Councilman Tim Riley was the only elected official to join dozens of citizens in opposition to Brittany Point’s annexation
Brittany Point, LLC owns 55 acres abutting Gonzales’ easternmost city limits, on the north side of Hwy 30 just west of Smith Tank & Steel where the current zoning is Rural, one of Ascension Parish’s most restrictive. In all likelihood, whether the subject acreage is annexed into the City of Gonzales or not, that is going to change. Brittany Point’s Doug Diez explained as much to a gathering of neighboring residents on Tuesday, offering a two-option menu of (a) 160-lot residential subdivision, or (b) office park (think Barringer Foreman Technology Park).
If the acreage is annexed into the city, Diez will go for option (a) or focus on (b) should Brittany Point’s tract remain outside the city limits. Having spoken to multiple of the ultimate parish-level decision makers, an office park is a viable option. In either case, Doug Diez has committed to improving drainage.
A couple of dozen Gonzales residents, most live in Pecan Grove East/San Francisco Street, came to City Hall yesterday to hear him out.
They were unmoved by his presentation.
Doug Diez making his pitch on Tuesday
Certain of their properties are flood-prone, a combination of factors cause water to stack up during flash flooding events when Bayou Francois cannot contain downfall and railroad tracks alongside Airline Hwy dam up the flow. Doug Diez has consistently promised to do all that is feasible to improve that problem, citing strictures in the development code which render adverse impact on drainage impossible. With no corrective measures being considered (not by the City of Gonzales nor East Ascension Drainage Commission) to remedy the existing deficiencies, Diez may be the only game in town.
Preliminary engineering indicates, according to Diez, the potential to lower Bayou Francois’ static elevation during rain events employing onsite retention ponds. He anticipates another years’ worth of engineering, subject to verification by Ascension’s Engineering Review Agent (CSRS), to ensure compliance with recently enacted drainage regulations. All told it will take three years to dot all the ‘i’s” and cross all the “t’s” whether Diez undertakes a residential subdivision in Gonzales or an office park outside the city limits.
More than a few attendees insisted on maintenance of the status quo. Like there Prairieville neighbors to the north, any development will cause consternation and it was unclear if there was a preference between the two options. No development of any kind until “the drainage is fixed” was the mantra, unrealistic as it is.
The simple fact of the matter is that Brittany Point will be developed.
Lost in the drama, all that is being contemplated at present is the question of annexation into Gonzales. In January the city’s Planning Commission recommended denial of Brittany Point’s petition, on February 19 the City Council voted (3-2) to send the question back to Planning. In the interim, Doug Diez had provided additional information not presented to the commission.
City Councilman Tim Riley (l) with his Ascension Council counterpart, Joel Robert.
City Councilman Tim Riley, the only Gonzales elected official to attend Tuesday’s meeting, was one of the minority votes on February 19. Riley, who chairs the city’s Drainage Committee, confirmed that no governmental entity is currently contemplating corrective measures to address the localized problem.
Public misunderstanding of drainage works in East Ascension Parish is not a new phenomenon. Every parcel east of the Mississippi River is subject to the 5-mill ad valorem tax assessment funding EA Drainage Commission on top of its perpetual 1/2% sales and use tax. Combined, the assessments are anticipated to generate $30.9 million this year.
From AP Government’s adopted 2024 budget book.
Approximately 18% of that total (in the neighborhood of $5.5 million) will emanate from inside Gonzales’ city limits. Much of EA Drainage’s $47,867,251 fund balance is earmarked for major capital improvement projects in the pipeline for decades.
With completion of the New River Dredging project and weir replacement, do not expect many more dollars devoted to the City of Gonzales any time soon. And then there is the politically motivated nonsensical narrative that EA Drainage cannot undertake “minor” drainage works inside Gonzales and/or Sorrento municipal limits. The major v. minor drainage myth is a red herring to justify EA Drainage ignoring two east bank municipalities when it suits the commission’s purpose.
To these eyes it seems that Brittany Point alone is offering anything like a fix to this particular drainage issue. But, before incurring the requisite costs to design/engineer the site, numerous unanswered questions need to be resolved, Option (a) or Option (b) most prominently. None of which seemed to register with Tuesday’s attendees united in one conviction…development, any development, will only worsen their problem.
Having tabled the annexation question on February 19, the City Council punted the issue back to Gonzales Planning Commission which meets on the first Monday of each month. When/if the commission revisits the issue, that appointed body can only make a recommendation to the City Council where the ultimate authority is.
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