councilman Chris Courville said that through three meetings, the majority of residents who have spoken to the council have opposed the no-parking signs.
He asked what options the parish would have if it upholds its vote to not place noparking signs, but also denies Andrew Babineaux’s request to use the lot next to his club for parking.
Alexander again raised concerns about safety and driving issues because of horse trailers parked along the road during a trail ride starting at the night club.
Councilwoman Tangie Narcisse said she is in favor of allowing businesses to grow and wondered if no-parking signs had to be for the whole subdivision.
Council Chairman Chris Tauzin said that a similar trail ride issue in his district led to placing no-parking signs only on parts of the road, not the whole subdivision.
SMPC
Tauzin said that he feels it would be unfair to prohibit parking on the roadside and to deny Andrew Babineaux the rezoning of the lot to be used for parking at the same time.
The parish council could provide no-parking zones in front of Eric Babineaux’s house and a few houses in the area without making the whole subdivision a no-parking zone along the roads.
Regarding the rezoning, Andrew Babineaux said his children are not interested in running the night club business, so when he retires the business may change to something like a tutoring center (his daughter is currently a teacher), a barber shop (a son is a barber) or a restaurant, or a lot to park trucking rigs (one son is a trucker). That rezoning request was denied by the Planning & Zoning Commission because the lot is surrounded by multiple residential lots.
Parish Planning & Zoning Director Morgan Allemond said Babineaux had not mentioned any of those prospects during his application procedure with the P&Z Commission, asking only for a change in zoning for the parking lot to be used only for the current bar business.
Tauzin said that a change of business ownership or business type could automatically make the property zoning revert back to residential zoning, but Allemond said that is not always the case and that the council or commission could put that in a stipulation in approving the rezoning application.
“I went out on my own and put up noise ordinance signs and no trespassing signs, I put up no loitering signs,” he said. “I’ve done everything I could to keep it peaceful and it’s working.”
Alexander asked Babineaux about a cease and desist order he was supposed to have been served by the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office, which Babineaux said he had not been served.
Alexander then said that the lot is already being used for parking, and residents wish it to remain residential rather than being rezoned as commercial.
Babineaux said the councilman had never told him that the property was still residential, but Alexander said that was not true.
Alexander said residents are worried that people parking next to the night club might decide to shoot guns, which could endanger the residents nearby.
Babineaux said that he had been using the property for 2 1/2 years before being made aware that he had to apply for rezoning to use it the way he had been, and in that time there has never even been a fight in the lot.
Narcisse said converting the lot to commercial to use as parking helps grow businesses in the parish.
“The point that I’m trying to stress is, the lot that he purchased was residential,” Alexander said. “If someone wants to come with another something else on it, it’s still residential. The main thing is, if you want to use it as commercial, you don’t use it for almost two years (as a parking lot) … You shouldn’t have used that lot to begin with without a permit.”
Andrew Babineaux said that Eric Babineaux had not requested no-parking zones for the entire neighborhood, and suggested that no parking signs could be placed at each end of his cousin’s property.
Council on Aging
St. Martin Council on Aging Executive Director Shanese Lewis spoke to the council about the services the organization provides.
“Our mission through the St. Martin Council on Aging is to make every day a better day for the seniors of St. Martin Parish,” she said. “And we do this by providing advocacy and resources as well as the other services that we provide.”
Among those services are meals for seniors, daily bingo, which provides socialization opportunities, and sitters who give caregivers for seniors the opportunity to take time away from the seniors they care for.
“All of our services are based on need,” Lewis said. “Although we do look at income of our seniors, it’s really to see where they fall on the socioeconomic scale. However, as long as there’s a need, if they’re 60 years or older and they live in St. Martin Parish, that qualifies them to begin receiving services.”
Seniors are assessed initially by case managers and reassessed every year to see if their needs have changed, she said.
If the COA cannot provide a needed service, she said, they want to make sure to connect seniors with groups that can provide those services.
St. Martin COA’s main center is the Sydney Mae Durand Center in Breaux Bridge. The organization also has a partnership with the City of St. Martinville to provide a satellite senior center at Magnolia Park.
“Some of the other things we provide are ramp assistance, food stamp assistance, Medicaid assistance, utility assistance, fans, heaters and weatherization, housing repair assistance, medicine assistance,” she said. “We also help them apply for free cellphones and free glasses.”
The main three services offered are transportation, meals and recreation, she said. Because COA is the only public transportation in the parish, anyone age 17 or older can use the transportation by paying a fare, and must provide notice two days ahead of 48 hours before the transportation is needed. Transportation for seniors is free, with seniors encouraged to give a $2 donation if they can, while fare rates for others using the transportation are kept as low as possible, Lewis said. Fares for transportation by non-seniors must be paid before transportation is provided.
Transportation is provided within a 50-mile radius, into Iberia and Lafayette parishes and part of St. Landry Parish but must begin in St. Martin Parish. Transportation is offered from 6:45 a.m. to roughly 5 p.m. Emergency transportation is not provided.
Parish government applies for the grants that pay for the transportation with COA the sub-grant recipient.
In other business
Parish President Pete Delcambre presented a proclamation to the family of Buck Barras by naming July 6, 2026 as Buck Barras Memorial Day in St. Martin Parish.
The Buck Barras Memorial Foundation is a non-profit organization that raises money to provide scholarships for graduating high school seniors or college students in the Acadiana area who have lost a parent. The amount provided depends on how much money is raised that year. Students can receive the scholarship one time.
The foundation has awarded more than $260,000 in scholarships to 96 students in its four years so far.
