Terrebonne council takes aim at abandoned properties

Rodney Pellegrin has a freshly painted boat. On a clear and mild morning last week he was inspecting nets and preparing for the upcoming shrimp season. He and his wife operate their shrimp business out of an elevated home on Bayou Grand Caillou, and although vehicles, buildings and equipment indicate that this is a working residence, it is well kept and has what could be a pleasant, tree-framed view of the water.

The one scar on his otherwise picturesque view is the half sunken wreckage of a vessel on the bayou’s far bank. Pellegrin does not know exactly how long it has been there, but was glad to hear that measures are in place to remove that eyesore and 92 other derelict vessels that litter the waterways of Terrebonne Parish.

As part of their larger effort to clean-up the region, the Terrebonne Parish council has approved a measure to accept bids and award a contract for the Terrebonne Clean Waterways / Derelict Vessels Project.

According to Geographic Information Systems Division Manager Jack Gardner, officials intend to secure a contractor and proceed with vessel removal by the end of April.

“The first phase [which began with the opening of bids March 25] is for 43 vessels that are located along Grand Caillou and in Dulac,” Gardner said. “There is another round coming and there will be 50 vessels in that.”

The parish intends to make use of nearly $1 million from a Community Development Block Grant that was awarded to the citizens of Terrebonne Parish for recovery efforts following a series of hurricanes during the past half decade.

“This really started with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” Gardner said. “I went out with the Coast Guard and [Federal Emergency Management Agency] and we cataloged all the derelict vessels. Certain vessels were determined to have been [destroyed] by Katrina and Rita. The Coast Guard paid to pick those up. Then when Gustav and Ike came along we ended up with, guess what, more vessels. So we went out again.”

The majority of the boat wreckage n most of which was abandoned by owners n was damaged by storms, according to local residents, and the remains of several other vessels have been cluttering bayous for up to a quarter century or longer.

“This should have been done a long time ago,” said Michael Picou, whose family roots date back to among the earliest settlers of the region.

“It has been a long time coming,” said Pellegrin, who expressed appreciation that some action is taking place.

“We will definitely have some improvements with the waterways,” Terrebonne Parish Councilman Joey Cehan said. “Having to deal with the Coast Guard has taken longer than we thought it would. We are glad it is happening, I just wish it could have happened quicker.”

The removal process, Gardner explained, will involve barges and crane work to lift the vessels. The wreckage will then be transferred to a holding site where it will be offloaded, broken up and put into containers for a landfill in Jefferson Parish.

“Right now we are waiting on an environmental review,” Gardner said.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as of 2006 Louisiana has had an abandoned barge program run in partnership between the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.

Delays in this and other vessel removal programs have been traced to a lack of funding. Following Katrina and Rita, FEMA agreed to provide additional recovery assistance, in part for the removal of more than 1,000 derelict vessels from Louisiana waterways. Terrebonne and Lafourche were among nine parishes to receive FEMA funds for water debris removal.

“The derelict vessels in our waterways cause problems with navigation and also the natural beauty and enjoyability [sic] for recreational purposes in our bayous,” Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet said. “After we got both parts [of this project completed] we should have removed every vessel that causes obstruction to navigation problems in our bayous.”

In addition to cleaning navigational channels, the parish council during the past six months has taken a hard look at abandoned houses and in turn made advances in demolishing properties that pose safety and health risks, create blight and are havens for criminal activity.

Since late last year, 527 abandoned and condemned structures have been demolished in Terrebonne Parish. Last Tuesday, the parish council listed 127 more pieces of property for condemnation and designated them as targets for demolition.

“This is a great program,” Terrebonne Parish Planning and Zoning Director Patrick Gordon said. “FEMA pays 100 percent of this and property owners are able to retain their interest in the property. You can have someone rebuild on [that site].”

Gordon said the structures in this project have been damaged by storms and in most cases left abandoned by families that moved away.

“There is nothing worse than blight,” Gordon said. “That is why we are going after these houses and the vessels also. We want to clean all blight in the parish if possible.”

“I am more than satisfied with how this administration has pushed on derelict houses and derelict vessels,” Terrebonne Parish Councilwoman Arlanda Williams said. My issue with derelict homes is that they are a safe haven for criminal activity. So, if we can eliminate them we can start to eliminate criminal activity. I’m very impressed with where we have gotten with it.”

Terrebonne Parish officials are targeting abandoned vessels for removal with $1 million in Community Development Blocks Grants. The process for bidding this project has been approved and significant cleanup activity is expected to begin by the end of April. MIKE NIXON