It was built without a permit, agencies say
St. Charles Parish is used to securing money to build levees, but now they will have to spend nearly $1 million to tear one down.
The levee that must be degraded is the Cajun Paradise levee, which protects 16 homes in Paradis and stretches from Paradis Canal to the railroad tracks. The levee has a long history dating back to 2001 when the parish applied for an emergency permit to protect against the flooding of homes along Cajun Paradise Road. A permit was never issued, but the parish constructed the levee anyway a year later.
In 2004, the EPA ordered the parish to seek an After-the-Fact permit. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also requested additional information to complete the permit process, but it was never furnished, they say.
Regulatory agencies say the construction of the levee and borrow canal has impacted 12.8 acres of wetlands, and that an additional 30-plus acres is being “adversely indirectly impacted by the levee.”
Because of that, the parish is faced with a $1.6 million fine that could start growing at a rate of about $30,000 a day if nothing is done, according to parish officials.
The parish really has no choice but to tear down the levee because an option that calls for raising it to an elevation of plus 4, which would cost $3.3 million, would not get approval from the regulatory agencies.
Removing the levee is estimated to cost $920,000. The reason for the high price tag is that the parish must pay $60,000 for every acre that was impacted by the levee’s construction.
Another option, which would include removing the levee and rebuilding it closer to the 16 homes in the area, would cost $2 million. However, that option requires all homeowners to agree to it, and at a recent town hall meeting, that seemed unlikely to happen because it would require giving up land.
A majority of the homeowners were interested in raising Cajun Paradise Road so that they could get to their homes when the water rises. After heavy rains, some residents said they now have to park across the street from their homes, put on boots and slosh through the water.
The residents could pay to do the work themselves or allow the parish to do it. If the parish becomes involved though, the road would have to be built to their standards and would become a public street.
Be the first to comment