Expansion creating sewage headaches

Influx of new businesses could force construction of $15 million sewage plant

Business construction on the West Bank is stretching the wastewater system’s ability to handle sewage, leading to concerns that a new treatment facility might be needed.

“We need to make a decision on how we’re going to handle development on the West Bank,” St. Charles Parish Public Works Director Sam Scholle said at a recent Operations, Maintenance and Construction Management Committee meeting. “Once Fashion 2 and Glastonbury max out, then we’ve used all of our free capacity up at the Hahnville plant.”

Developers have already applied for a permit through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop the land on the school side of Highway 3127. The area is slated for commercial development.

“So, if we have other subdivisions that come in and they want to develop, we’ve got to figure out if we need to build a sewage treatment plant in Paradis,” Scholle said. “You can take Paradis, Bayou Gauche and that whole area and put it into another smaller sewage treatment facility.”

The cost of that facility could be anywhere from $15 to $20 million.

But even before more neighborhoods are built, a couple new commercial developments on Highway 90 are putting the parish’s ability to handle sewage in jeopardy.

“We have a problem right now on Highway 90 as we speak,” Scholle said. “This hotel that’s being built and this little strip mall; the lift station does not have the capacity to handle that water.”

A La Quinta Inn will be located across the street from the Herald-Guide office. The strip mall, adjacent to the Herald-Guide office, will be 7,500 square-feet consisting of six bays that will be 1,250 square-feet each. There will be enough parking for 60 vehicles.

“We’re hoping that the existing sewer lines will be large enough to handle it, but that lift station right there does not have the capacity to handle that water,” Scholle said.

Councilman Terry Authement said the parish could raise the sewer fee for any future hotels that come into the area.

“The previous council, and I think I was kind of the opposite of this, they sold us on this sewer fee, and we reduced the sewer fee for hotels because it was so much a room,” Authement said. “We may want to revisit that.”

Scholle suggested that members of the council work together with Parish President V.J. St. Pierre to solve the problem.

“As developers come in, we have to have a plan,” Scholle said. “I’m not saying that we don’t take on economic development, but we’ve got to have a plan to do that.”