[StBernard] Letter to Governor Bobby Jindal

[Westley Annis]

The attachment is a letter sent to Governor Bobby Jindal, on March 19, 2011,
concerning the apartments under construction in St. Bernard Parish.

Larry Arcement

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Dear Governor Jindal,

This is concerning the apartments under construction by Provident Realty
Advisors in St. Bernard Parish also know as Aberdeen Court apartments in
Chalmette, Louisiana.

We requested and were provided a map by the Army Corps of Engineers showing
the wetlands that existed on the tract of land owned by the Meraux
Foundation and Provident Realty Advisors.

According to my calculations, two of the apartment buildings protrude into
the wetlands. The USACE has issued a "after construction started" Cease and
Desist Order but Provident Realty workers continue to build the apartment
building closest to West Judge Perez Drive that protrudes into the wetlands
area. 

On Mr. Robert Heffner's (Army Corps of Engineers Representative) first
visit, he marked the wetland perimeter. Then, a few days later, the flagging
was missing.  We notified Mr. Heffner of this, and he told me that they
(pointing to the Provident Realty workers) moved them.  On Mr. Heffner's
second visit to re-mark the perimeter of the wetlands that Provident Realty
workers pulled up and/or moved out of the way,  Mr. Heffner did not mark the
same location of the wetland perimeter as he marked on his first visit.  The
flagging now bypasses (goes around) the apartment building closest to West
Judge Perez Drive.  Please note we have photos that show the original
wetland perimeter marked off by Mr. Heffner.

We have been notified, that the Army Corp of Engineers will "STREAMLINE"
Provident Realty's wetland permit application (less than 20 days) because
the property has only 0.3 acres of wetlands on it. First the USACE states it
had NO wetlands, then, they state it DOES have wetlands. Now USACE is saying
it only has 0.3 acres of wetlands. My calculations show a larger amount of
wetlands than indicated by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Is this a USACE
error,  miscalculation or do they not even know where the wetlands are
actually located now they have been chemically destroyed and covered up? 

It also appears that additional some of the wetlands have been missed by our
Army Corps of Engineers at the entrance to this development. We need the
USACE to do a detailed grid analysis on this property by boring core samples
into the ground to determine the exact location of the wetlands and the
exact amount of wetlands calculated on this tract of land. This is the only
way now to determine the exact wetland locations and exact amount of
wetlands because of the chemicals used to destroy them prior to starting
construction of the apartments (There are many witnesses and photos of this)
and sand fill dumped and spread on top of the wetlands. Very soon, Provident
Realty Advisors will pour the concrete slabs over a portion of the wetlands,
and core sampling will be impossible to conduct.

Please note we have sent many emails to the Corps of Engineers, dating back
to January 2010, notifying them, with photos attached, that wetlands existed
on the Meraux Foundation/Provident Realty Property (Aberdeen Court Site)
that Provident is currently building apartments on.

Please contact Mr. Heffner at  Robert.A.Heffner at usace.army.mil  to notify
him of these findings. We need someone from the Army Corps of Engineers to
conduct a detailed grid of core samples and correctly mark ALL the wetlands
on this property. We also need the USACE to issue a Cease and Desist Order
on the wetlands located at the entrance road to this same construction site.


 I have already notified Mr. Heffner, by email, with attached photos, on
March 15, 2011, that Provident Realty workers were digging, with shovels,
and dumping concrete, out of five gallons buckets, into the wetlands already
marked off by him.  Mr. Heffner has not responded to that email. I will send
the complaint Certified Mail, Return Receipt next.

Please note, on the same tract of Land, a new hospital for St. Bernard
Parish is also currently under construction.  At a recent St. Bernard Parish
Council meeting, a member of the Hammes Group, the hospital developer,
stated that the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers would not "STREAMLINE"  the
wetlands permit for the St. Bernard Parish hospital development. This Hammes
representative also stated that it took the Hospital Service District more
than (4) four months to remediate the wetland portion of the hospital site
before the USACE  would even allow the Hospital Service District to "drive a
truck" on the wetlands, much less start constructing a commercial building.

A website is now online that has photos of the above at
www.StBernardParishNow.com

Best regards,

Larry and Dana Arcement

2916 Jean Lafitte Parkway

Chalmette, La.  70043

504-583-5075