Northshore judge orders Abita Springs’ mayor jailed | Business News

A northshore judge has found Abita Springs Mayor Dan Curtis in contempt of court for failing to comply with the contract between the town and a subdivision developer and has ordered the mayor jailed “indefinitely.”

“The town refuses to comply with an order of this court. Frankly, it’s making a mockery of the justice system,” 22nd Judicial District Court Judge William Burris said on Wednesday. “[Mayor Dan Curtis] will report to my courtroom. And from there, I will send him to the jail at 9 a.m., on Monday, March 11.”

The judge’s order is the latest twist in the legal dispute between the town and a developer, Lonesome Development LLC, that wants to build a large subdivision, Abita Meadows, on the outskirts of the town. The town agreed to allow the subdivision to be built, and, in 2017, even annexed the land so the subdivision would be inside the town’s limits.

But in 2019, Abita Springs and Curtis did an about face. The town’s sewerage system, the town now argues, can’t handle the waste that 390 additional homes would produce. Already, a resident testified in one of the court hearings, raw sewage overflows into drainage ditches outside her home during heavy rains.

That argument didn’t sway Burris, who ruled the town came to a binding agreement with the developer and must uphold its end of the bargain.

“The town is playing politics. They want to become political martyrs,” Burris said in court. “They have chosen the hill they want to proverbially die on.”

And so Burris issued his order: The mayor will be sent to the St. Tammany jail next month unless the town agrees to let Abita Meadows tie into the sewerage system. As long as Curtis refuses, he’ll remain jailed.

The town, meanwhile, insists that the development simply can’t be built as proposed — that the town’s sewerage system would fail if that many new houses were piped into it.

“Imprisoning the mayor of a town in America in this way, unless and until the town takes action which will cause an environmental disaster for the town, seems positively medieval,” said Andrew Wilson, the town’s attorney.

The town asserts that the initial plan to connect the subdivision was based on a miscalculation of the town’s wastewater capacity. Wilson also said that the town had proposed alternatives for the subdivision’s connection to the sewerage system that would avoid “catastrophe,” but that the developer has refused to consider them.

Now, the town says it plans to immediately appeal Burris’s order and ask the state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal to prevent the mayor from being jailed.

The prospect of a jailed mayor isn’t the only drama facing the 2,700-person town of Abita Springs. Curtis has come under fire from residents for his administration’s failure to review credit card statements for at least two years — while two of the town’s employees allegedly spent more than $100,000 the town’s money on personal purchases.

The employees allegedly bought sneakers, placed orders from food delivery services, and paid for trips to the Gulf Coast on the town’s credit cards. The state Legislative Auditor is investigating the spending.