Two Calcasieu Parish officials said the proposed drainage revisions to the parish code of ordinances are intended to protect existing property owners from additional flooding brought on by growth and development.

The parish has proposed several revisions related to drainage that have come from more than three years of work. They are online at www.cppj.net and await review and approval from the full Police Jury, with a vote tentatively scheduled for August. Officials are seeking public input ahead of a final decision.

“What’s clear, we’ve learned, is how big a problem this is in Calcasieu,” said Parish Administrator Bryan Beam. “The issue is what are the best ways to solve the problem. There are some different approaches, and that’s what the public process is about.”

Allen Wainwright, parish public works director, said revising the development ordinances is one tool to protect homeowners from further flooding over the long term.

“This is a classic case of prevention,” he said. “It’s always easier than a cure.”

Wainwright said three major parts in the updated ordinances would protect property owners: revisions to the runoff-management plan; managing fill dirt brought onto property; and right-ofway acquisition and preservation.

“All that is there to protect anyone who lives downstream of a new development or maybe is just a neighbor to new development,” he said.

Wainwright said the demands of the ordinances are structured in a way to make sure they don’t hinder developers.

Right of way

Wainwright said the rightof-way aspect “may be the most critical component of it all.”

“Without (it), it really just totally undermines your ability to keep up with growth and development through normal maintenance and operation,” he said.

Wainwright said the parish has “miles and miles” of drainage laterals that are maintained by gravity drainage districts. Many of them, he said, have no right of way on them because they are in open rural areas that have no nearby development.

Under the proposal, developers would set aside the proper rights of way for a drainage lateral that happens to cross the property, Wainwright said. He said the changes add to the existing requirements for setting aside rights of way.

Wainwright said gravity drainage districts have learned over time they need more rights of way to effectively manage drainage laterals.

“The equipment it takes to dig and clean these laterals, it takes room to do the work,” he said. “If you do not have a good right-of-way program overall, it reduces your ability to maintain the ditches to their optimal performance.”

Wainwright said the key time to get the right of way for a lateral is when the property is being developed.

“That’s why you see it (in the ordinance), so that no one builds on the lateral or encloses it,” he said. “It’s the first step to good maintenance of the system.”

Other methods

Managing stormwater runoff would ensure that water would drain off a newly developed site the same way as it did before it was developed, Wainwright said. As a site is developed, the “impervious surfaces,” like concrete, change how much water runs off to a ditch.

Wainwright said fill mitigation is another method to control stormwater runoff with the amount of dirt brought in on a construction site. He said developers could offset any changes by excavating dirt on-site.

Wainwright said detention ponds are the most common method to control stormwater runoff and fill mitigation. “That’s what makes them economical,” he said.

Drainage fees

For small developments, where it would not be practical to house a detention pond, property owners would pay a drainage fee that would pay for the cost of a regional detention pond. The fee — a proposed 22 cents per square foot of impervious surface built — would serve the drainage needs for the smaller development.

“We don’t want to just hit the bigger development,” Beam said. “Everybody, proportionally, should help pay for the drainage retention.”

Wainwright said the fees would only apply to property being developed that adds impervious surfaces without doing on-site detention.

“Whatever they’re building does add to the runoff,” he said. “Mother Nature doesn’t ignore it.”

Beam said the standards that end up getting final approval will be evaluated regularly over time.

“Some things will work, some things will have to change course,” he said. “We are way overdue for some upgraded standards. But it’s not going to end on one set of ordinances.”

Beam added that drainage ordinances are “one piece of the puzzle,” with capital projects being just as important.