FAQs

Once constructed, the parish will request that FEMA take the new levee under consideration based on whatever FEMA guidelines are adopted for analysis and mapping of non-accredited levees. These guidelines have not yet been developed by FEMA.

The short answer is no, but the construction of an interim levee to an eventual height of +7 will provide a new level of flood protection to residents of Willowridge Estate, Davis Plantation and Willowdale.

The street and ditch flooding making roads impassable during Hurricane Isaac will be prevented and the additional pump station will take significant pressure of the Cousins Pump Station and improve drainage throughout the entire area. By moving forward with interim protection, our project becomes much more attractive to the state and federal agencies for implementation of a 1 percent levee and achieving significant decreases in proposed flood insurance rates.

The parish does not have the necessary resources and funding to complete a 1 percent levee design. The costs for this system are well over $500 million dollars and will require additional land acquisition and wetlands mitigation, construction of several flood gates, pipeline crossing structures and nearly forty miles of earthen levees to a +10.5 height and greater.

The large price tag for a 1 percent levee design necessitates not only state participation, but almost certainly federal participation. The timeline for this system is completely dependent on whether funding becomes available.

For more information on levees in St. Charles Parish, see the Focus on Levees video series.

The current plan to obtain funding for the 1 percent design has already been set in motion. By working with the Lafourche Basin Levee District, St. Charles Parish is pushing to have its preferred alignment that includes the Davis Pond West Guide levee, the three phases of the West Bank Hurricane Protection levee and the Sunset levee incorporated into an overall alignment adopted by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) as part of the State’s Coastal Master Plan.

If this can be achieved, the project would become eligible to receive funding as part of the RESTORE Act fines resulting from the BP oil spill.

In addition, the parish is working with the state and federal delegations to identify all available sources of funding that can be utilized to construct the project. This includes capital outlay programs, statutory dedications, Statewide Flood Control Program and others. Other options being considered include a dedicated ad valorem tax and bonding the projected revenues that would be collected.

Since obtaining the permit in 2011, the parish and Burk-Kleinpeter have coordinated soil boring and geotechnical analysis of the approved alignment, prepared final engineered designs, went through a series of state-level reviews and ensured that all plans and designs are in accordance with best management practices reflecting the Corps of Engineers construction methods.

This is a time-consuming process, but entirely complete. The plans have gone through a full review with the Department of Transportation and Development and the Facilities Planning and Control in order to utilize funding from these agencies. The parish’s last hurdle before advertising for construction is modification of a federal consent decree between Rathborne Land Company and the United States government, which is currently ongoing.

The parish entered into a cooperative endeavor agreement with the Lafourche Basin Levee District to acquire all necessary land rights for the levee projects. In April 2012, the levee district, in cooperation with the parish, did expropriate a perpetual levee and channel easement from Rathborne Land Company and Willowridge Estates.

The hold up to construction is actually the result of a conservation easement south of the subdivision resulting from a federal consent decree judgment against the developers of Willowridge Estates subdivision for past violations of the Clean Water Act. The U.S. government supports the parish’s request to modify the consent decree to remove approximately nine acres of land needed for the levee project from the 375+ acres within the Conservation Easement.

However, Rathborne Land Company and Willowridge Estates have continued to oppose this action in court. The next hearing on the matter in federal court is scheduled for June 19, 2013. The parish anticipates that the judge will make a ruling on the consent decree modification not long after that hearing.

The parish currently has $23.3 million set aside for West Bank levee construction. Future action of the parish council should bring this amount to $24.7 million if monies from airport tax revenue are recognized in the budget for this purpose.

Since 2008 the parish has spent $8,003,946 on the West Bank Hurricane Protection Levee project.

While actual construction will begin in 2013, there has been a lot of activity on the Willowridge Phase of the West Bank Hurricane Protection Levee project since the permit was issued in July 2011. To see a list of these activities, visit the West Bank Levee Updates page.

Since obtaining the permit in 2011, the parish and Burk-Kleinpeter have coordinated soil boring and geotechnical analysis of the approved alignment, prepared final engineered designs, went through a series of state-level reviews and ensured that all plans and designs are in accordance with best management practices reflecting the Corps of Engineers construction methods.

This is a time-consuming process, but entirely complete. The plans have gone through a full review with the Department of Transportation and Development and the Facilities Planning and Control in order to utilize funding from these agencies.

The parish’s last hurdle before advertising for construction is modification of a federal consent decree between Rathborne Land Company and the United States government, which is currently ongoing.

Work has been ongoing on the St. Charles Parish West Bank Hurricane Protection levee in its current iteration since 2008. It not factual to state that 'nothing has been done' in the intervening years since the Western Tie-In levee was under construction. (At the time of this writing, the project is still incomplete.) The parish has been steadily taking steps including mitigating, acquiring land, acquiring permits and grant funding to being construction of the Willowridge Phase, which will take place in 2013. In addition, parish leaders have been requesting that levee protection for the entire West Bank of St. Charles Parish be included in a continuation of the West Bank and Vicinity Levee. For more information and a timeline, please see this page.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has stated publicly that the Western Tie-in Levee would not only have a 'minimal effect' on storm surge in St. Charles Parish. Parish officials disagree. Read more about the issue here.

For more information on available FEMA grant monies to raise your home, see the corresponding section of this page.

St. Charles Parish does not have jurisdiction or control over where the federal government decides to place levees it is designing and funding, as with the West Bank and Vicinity levee referred to in the question. The levee was tied in to the East Davis Diversion Guide levee because it was a logical ending point for the Corps to tie in to, ultimately, the Mississippi River levee. For more information on the West Bank and Vicinity levee, click here. As it stands, the tie in at Davis Diversion does offer some protection in St. Charles Parish, to the community of Ama.

The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and the Lafourche Basin Levee District will not be doing any final design for upgrade of Sunset Drainage District levees until the Lafourche Basin Levee District is maintaining the levee system and the parish council is the administrator. Shaw Coastal is looking at the Hwy. 90 alignment to Hwy. 308 and the ring levee alignment tying back to River Road and the river levee at some point.

The parish will appeal the proposed maps through Dr. Joseph Suhayda. While the timeframe for FEMA to answer appeals varies, they can take up to three to five years to be resolved. Biggert-Waters act increases will begin taking affect in October 2012, but without a map change rates should not increase exponentially. Get more information on the implementation of BWA here.

St. Charles Parish Coastal Zone Manager Earl Matherne has advised that there is no regular map update schedule. FEMA updates maps when funds are available or sometimes after larger developments such as flood protection project completions and/or major flooding events.

Currently the parish council and parish president have taken action on both fronts – appealing / delaying the maps and working with our federal delegation to amend the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012.

Read about those actions here.

A 100-year levee system for the entire West Bank of St. Charles Parish is estimated to cost more than $500 million.

The parish council on April 22 approved a contract with Dr.  Joseph Suhayda to formulate an appeal of the maps. The parish will consider implementing any recommendations that come out of that process. For more information, click here.

To residents in the areas of the new proposed flood maps:

It is my intention as your assessor to ensure that residents within St. Charles Parish do not pay taxes on property value that doesn't exist. To this extent my staff and I have been following the developments of the newly proposed FEMA flood maps and the associated increased rates. We have witnessed clear signs within the marketplace that sales and new housing starts have faulted or paused in the affected areas. The task ahead for my office is to determine what value remains, in answering that question, we are in the process of reevaluating all the properties in the affected area.

In our efforts to determine current value, we are calculating what is termed, "incurable functional obsolescence." Incurable functional obsolescence is a loss in value resulting from a deficiency within the property. Deficiency describes a component or system that is substandard or lacking. In this case, deficiency would be the inability of the home's elevation to meet the requirements of the new proposed base flood elevations and the associated hyper increase in flood insurance premiums. Depending upon the elevation of the home, the estimated cost to raise the home and what the new flood insurance premium would be if the home is not raised, we determine a depreciation factor that offsets the current value. In the end the property is valued lower then the proceeding year and thus would have a lower property tax liability in 2013.

Its important to note that, buyers and sellers determine the market place, not the Assessor. It is FEMA's irresponsible public policy and the arbitrary decision to increase flood insurance premiums to rates that simply stated are "outrageous" and "unreasonable" that has pushed potential buyers from the marketplace. Never in my life have I ever witnessed such poor public policy that literally jeopardizes entire neighborhoods. I applaud all the efforts put forth by so many of you to fight this injustice. A family’s home is often their largest investment, and we cannot let a federal agency simply take that away. I stand ready and willing to assist in any way necessary to correct this injustice that has been placed upon our citizens.

– St. Charles Parish Assessor Tab Troxler

The preliminary tax roll is open for review during a two week period in August of each year.

1. Your first step would be to meet with the Assessor to discuss your concerns. You should bring documentation to support any changes you feel are needed.

2. If a solution cannot be agreed upon with the Assessor, your next step would be to meet with the Board of Review. The St. Charles Parish Council sits as the Board of Review, and they hear any concerns at the Board of Review hearing, usually held in September.

3. If the issue is still not resolved, you would need to contact the Louisiana Tax Commission to resolve the issue.

Please keep in mind that in order to maintain your right to appeal, the self-reporting form must be submitted to the Assessor.