Proposed Bayou Cane sewer pump station causes a stink

Terrebonne Parish Councilman Billy Hebert has asked for an opinion from the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney’s Office about the parish’s proposed purchase of a small piece of property in Bayou Cane near the Cypress Gardens Subdivision to build a sewer pump station. The site is off of Jason Street.

Hebert is questioning whether the property – which is smaller than an acre – should be purchased by a private land developer rather than the parish. The land would be purchased from owner Regions Bank for $27,000.

“The parish has never gone out in this manner for sewer improvements,” Hebert said at the parish council’s May 14 meeting.

The council was set to vote on buying the property at its May 28 meeting, but the expected opinion from the district attorney was not issued. The council decided to delay a vote until tonight’s meeting.

A vote on the ordinance directing the parish to buy the property was originally to take place at the May 14 council meeting. The council postponed voting on the land purchase after Hebert said he wanted an opinion from the district attorney.

A supermajority of the council was required to approve removing the motion to vote on the ordinance.

“This gives an opportunity for the DA to review this matter,” Hebert said. “I’ve heard from developers and department heads.”

“Why is the parish putting this in free?” he said.

The pump station would service a proposed sewer system along Martin Luther King Boulevard.

At the parish council’s April 23 meeting, when the ordinance to buy the property was introduced, Hebert asked whether the parish commonly bought land to build sewer pump stations.

Parish President Michel Claudet said private developers normally would need to pay the cost for a pump station if the station would serve only a single subdivision. However, the proposed pump station would service a broader area, he said.

“This is not just for one subdivision,” Claudet said. “This is not favoring one individual.”

Terrebonne Parish contracted with the Houma engineering firm Shaw Coastal in August 2005 to perform the engineering work on the wastewater project along Martin Luther King Boulevard.

At a Parish Council Public Services Committee meeting on May 12, the parish Public Works Department recommended the Baker, Louisiana construction company Notthingham Construc-tion to build the sewage pump station and perform other work.

The resolution awarding Nottingham the $932,000 contract stipulates that Terrebonne Parish must purchase the land containing the pump station.

“The construction contract on Martin Luther King is predicated on this sale,” Claudet said at the May 14 council meeting.

Regions Bank bought the tract of land containing the proposed sewage pump station in January from Henry Richard, said Mike D’Angelo with Shaw Coastal. Richard resigned as president of the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority board in November.

“If you look at the situation, the property is a former TEDA (board president’s),” Hebert said at the May 14 meeting.

“We want to make sure we have a level playing field for the little guy,” he said. “If the DA gives out a favorable opinion, no problem. If not, then we have problems.”