Fourchon Public Beach Erosion Reclamation Information
This section pertains to all the elevated high ground built behind the State / Public built cement seawall that A.O.Rappelet Road crosses and splits east and west on at the coastline.
I contacted the Division Of Administration, State Land Office, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I spoke with the property boundary agreements office and I received copies of the rules and regulations for the granting of land permits for reclamation of land lost through erosion by action of water. It says land lost on and after July 1, 1921 shall be subject to the procedures set forth in "Boundary Agreements" of the rules and regulations of ACT 645 OF 1978 (reclaimed lands).
This procedure (Act 645) is the application for any form of landfill or reclamation. In all the cases the law says the reclaimed land is the property of the party doing the reclamation, in this case it is the state/public reclamation project. It also states clearly that lost lands become the property of the state. The original land owners had a period of 30 days to respond with an objection to the Commissioner of the Division of Administration. The land company made no complaint about the restoration work.
Additional sections say: No reclamation shall be allowed if such activity would impose undue restraints on the State or public rights which have vested in such areas.
It says further that no reclamation permit or lease shall be construed to vest any proprietary rights or title in any private owner accept as to lands actually reclaimed and maintained pursuant to Act 645 of 1978.
It appears that the State, by virtue of its inherent sovereignty, is the property owner of the riparian areas as the party doing the above reclamation work, currently and in case of further coastal erosion.
Thanks To The:
Louisiana State Land Office
625 N. Fourth Street
12th Floor
Department Natural Resources Bldg.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Truss Swing Span Over The Chevron Canal
This section pertains to the Half Million Dollar bids taken Thursday
2-25-99 at 2:00pm (last week) to upgrade and repair the truss swing span over the Chevron canal.
The main span is having new trusses installed and redecked with new grid bridge flooring. The contract calls for the bridge to be open from May 15th thru August 15th. The public owns the right of way for the bridge and AO Rappelet Road.
A private company claims it owns the areas in the canal on either side of the bridge where one would have to put equipment to do the repair work. The private company is demanding $500.00/day rent to park the crane barges on the site needed to do the repairs.
The bid results for the repairs:
CEC of Lafayette, La. $489,000.00
Professional Const. of N.O. $578,235.00
Boh Bros $592,840.00
Coastal Bridge $612,000.00
All South General Contr. $651,000.00
There were also a couple alternates .
The above public right of way for the bridge and A.O.Rappelet Road is the same road also maintained by the Port Commission that continues on up to the beach and splits east and west. It appears the Land Company acknowledges that it does not own the road right of way and the bridge needing one half million dollars in repairs. This same road right of way continues all the way to the beach where they put a private guard on it and claimed it is private property. Why not save a half million dollars and stop vehicles at this point, the current old flat blacktop decking is much easier to walk on than the new grid type decking. Why spend $489,000.00 for the private land company to have a private/public bridge to the beach when they don't want vehicle access anyway?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hurricane Georges Erosion 1998
Quick thinking and truck loads of dirt fill placed by the Port Commission above the high tide water line saved miles of public beach, the Back Bay Champagne, and thousands of homes, private businesses and land from becoming Gulf front water property this summer.
This summers tropical storms blew through the thin public beach barrier that protects the land interest of the state and private land owners this summer. The normal light southerly summer winds bring in valuable sand yearly that rebuild the beach, this near disaster was actually stopped by the Port Commission's quick reaction to a real disaster, most did not even know about it. Luckily, the beach at this point is completely filled with sand again. This could happen again with any tropical storm though. Nice Job.
The Gulf of Mexico cut through to Bay Champagne
View from the Bay toward the approaching Gulf of Mexico
How To Get To Fourchon Public Beach
Map and Directions! Click Here!
Return To: Public Notice
Return To: www.LaFishMag.com
Return To: Bertaut Sports