The City Council voted unanimously Thursday (Jan. 30) to lease air rights above Banks Street to Jesuit High School, allowing the school to complete its pedestrian bridge.

The council also approved amendments to the ordinance that address some of the long-simmering tensions between the Catholic boys school and its Mid-City neighbors, including parking, traffic control, litter and the behavior of teenage boys.

The ordinance lets Jesuit finish its bridge while a legal challenge is still pending in Civil District Court. Under one of the amendments, the city would immediately terminate the lease if the plaintiffs, two Mid-City neighbors, prevail. That means the bridge would have to come down.

District A Councilman Joe Giarrusso noted that a potential challenge to the air-rights lease could now be heard simultaneously with the current appeal. So passing the air rights before the lawsuit is resolved could speed the process in the long run.

“No land use matter has taken longer than this one,” Giarrusso said Thursday. “This is not a snap decision.”

The issue filled the Council Chambers on Thursday, with bridge supporters — primarily alumni, staff and parents — outnumbering bridge opponents. More opponents than supporters, however, spoke during the hearing.

The Mid-City neighbors and their attorney Justin Schmidt told City Council members that the bridge sets a bad precedent citywide for approval of a right-of-way, that it’s an unnecessary intrusion designed simply for the convenience of students and staff, that it will destroy the beauty of the oak canopy along their main thoroughfare, and that the vertical clearance is insufficient and will impair street maintenance and repairs.

They decried the city’s process as well as the bridge itself. “Unfortunately this is not how workable democratic governments should function,” Schmidt said at the hearing. “I ask you not to cave in to matters you know in your heart of hearts to be wrong, simply for expediency.”

Jesuit’s attorney Mike Sherman said the city’s permitting process could not have been more thorough. “This is one of the most intensely reviewed permits I have ever seen,” he told council members. “I went to each and every department to get it reviewed.”

Jesuit officials have maintained that the bridge is needed for the safety of their students, an assertion opponents have dismissed as a ruse. “I’m a little confused over how students are capable of crossing busy streets before school and after school,” said Solomon Street resident Julie Posner. “Yet they need this bridge to avoid Banks Street in the middle of the day.”

Two speakers at Thursday’s hearing, however, told of students being hit as they were entering school in the morning. Jesuit parent Cynthia Trotter said one of her sons, now an LSU student, was hit in January 2018 at a crosswalk. A 1991 Jesuit graduate also spoke, telling of being hit in 1986 after his father dropped him off at about 6 a.m.

Even after these incidents, opponents say, Jesuit did not implement more basic safety measures before erecting the bridge.

“There was never any school zone sign. Never any speed bumps,” said Jesuit-area resident Mary Logston. “Students cross in the middle of the street, rather than at traffic control areas. And they only recently employed a crossing guard.”

Jesuit neighbor Bart Everson, a former Mid-City Messenger columnist, told council members about his experience while circulating an anti-bridge petition that eventually garnered about 250 signatures.

“I discovered three things,” Everson said. “My neighbors were well-informed about the bridge, and they were against it, and they were convinced it would be built anyway.”

The 50-year lease, with four 10-year renewal options, will provide the city with an annual rent of $3,083, to increase 15% every five years. It gives the school the right to use the public space above Banks Street where the bridge will be erected.