Lafourche Parish to install water pumps in Company Canal

The Lafourche Parish Council passed an ordinance of servitude with Arlen B. Cenac Jr. by a 7-1-1 vote last Tuesday that will allow the parish to install water pumps in the Barataria and Lafourche Company Canal in Gheens. Rodney Doucet opposed the ordinance and Jerry Jones abstained.

The agreement, sponsored by District 6 councilman Lindel Toups, hinged on a separate ordinance de-dedicating two public roads: Post Office and Bayou Chateau roads. Church Road, which was originally part of the de-dedication, was deemed to never be a public road and was excluded from the ordinance. It passed 5-3-1. Doucet, Joe Fertitta and Daniel Lorraine opposed the ordinance and Jones abstained.

Toups fought Cenac’s ownership rights to the canal in the past, but said it was time to stop quibbling over the issue and help the parish as a whole.

“I’m ready to move the parish forward,” he said. “We can’t get to the [de-dedicated] roads. The man bought Golden Ranch plantation, and I need to move the parish forward. We have to go for drainage.”

Ty Rivet, a citizen of Lockport, opposed the ordinances, and implored the council to vote against the proposals until Cenac can produce a title to prove ownership.

In 2003, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled Cenac held the rights to the canal and the public did not have access to it unless Cenac permitted.

“I don’t agree [with the Supreme Court ruling], but I represent Lafourche,” Toups said. “I know I’ll take heat but I’m ready to take the heat.”

The trade – roads for drainage – will allow the parish to combat flooding issues rather than spending more money in a court room in order to determine rightful ownership of the canal.

“I understand the concern, but this drainage is not costing the parish a thing,” District 7 councilman Phillip Gouaux said. “We have to prioritize where money is spent. Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get what we’re getting? Drainage is important to a multitude of people.”

Rivet said Cenac does not have a clear title to the property, and the property’s ownership became invalid when it exchanged hands at a Sheriff Sale in 1874, when it was not advertised in the Thibodaux Sentinel as required by Act 47 of 1873.