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Council defers endorsement of Atchafalaya settlement-pipeline plan until CPRA review
Summary
Dean Wilson presented a settlement-management plan for the Atchafalaya Basin and asked for council support. Councilmembers raised concerns about duplication with the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) master plan; the council voted to defer taking action and requested CPRA input before deciding.
Dean Wilson, a resident who said he represented organizers of an Atchafalaya Basin settlement-management plan, asked the Terrebonne Parish Council on Feb. 12 to support a draft management plan and resolution related to a proposed settlement pipeline and basin restoration work.
Wilson described three components: creating a “leaky levee” concept to improve local drainage into the Atchafalaya River, preserving the basin’s flood-storage capacity and a pipeline alignment intended to connect basin waters to Lake Palourde and coastal restoration projects. He told the council the plan was developed through multiple public meetings and that several parishes had either passed or were considering resolutions in support.
Councilmembers pressed Wilson on technical and procedural questions. Councilmember Kim Chauvin asked whether the concept had an engineering feasibility study; Wilson said it did not, explaining that CPRA is preparing a basin master plan and the deadline to submit public proposals was the end of the month. Several members said they were wary of duplicating work already underway by the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) and asked whether local submissions could conflict with CPRA’s ongoing alignment and sediment-pipeline work.
After discussion, Councilmember Trustman moved to defer any council endorsement and request that parish officials meet with CPRA and return with CPRA’s feedback; Councilmember Chauvin seconded the motion. The council voted to defer consideration and asked staff to seek CPRA guidance before taking further action. Councilmembers noted the CPRA master plan timeline and a firm public-submission deadline noted by Wilson.
The deferral preserves council discretion while staff and CPRA review the proposal; Wilson said he hoped the parish would nonetheless support the concept once CPRA’s master plan and technical analyses were reconciled.
(Transcript note: Wilson said the submission deadline to CPRA was the 20th of the month and that the proposal currently lacked a feasibility study.)
