Councilman says public should be more involved in decision
Councilman Barry Minnich wants anyone interested in opening up future video bingo establishments in St. Charles Parish to come before the council for approval.Minnich’s ordinance reads, “It is the desire of the parish council to individually consider bingo halls, video bingo parlors, and off track betting establishments.
“Right now, there’s no avenue or venue to have a public hearing for residents to give their opinion on the video bingo halls,” Minnich said. “The Bingo Palace in Luling opened up without my knowledge, and I’m the councilman for the district. None of the neighbors knew, nor did the councilman.”
But Mike Henderson, director of planning and zoning, has documentation that shows he contacted councilmen Minnich, Clayton Faucheux, and Lance Marino in March of 2007, prior to the opening of the Luling Bingo Palace, to inform them that the business was coming to St. Charles Parish. He only got a response from Faucheux.
“Our office issued the permit for the video bingo hall because it falls within the zoning requirements,” Henderson said. “The permit issued to open the hall for video bingo use comes from the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.”
Sheriff Greg Champagne says he did issue the owners of the video bingo hall a permit once he received the proper approval from the zoning office.
“Video bingo is considered charitable bingo, not gaming, which is why there is no public hearing involved,” Henderson said. “The attorney general, Charles Foti, Jr., recently did an argument to explain that it’s not gaming.”
Gaming requires a special kind of permit, called special use, and special use permits aren’t issued unless the owner of the establishment comes before the parish council. The public has the right to be a part of those hearings.
Minnich hopes to draw support from the council on his ordinance, however Henderson says that requiring those interested in bringing video bingo and gaming halls to come before the parish could force them to sue the parish if they aren’t issued permits.
“The problem is we’ve already issued a permit for one owner of a video bingo facility, who has met all of the planning and zoning requirements,” Henderson said. “It’s not fair to deny someone else a permit, and force them to go before the council for a public hearing.”
According to the permit, the owners of the Luling Video Bingo Palace applied for a commercial recreational license, which is within the proper zoning for the Mimosa area where the hall is located. The license to actually operate charitable bingo comes from the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
“Our office issues permits and the sheriff has the authority, based on if the owner has followed proper guidelines and met the requirements, to issue the actual permit,” Henderson said. “A lot of residents blame our office, but we issue permits based on the way ordinances are written, and sometimes we get put before the council and the council has the authority to override our decisions.”
Minnich wants more public and council input.
“We have ordinance for river boat gaming, an ordinance for video poker, and for bingo halls, but we don’t have ordinance in place for video bingo,” Minnich said. “I don’t understand how the permit got approved, it’s listed as a recreational facility.”
The halls originally came under fire three months ago, when John and Juanita Landry, owners of the St. Charles Bingo Hall in Boutte, complained that the video bingo machines were not fair to charities and that the public had no say so in the matter.
“The ordinance may not have come at the right time, but better late than never,” J. Landry said. “The parish should have done something about it before granting a permit to the hall opening up in the Mimosa Park area.”
J. Landry says by introducing the ordinance, he believes the parish is trying to prevent video bingo halls from popping up all over the parish.
“In one town that I know of called Bastrop, in north Louisiana, within four weeks there were seven video bingo halls that opened up,” he said.
Minnich said one person spoke in opposition to the ordinance, and there was a debate as to whether or not it was organized correctly.
“We want to keep all of these halls from moving into our parish,” he said. “It promotes gambling and I don’t think it’s what we need here.”
Minnich hopes the council comes on board and approves the ordinance.
“I haven’t spoken with the parish president or any of the council members, but I hope they agree that the public opinion is important when it comes to opening these video bingo halls,” he said.
The council meeting will be held Oct. 15, at 6:00 p.m. on the second floor of the St. Charles Parish Courthouse.
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