Abbeville Council votes to bring unincorporated ‘island’ into city limits

Islands have been a recurring topic of discussion for the Abbeville City Council in recent months.
Abbeville has five “islands” within the city limits. Those are unincorporated areas that are completely surrounded by city limits, but are not part of the city and not subject to the city’s ordinances, a fact that has created some concern for city officials.
After Tuesday’s regular city council meeting, there is one less island in the city.
The council unamiously approved an ordinance incorporating unincorporated “Island 3” into the City limits of the City of Abbeville. The area is located near the southwest corner of the La. 14 Bypass and Coulee Kinney.
“There’s no residence there and there are no voters there,” Mayor Mark Piazza said. “The property owners do not live in Abbeville.”
The city held a public hearing prior to voting on the issue. No one from the audience spoke about the item.
With Tuesday’s move, there are still four islands in the city. Again, the issue city officials have brought up is that ordinances do not apply. Most recently, an electronic billboard went up on one of the unincorporated islands on Park Avenue. The city has an ordinance that prohibits such billboards. The owner of the billboard did receive permits from the Louisiana
Department of Transportation and Development and the Vermilion Parish Police Jury.
The city is seeking help from Baton Rouge to resolve the island issue. At its meeting on March 2, the council voted to adopt a resolution requesting the Vermilion delegation to the Louisiana Legislature to sponsor legislation to amend Article I of the Charter creating the City of Abbeville to redraw the corporate limits of said City to include the islands. This would make everything within the boundaries of a map at city hall part of the city.
Piazza said Rep. Ryan Bourriaque will file a house bill during the Louisiana Legislature’s upcoming 2021 session. That session begins on April 12 and goes through June 10.