April 2017 start eyed for Bayou Chene project

St. Mary Levee District leaders hope to be ready to start construction on the $107.5 million Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project by April 2017, when funding from the BP oil spill settlement becomes available.
Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte was the guest speaker during the St. Mary Industrial Group’s monthly meeting Monday at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City.
Since the 2011 flood, the St. Mary Levee District has pursued the project to install a permanent flood protection structure on Bayou Chene in Amelia and protect up to six parishes from flooding, Matte said. Those parishes include St. Mary, Terrebonne, lower St. Martin, Assumption, Lafourche and Iberville.
The project will include a floating barge gate on Bayou Chene that officials can close when the Atchafalaya River reaches 7 feet in Morgan City and is forecasted to continue rising. Vessels will be able to travel through the gate when it’s open.
Levee district officials expect the Restore Act, the result of the BP oil spill settlement, to fund the project, Matte said.
In January 2016 and May 2011, the district faced the “logistical nightmare” of trying to install a temporary flood protection structure when the river rose. Once the permanent structure is in place, officials will be able to simply close the gate when flood waters threaten the area and open the gate when the waters subside, he said.
The levee district will also have to raise the road on nearby Avoca Island to keep water from getting across the road. A permanent levee across Tabor Canal and closure of the two pipeline canals will also accompany the project.
Engineers have secured all of the survey data and done all of the geotechnical work on the project, Matte said. The next major step is to receive the required permits for the project. Once the levee district receives its permits, officials will be ready to proceed to preliminary design and then final design, he said.
Project leaders face a couple of challenges in getting the project to construction.
Levee district officials are seeking to modify the federally allowed 400-foot gate opening on Bayou Chene to a 250-foot channel to significantly reduce the cost of the project. That process requires the levee district to go through a lot of extra steps to be able to get a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project permit, Matte said.
If the district can confirm the Corps will allow the 250-foot gate, even without the permit, the district should be able to move forward on design, he said.
Also, the district already received a permit from the state Department of Natural Resources for the project, but Avoca Inc., which owns land on Avoca Island, filed a lawsuit in November 2015 against the DNR requesting the department rescind the levee district’s permit.
In the lawsuit, Avoca says that the DNR did not have the information needed to properly evaluate the Bayou Chene project’s impacts to surrounding property when it issued the permit.
Avoca Inc. is seeking additional mitigation requirements for perceived damages to the island as a result of the project, Matte said. The levee district’s modeling has shown that the damages to wetlands on Avoca Island are limited to 8 acres of direct impact, he said.
Matte hopes a district judge will decide in early July that the DNR made the right decision issuing the permit, and the district can move forward on the project.
John Shortess of Phelps Dunbar law firm in Baton Rouge is representing Avoca Inc. in the lawsuit. Shortess said this morning he had no comment on the lawsuit.