§ 170-163. Management Unit VIII: Chef Menteur/Rigolets.

This management unit is bounded by Lake Borgne on the south, the Rigolets on the north and east and Lake Pontchartrain on the north. The Chef Menteur/Rigolets Management Unit is characterized by viable wetlands, approximately 27,000 acres, and is an important fish and wildlife habitat. This management unit also contains a potential "particular area": the Chef Menteur Highway Corridor. This corridor has traditionally been the site of fishing camps.

(1)

Goal: To conserve renewable natural resources.

(2)

Objectives:

a.

To establish land use and control measures that would allow uses that are compatible with and would minimally impact wetland areas, while prohibiting uses that are inappropriate and environmentally damaging.

b.

To allow coastal landowners some reasonable use of their land so as not to cause an unconstitutional taking.

c.

To establish minimum performance standards for any use permitted in wetland areas.

d.

To control erosion.

(3)

Policies:

a.

To create a zoning district within the city's comprehensive zoning ordinance that would apply to coastal wetlands wherein limited uses would be allowed which would maintain the nearby wetlands in a near pristine state. This district would have the following purposes: to protect and preserve coastal wetland areas minimally impacted by man.

b.

To apply this zoning district to appropriate areas as identified in the land use plan and this document.

c.

To strictly enforce existing housing, building code and floodplain performance standards.

d.

To incorporate the state coastal resource program's Guidelines for Uses into the local program to ensure that these performance standards are applied to uses of local concern.

e.

To minimize new canal dredging where possible, and to minimize detrimental impacts of new canals and slip construction, in accordance with the parish coastal management guidelines.

f.

To minimize the impacts of broad road construction to access oil well sites in wetlands, in accordance with the parish coastal management guidelines.

g.

Mitigation, the improving of one area of marsh or swamp to replace another area destroyed by a use, should be required as a condition of the permit, depending on the magnitude of the permitted use and the destruction associated with it.

h.

Shorelines should be stabilized by methods other than bulkheading (i.e. rip-rap, matting material or natural vegetation).

(4)

Goal: To allow orderly recreational and residential development in areas of higher elevations near existing access roads and development.

(5)

Objectives:

a.

To apply the recreation and residential zoning district to the Chef Menteur Highway Corridor as identified in the coastal zone plan.

b.

To strictly enforce existing housing, building code and floodplain performance standards.

c.

To incorporate the state coastal resources program's Guidelines for Uses into the local program to ensure that these performance standards are applied to uses of local concern.

(6)

Goal: To eliminate or reduce pollution of lakes and other water bodies.

(7)

Objectives:

a.

To determine which camps can be served by existing sewers and into which areas sewers can reasonably be extended.

b.

To seek state participation in financial provisions for extension of sewer services.

c.

To establish specifications for state-of-the-art disposal systems in areas where sewers cannot be extended.

(8)

Goal: To minimize the cumulative impacts of camp development and construction.

(9)

Objectives:

a.

To ensure that adequate open space is maintained between structures.

b.

To allow sunlight to penetrate beneath structures.

c.

To limit the disturbance of wetlands during and after construction.

(10)

Policies:

a.

To limit lot development to a predetermined percentage of total lot or tract area.

b.

To elevate all construction above flood elevations to prohibit major restrictions on water flow and allow sunlight to penetrate underneath the structures.

(11)

Goal: To control shoreline erosion.

(12)

Objectives:

a.

To reduce destruction of wetlands.

b.

To abate the reduction of land area dimensions.

c.

To prevent the loss of archaeological sites.

(13)

Policies:

a.

To construct artificial barrier islands to prevent shoreline erosion.

b.

To place rip-rap or matting material along shorelines of rapidly eroding waterways.

c.

To divert water from the Mississippi River to restore eroding marsh areas.

(Code 1956, § 15A-2.3)

State law reference

Coastal management program, R.S. 49:213.6; special areas, R.S. 49:214.29.