Hahnville, Luling residents concerned about noise
The Parish Council will ask the Army Corps of Engineers for a town hall meeting to discuss a proposed barge-fleeting area in the Mississippi River adjacent to Hahnville.
Residents from Hahnville and Luling spoke out against Bayou Fleet’s project, saying that it will create increased noise in the area and that there are just too many unknowns.
The permit area for the project stretches from Holy Rosary Church to Fashion Plantation.
Though the council voted to ask for a town hall meeting, the Corps has the final say so on whether the project will get the go-ahead.
Steve Myers, who lives in Fashion Plantation, said there were just too many questions about the project, including what would be stored in the barges and what the hours of operation would be.
Lydia Comberel, who also resides in Fashion Plantation, said that even though her home is separated by two levees and the river from Destrehan High School, she can still hear the game’s football announcer on Friday nights. While she says she is a big football fan and enjoys hearing the games, she wouldn’t enjoy listening to the barges at all times of the day and night.
“I don’t believe I could keep that noise out of my home,” she said.
Ray Gregson, president of the Ashton Plantation Homeowners Association, said he thinks that up to 152 barges could be stored in the project area and that the community needs more answers.
Several council members also voiced their concerns with the operation.
Councilwoman Carolyn Schexnaydre said that a similar barge operation exists in Destrehan and that she can hear the barges at all hours of the night. However, she added that a town hall meeting on the issue did little to sway the Corps, who issued the permit despite resident concerns.
Council chairman Billy Raymond Sr., who introduced the ordinance asking for the meeting, said the proposed operation could also impact residents who use the new bike/walk path on the levee.
The project was submitted to public comment on May 10 and the Corps said that their initial finding shows that the work would neither affect any species listed as endangered by the U.S. Department of Interior nor affect any habitat designated as critical to the survival and recovery of any endangered species.
They did find that the project would result in the destruction or alteration of 28.93 acres of fish habitat utilized by various life stages of red drum and penaeid shrimp.
The area where the project is located is also part of the aboriginal homeland of the Chitimach Tribe. Because of that, villages, burial sites and sacred sites were in place in the entire project area at one point in time.
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