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Carnival firm given to-do list

Section: Business

Chris Kirkham

Gretna officials met with representatives of Kern Studios last week to outline a laundry list of improvements the Carnival float company must make at a former lumber site along the Mississippi River.

Float builder Blaine Kern's company purchased the former Ward Lumber Co. site in 2004 and has been using it to store floats and tractors. But the special zoning designation allowing Kern Studios to use the property for storage expired more than a year ago, putting the company in violation of the city's zoning laws.

The city is sending a letter to the company outlining specific improvements that must be made in the next 60 days. Both Blaine Kern and his son Barry, the president of Kern Studios, were at last week's meeting with the city.

Barry Kern said he or his father, or both, will be at the Jan. 9 and Feb. 13 Gretna City Council meetings to discuss the necessary changes. He hasn't received the official notice from the city yet, but Kern said the changes discussed at the meeting include putting a wooden fence around the entire property and storing any floats or tractors inside the warehouse.

"They don't want to be able to see floats or heads or props when you look around," Barry Kern said. "All they want to see is a clean building with a clean landscape with a nice manicured landscape."

The company also was asked not to move floats or tractors in and out of the property during Carnival season. Kern said the company would be moving its tractors to another site to comply with the city's request.

Gretna Mayor Ronnie Harris declined to elaborate until the council meeting next week but said he thought the city got its point across about the Kerns' need to comply with zoning laws.

"The property's not going away; it's there," Harris said. "So we're trying our best, from the administration's point of view, to make it as pleasing to the neighborhood as we can."

Ultimately any decision on the property will be in the council's hands.

Kern Studios has made several changes to the property since the 2004 purchase, including tearing down a former railroad-repair building and putting up a sight-obscuring green fence around the property.

Some of the changes were made after the city approved the Kerns' request for a planned unit development, or PUD, a special zoning arrangement where the city and a developer agree on specific restrictions for the property.

Since that agreement expired more than a year ago, the property has reverted to residential zoning. Kern said the company is still seeking developers or investors to lease the property, but that the company has had trouble given the current real estate climate.

Kern said he understands the city's desire to improve the property and that officials made it clear the company had "no wiggle room."

"We believe that site is a valuable site from a development perspective," he said. "But there's a reason why there's no real development happening in the country right now. The real estate market is upside-down."

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