Jury flooded with drainage issues

Whether or not to approve the development of a subdivision in the Mire area that is prone to flooding, but not actually in a designated “Flood Zone”, has the Acadia Parish Police Jury at odds with the parish Planning Commission.
Mitchell Studebacher is the property owner and contractor for the proposed 24-home development at the eastern edge of Acadia Parish.
He said, and the Planning Commission agrees, that he has met all the requirements set forth by the parish for development of the property. However, some nearby residents claim that the addition of 24 homes would exacerbate already existing problems with flooding there.
The property is in a designated “Zone X” area, which means that it is not considered a flood zone and, therefore, residents are not required to purchase flood insurance when building or buying.
“But the area is prone to flooding,” said Juror A.J. “Fatty” Broussard.
Studebacher told jurors that photos of high water presented during last Tuesday night’s committee meeting depicted events “that happened only three times in the last 20 years — one during Hurricane Andrew and one when Carencro, less than 8 miles away, got 16 inches of rain one day.”
The jury’s Legislative Committee had recommended halting development of the area until a hydraulic study could be performed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, but Studebacher said if his project was to be halted, the parish would have to halt all construction — private and commercial — in the parish until a parishwide study was conducted.
He said his plans for the development “meet and exceed” recommendations of the Planning Commission.
But Jason Gossen, chairman of the parish Planning Commission, said his board was torn between approving a project that meets all requirements and its duty to protect citizens from flooding.
“It’s not fair to the general public for us to approve a plan if we know it’s going to flood,” he said.
He said the Commission was asking the jury for guidance.
The jury decided to go ahead with the hydraulic study and to recommend that the Planning Commission contact local drainage boards when considering approval of a development.
At Broussard’s insistence, developers were also instructed to tell those who purchase property in Zone X areas that, although the land is not in a FEMA-designated flood zone, that it is “prone to flooding.”
In a somewhat related matter, jurors granted Hillman Meche permission to build up a section of Cottage Lane, a parish-owned road, so that he could proceed with work on a separate development also located in the Mire area.
Meche will pay for the upgrade of the parish road.