At its September meeting, Sulphur City Council voted down a 70-acre borrow pit on North Prater Road after Land Use OK’d a variance from the 5-acre max allowed in the city’s ordinance.

At its October meeting Council was told that the landowners are seeking de-annexation at the Land Use meeting Monday, Oct. 21, 5:30 p.m. at 1551 E. Napoleon Street.

“I really thought this was over,” Danny DiPetta told the Council Tuesday.        

If the Land Use Commission gives de-annexation a thumbs up, the Sulphur City Council will have the final say on the matter at its November meeting. DiPetta urged them to vote against it again.

In a phone conversation after the meeting, DiPetta said that the request involves de-annexing and contracting the boundaries of an 88-acre tract, a 28-acre tract and a 1.32-acre tract.

“Contracting the boundaries is a legal term that I’ve recently learned means doing what they want to do,” DiPetta said.

The project has been described as being roughly the size of 53 football fields. DiPetta said that is the size of the pit that was proposed for the 88-acre site, which would require 50 feet in buffer.

A representative speaking for the company that will be hauling the dirt said it could involve 120 trucks a day, and those trucks would not use roads posted Not A Thru Street. However, DiPetta lives in a neighborhood that’s posted against trucks, and they come through anyway, he said. The burden of policing the traffic would be on the Sulphur Police Department and Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office.

DiPetta doesn’t want to see it used as a landfill. One of the end uses proposed for the pit is a vegetative landfill. However, in Louisiana, a vegetative landfill is a Type 3 landfill, and if the project receives that designation, it can be used for more than vegetation.

DiPetta said people who live closer to the property said a retention pond is not needed, although that would not qualify as a pond as it would be a lake because it’s over 20 acres.

At the September Sulphur City Council meeting, DiPetta and other residents spoke against the borrow pit. Carolyn Peters said the water, soil and air have been destroyed in Mossville. The community already has six holes. It doesn’t need another.

Cindy Robertson said digging up the pit will add to air pollution, filling it with water could comprise the Chicot aquifer.

The property was annexed a relatively short time ago because the landowners sought to open a man camp.

De-annexation would allow the project to go before the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury.

Halloween events announced

In other Council business, amending the 2023-2024 budget to account for over budgeting of approximately $3 million in FEMA reimbursements was approved. Those reimbursements were expected and still are.

A house bound for demolition that was once the home of a popular daycare provider could get a second chance. An investment group bought the property about a year ago. The first contractor started work and didn’t finish. He’s been arrested. When a new contractor sought permits to begin work, he was told he would  not be granted any.

The Council granted the owner enough time to arrange a meeting between a city inspector, new contractor and owner to review the scope of work.

Sulphur resident Cindy Robertson urged Council to carefully consider any decision-making in favor of the Lake Charles Methanol II plant.

On the agenda was a restatement of the servitude agreement between the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District and the City of Sulphur with the company’s new name. It was called Lake Charles Methanol in the previous agreement. The Council approved unanimously.

“It will release a huge amount of pollutants into the air,” said Robertson.

It is also not known whether LCMII will or will not have carbon capture and sequestration.

“If they do it, they will be shipping the CO2 somewhere by pipeline, and if they don’t, they’ll just release it in the air regardless of what their permit says.”

Mayor Mike Danahay announced the Stars and Stripes Classic Car Show at the Grove on Saturday, Oct. 19. Halloween will be celebrated on Oct. 31, and the Sulphur Marshal, Ward 4, Sulphur Police and Sulphur Fire Department invites children to a drive-thru pre-Trick or Treating event Tuesday, Oct. 31, 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m., at 1551 E. Napoleon Street.