BROUSSARD, La. (KLFY) – A group of Broussard residents want help with a nearby coulee. They said they’re losing property to land erosion after the city widened the coulee.
Meanwhile, Broussard Mayor Ray Bourque said in a statement that the property is private property. The city offered to help with the coulee called Ridgeview but got no response from the property owners.
Each party shares their side of the issue at hand.
25-year Wilkie Street property owner, Robert Singleton said “They don’t want to do it the easy way. I’m going to do it the hard way and that’s exactly why we’re here. We’re going to do it the hard way.”
Singleton said he shared pictures of the coulee with a current city council member.
“The water rises with two inches of rain and it’s up to the top of the coulee. Three to five it comes across and gets into my yard,” Singleton said.
Singleton said when the coulee floods people driving through push water under his home which sits on concrete blocks.
“If they knock my trailer off, they don’t care. That’s my trailer I live there,” Singleton added.
The other problem is land erosion. The property owners said the city started working on the property but left it incomplete.
The mayor said in a statement that it’s private property. The city offered to help but the property owners will have to pay a percentage of the fill-in and installing a culvert. The city said they have not heard from the property owners.
“They access here and get on that man’s property. They took about two feet out of his property which he’s losing property every time,” Billy Angers, property owner, said.
On the other side of the coulee sits business and longtime property owner Billy Angers’ property.
Angers moved his business from Wilkie Street due to the erosion on the back half of his property.
“There was land for us to add on, so we were able to build the slab but now since the city doesn’t keep up the ditch and they undermined the ditch when they cleaned it out, they undermined the slab,” Angers added.
The two culverts that are there reportedly secure the road from the weight of working trucks passing over. Angers said the two culverts do little to nothing to prevent flooding.
“Mr. Harold has been here for maybe 60 years and his property line. He’s probably lost at least 10 to 15 feet of property. Every time they come out here, they just dig it out wider and it just erodes,” Angers explained.
Here’s a statement from Mayor Bourque:
“The city told the property owner last year to pay a percentage of the fill-in and the installing of the culvert. To this day the property owner has not contacted the city about it. Plus, the city spent $1.1 million cleaning the coulee in 2019. There were some flooding issues, but they all have been taken care of. the city recently received an estimate of about $500,000 to close a section from Morgan to Roosevelt. However, the private property owners will also be required to pay a percentage of the cost of the project. The city most recently cleaned the culvert in March at Roosevelt s. The coulee is performing its function.”
A city representative tells KLFY News 10 that if the property owners want to revisit the issue and discussion, the city’s door is always open.
