Angry residents tell corps to stockpile clay elsewhere

Residents were outraged at a US Army Corps of Engineers meeting on Tuesday over the possibility of the corps stockpiling clay on a 42-acre vacant property located at Vans Lane and River Road in New Sarpy.

The clay would be used to raise the height of the St. Charles Hurricane Protection Levee by June 2011.

Almost 75 people attended the meeting, including Parish President V.J. St. Pierre, John Gordon from Senator David Vitter’s office, Steve Wilson with the Pontchartrain Levee District and many other representatives from the Parish Council, Sheriff’s Office and School Board.

Residents were also out in force, cheering on their elected officials and jeering the corps speakers. One resident was even told he would be escorted out of the building by police when he aggravated a corps official by yelling over other speakers.

Everyone who spoke at the meeting was strongly against the proposed stockpiling location, saying that it would cause dangerous traffic conditions as well as high levels of dust and flooding in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Gil Schmidt even went as far as to suggest that the proposed location poses a hazard to area kids.

“This site is between two big subdivisions where you’ve got hundreds of kids…You can put up a 40-foot fence and these kids are going to find a way to get in there and they’re going to get hurt – they’re going to get killed,” Schmidt said.

Corps representatives at the meeting said that using the site would be a last resort in case the Bonnet Carre Spillway is opened due to high water levels in the Mississippi River.

In any event, the corps will have to get permission from the Pontchartrain Levee District before ever stockpiling materials on the land.

While many people questioned whether their input at the meeting would actually make a difference to the corps, levee district spokesman Wilson said that it made a difference to him.

“I can promise you I’m listening,” Wilson said to the crowd.
Council members Larry Cochran, Marcus Lambert and Billy Raymond Sr. were all in agreement and against the site being used for stockpiling.

“I’m going to fight this. We appreciate (the corps) giving us the opportunity (to speak), but…we won’t stand for it,” Lambert said, amidst cheering.

Most attendees were also upset because they had not found out about the meeting until Monday night or early Tuesday morning.

Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said that the corps had not contacted him about the meeting and that he did not find out about it until Monday afternoon.

“How can you come and do something in St. Charles Parish when you haven’t even contacted the parish president or any elected official?” St. Pierre said. “I’m very disappointed we got such short notice about this public meeting.”

While the corps said that they put announcements about the meeting in all local papers, Parish Council member Carolyn Schexnaydre said that the notice was not written in layman’s terms and that it was hard to understand what the meeting was about.

“We’ll go back and look to see how we can better communicate to the public,” Rene Poche, public affairs officer for the corps, said.

Many residents who attended were upset that the location was even being considered as an option for stockpiling.
The crowd erupted in clapping when Brett Herr with the corps said that there would either be another, more-publicized meeting on the subject or that the corps would stop pursuing the site as an option.

 

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