By LEONARD GRAY

DESTREHAN – The canal filled by Murray & Associates during development of a shopping center expansion on Airline Drive in Destrehan could end up a campaign issue in the 2003 St. Charles Parish President’s race.

Meanwhile, intense scrutiny of the plans to drain much of Ormond and New Sarpy through a single, 60-inch culvert remains.

During Monday’s meeting of the St. Charles Parish Council, Randall Abadie addressed the council to briefly lay out the chain of events which resulted in an abrupt change in plans from two culverts to one, all to drain the Schexnaydre Canal which separates the Ormond area from New Sarpy. Parish President Albert Laque’s initial response was to point out Abadie is the spouse of announced parish president candidate, Council Member Dee Abadie.

Randall Abadie’s remarks concluded that the site needs not one or two 60-inch culverts, but likely four 60-inch culverts to handle anticipated rainfall and pumping capacity in an improved drainage system.

The site involved is the west corner of Ormond Boulevard and Airline Drive, where an Eckerd Drugs, McDonald’s Restaurant and several smaller commercial sites are located. Adjoining this site is another area where developer Murray & Associates of Destrehan plans a gas station/convenience store, car wash, lube center and another commercial building for smaller companies.

Joey Murray of Murray & Associates later commented: “I’m disappointed that Ms Abadie has decided to start the presidential campaign with such negativity.”

At present, plans are for the St. Charles Public Works Department to install two 72-inch culverts at the Ormond Trace Canal, which drains to the Schexnaydre pumping station and to the canal. From there, it passes under the Kansas City Southern Railroad and until last December, passed through the Murray development area, under Airline Drive and into the LaBranche Wetlands to the lake.

According to 1996 documents provided by Randall Abadie, then-Public Works Director Danny Hebert mandated concrete lining for the canal segment crossing the Murray property, a total of 650 feet in length and 10 feet in depth. However, Abadie pointed out, once Laque took office, engineering concepts appeared to change in Murray’s favor.

Consulting engineer J. Michael Dixon advised Murray on June 22, 2000 that two 60-inch culverts would be required. Dixon maintained this position in a second letter, dated Aug. 1, 2000. Murray’s own engineer, Tony Claiborne, likewise agreed with Dixon in a memo on the same date.

Murray told then-Public Works Director Steven Fall of his intention to install two 60-inch culverts in notes dated Aug. 1 and Aug. 7, 2000. On Aug. 7, Claiborne advised Fall the two culverts would not be enough to handle the anticipated flow.

Then, on Oct. 5, 2000, Fall issued two memos to Murray. One agreed to two 60-inch culverts and one agreed to one 60-inch culvert. One culvert was installed. Murray explained this, saying the two-culvert letter was in error but was left in the record while the one-culvert letter was issued.

In November 2000, Murray applied for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wetlands use permit, and said one 60-inch culvert would be used instead, with room for two additional culverts, if deemed necessary by future development. Approval for that was granted in February 2001.

In response to mounting public attention on the project, present Public Works Director Greg Bush had the firm of Brown, Cunningham & Cannuch, who carried out the East Bank master drainage plan in the mid-1990s, to re-evaluate the data and make their own recommendation. Their recently announced recommendation agreed with the one-culvert theory.

Bush has also pointed out that Murray’s engineer, J. Michael Dixon, included incorrect data in his calculations asking for data based on a 100-year storm. The parish code of ordinances calls instead for calculations based on a 10-year storm.

The code states: “The subdivision drainage and impact analysis and the subdivision drainage design shall be based on the 10-year storm event. Subsurface drainage of drainage outfalls serving more than the subdivision will be based on the 10-year storm event. Open channel drainage of channels serving more than the subdivision shall be based on a 10-year storm event with one foot of freeboard existing in the channel above the 10-year storm event.”

Randall Abadie, however, said: “Various studies in the early 1990s say the flow upstream of the (Schexnaydre) station in a 10-year event is 800 to 900 cubic feet per second. This latest work to justify the one, 60-inch culvert uses 194 cfs, not 800-900 cfs of flow. Any station improvement totally kills the one-culvert conclusion. You probably need four 60-inch culverts.”

Murray commented afterward, “Mr. Abadie did a good job of reporting historical facts, but he presented them in a distorted way, leaving out the key facts.”

These, he said, included that the current drainage plan was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Louisiana Departments of Transportation and Development and of Natural Resources, and by the U.S. Coast Guard. Murray also recalled that while installation of the culvert was proceeding during a two-week period, a dam was installed to block the incoming water while the culvert was placed. After the project was completed, the dam was inadvertently left in place.

After several rainfalls increased the adjoining marsh water level to nearly overtop W. Harding Street, Murray said he was contacted about it and he removed the dam.

The water then drained away quickly, he said.

“I was really disappointed that they’ve taken this drainage issue and turned it into politics,” Murray added.