President Clint Cointment and Ascension Parish Council
A decade ago, Ascension’s Parish Council began considering wide-ranging changes to the Development Code related to drainage, among them limiting the amount of fill material employed to elevate structures. Gaining momentum after the disastrous Flood of 2016, the governing authority imposed more severe limitations which have resulted in certain “unintended consequences” impacting small lot owners. Earlier, the council adopted amendments to curtail certain of the more burdensome regulations.
“Small lots in subdivisions that were unable to meet requirements were taken out of commerce completely,” Parish President Clint Cointment said of the regulatory changes enacted by a previous council. “We still have some tweaks to make…to find a better way of (drainage impact) mitigation.”
One of those”tweaks” (see below) exempts lots larger than one half-acre from the 36″ fill limitation imposed in 2019. Planning Director Eric Poche’s department staff explained another code change to the Planning Commission several weeks ago, the commission recommending it to the council.
The Drainage Ordinance currently applies to all properties within the parish. Staff is recommending removing properties within the ‘X’ zone as it is impacting approximately 40% of the parish not currently in a flood zone on the East Bank and approximately 90%-95% of areas not currently in a flood zone on the West Bank. This also adds additional expense as well as permitting time for those areas and can be especially cumbersome for those who are not in a flood zone.
That changed after a unanimous council vote exempting “properties within flood zone ‘X’” from the ordinance’s application.
Also approved were changes to the ordinance scheme regulating allowable fill. 17:507(B), For Existing or Proposed Individual Lots will now read, in pertinent part (new language in red):
1. Average fill on an existing or proposed individual lot shall not exceed 36 inches on any lot less than one-half (1/2) acre unless a chain wall is constructed per subparagraph (a)(iv) below.
a. For individual lots where fill is placed below the 100-year base flood elevation.
i. Any volume of fill placed below the 100-year base flood elevation shall be compensated for and balanced by a hydraulically equivalent volume to a 100-year storm event. The certification of “zero net fill” shall be submitted by an Engineer licensed by the State of Louisiana.
ii. Fill shall be from the same property, or the same watershed provided a permanent servitude is obtained from the property owner where the mitigated fill is obtained, and it must be mitigated by a hydraulically equivalent volume to a 100-year storm event. The certification of “zero net fill” shall be submitted by a Professional Engineer licensed by the State of Louisiana.
iii. Fill shall be limited to the foundation of the structure(s) and shall not extend more than 24 inches horizontally beyond the limits of the foundation before it begins to slope.
iv. If the structure(s) must be elevated beyond the capacity to mitigate, piers or a chain-wall shall be constructed to comply with elevation requirements. All fill shall be subject to the mitigation requirements as outlined above.
(a) The homeowner may choose to combine fill and piers or a chain-wall to achieve the desired elevation; however, in no instance shall the fill height be greater than 36 inches at any location on the lot using earth fill outside of a chain wall.
(b) Should the homeowner choose to use chain wall foundation/construction, a maximum of 24 inches shall be allowed for chain wall height (calculated from the top of the 36 inches maximum fill height allowed to the top of the finished slab) to achieve the required elevation.
2. Side slope of fill under the structure(s) shall not be steeper than a three-foot horizontal to a one-foot vertical slope.
3. Fill shall not be placed closer than ten feet to any property line, regardless of setbacks.
Ordinance 17-5093, entitled Long term accountability for mitigation facilities, was eliminated by the council vote.
A. An inspection for compliance with design shall be performed every five years on all privately-owned storm water and floodplain mitigation facilities approved under this ordinance and a letter of certification of compliance with design shall be submitted by an engineer licensed by the State of Louisiana.
B. Long term accountability of existing mitigation facilities shall be determined within 120 days of adoption of this ordinance and presented to the council for approval.
The final change was the addition of a definition to the code.
Drainage basin means Ascension Parish defined watersheds based on mechanical pump station discharge locations as shown on the official Ascension Parish GIS General Map including, Bayou Manchac, Marvin Braud, Henderson Bayou and Bayou Conway.
The measure, according to President Cointment, will “allow public/private use of wetlands mitigation credits in larger areas.”
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