OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

St. Charles Parish Coastal Zone Advisory Committee Meeting - March 10, 2026

Parish Council & Boards — Tuesday, March 10, 2026
BodySt Charles Parish, Louisiana
SessionParish Council & Boards
DateTuesday, March 10, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 51:37

Transcript — Verbatim
0:05

Board committee meeting to order.

0:06

If we all please rise for a moment of silent meditation, followed by the pledge.

0:10

Thank you.

0:34

Okay.

0:37

Please let the record show that Mr.

0:40

Rome, Landry, Guillaume, Martinez, and Culp were in attendance with Miss Babbin and Mr.

0:45

Lambert absent.

0:48

Okay, first order of business on the agenda is approval of the previous meetings and minutes.

0:53

Can we get a motion to approve those?

0:56

Motion by Mr.

0:56

Gillette.

0:58

Second by Mr.

0:59

Martinez.

1:03

Any discussion.

1:07

Hearing none, uh please uh vocalize your vote.

1:11

All in favor, signify by saying aye.

1:13

Aye.

1:14

All opposed.

1:15

And please cast your vote digitally.

1:27

And that motion passes unanimously.

1:30

Okay.

1:30

The first uh official item on the agenda is presentation by the Pontchatrain Conservatory, Miss Christy Trail and her team.

1:38

Uh Ms.

1:39

Trail, you have the floor.

1:40

Thank you for being here.

1:43

Thank you for having me.

1:45

Uh good, let's see, is it afternoon?

1:47

Good afternoon.

1:47

My name is Christy Trail, the executive director of Pontchatrain Conservancy.

1:51

I appreciate you all allowing me to present to you all today.

1:55

It's going to share a presentation that just covers a few different aspects of our work, but happy to answer any questions if you all want to know specifically what we're working on in this parish.

2:05

So have a little bit of a history lesson for some of you all.

2:08

So let's see if I can test some of your history knowledge of the area.

2:12

Um today we're going to talk about the history of a light, a lake and a coast.

2:18

So just a little bit about myself.

2:19

Um I did grew up here on Lake Pontchatrain on the South Shore in Mettery.

2:24

Uh went to Elishou, uh, graduated civil engineering, worked in the oil and gas industry for a little over 20 years, and now have been working in the nonprofit sector for about 10 years.

2:34

So quite a change.

2:35

Um I have this little information about my father on there because it's just interesting.

2:40

Many of you all will appreciate this.

2:42

My parents were not born here, they moved here in the 1960s.

2:44

I was born here.

2:46

Uh, but my father fell so in love with this place, and he raised me with Louisiana, it's just the greatest place on earth.

2:52

So it's very gratifying to be in a position where I can finally get back.

2:56

So a little bit about our organization and the area that we work in.

3:01

We work in 16 parishes in Southeast Louisiana.

3:04

Sometimes I can just kind of shorten that to say we work on everything in the East Bank in Louisiana.

3:09

Um, but this is the watershed of Lake Pontchatrain.

3:11

So all the waters that drain into Lake Pontchatrain and out of Lake Pontchatrain, that is the Pontchatrain Basin.

3:16

You can see our vision and mission statement up there.

3:18

I'm not going to read those for you, but you have them for your pleasure.

3:22

Um, and then specifically our work, we work in three different areas, research, education, and advocacy.

3:27

So we'll talk about that a little bit more as we go through the presentation.

3:31

So again, the Pontchatrain Basin, kind of honing in particularly on the part of the state that we really focus our work in.

3:38

Um, when the French came here, they settled on the high banks of the river.

3:44

And why is that?

3:45

That is because South Louisiana was built by the entire Mississippi River, and that's where the high ground was.

3:50

So over time, as the river built out all of that land, there were the banks, the spoil banks of the river building that land.

3:56

And so by 1700, the river was in the spot that it's in today.

4:00

But we know over time that river had shifted.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Environmental Protection████████████████████████████████████████████44%
Permit Applications███████████████████19%
Historic Preservation██████████████14%
Public Engagement█████████████13%
Procedural█████5%
Engineering And Infrastructure█████5%
Summary of Proceedings

St. Charles Parish Coastal Zone Advisory Committee Meeting - March 10, 2026

The Coastal Zone Advisory Committee (CZAC) met on March 10, 2026, at 12:00 PM in the Council Chambers of the St. Charles Parish Courthouse. The meeting included a presentation by the Pontchartrain Conservancy, a manager’s briefing on recent joint permit applications (JPAs) and coastal zone activities, discussion of three Estuarine Management Units (EMUs), introduction of two new EMUs, and several announcements. All votes were unanimous.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Previous Meeting’s Minutes: Approved unanimously by voice and digital vote.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were offered on any of the three public hearings held during the meeting:
    • P20260070 – Louisiana River Market, LLC (Coastal Use Permit)
    • P20260142 – Shell Pipeline Company LP (Exempt)
    • P20260073 – Karvon Mitchell (Returned for additional info)
  • No public comments were offered on the update on recent coastal zone activities.

Discussion Items

  • Presentation by Pontchartrain Conservancy (PC):
    • Executive Director Kristi Trail presented the history of Lake Pontchartrain, human modifications to the landscape, and the evolution of PC’s work from water quality to coastal restoration. Key statistics: PC has planted over 100,000 trees since 2010, monitors water quality weekly (20+ years of data), and successfully advocated for banning clamshell dredging in Lake Pontchartrain. Trail highlighted ongoing projects in St. Charles Parish, including tree planting in the LaBranche wetlands and a community flood monitoring project. She also noted that two freshwater siphon projects (one near Manchac Land Bridge and one east of Bonnet Carré to support LaBranche wetlands) have been submitted to CPRA’s Master Plan 29 and are under feasibility study.
    • Committee members asked questions about potential siphoning from the Bonnet Carré Spillway to benefit dying cypress marshes; Trail expressed support for spoil bank gapping and noted the Army Corps’ role. Mr. Guillaume shared that a PC educational trip 30 years ago inspired the Wetland Watchers program.
  • Manager’s Briefing (Mr. Leday):
    • JPAs Received in Past Month: 6 total.
      • Three with decisions made: P20260030 (St. Charles Parish Government – exempt), P20260120 and P20260137 (Shell Pipeline Company LP – both approved with no conservation plan needed).
      • State concerns (still open): P20260070 (Louisiana River Market – proposed 30x30 ft platform for pipeline connection, current recommendation: Coastal Use Permit) and P20260142 (Shell Pipeline – anomaly repair, recommended exempt).
      • Local concern: P20260073 (Karvon Mitchell – returned for additional info, on hold).
    • Update on coastal zone activities: Mr. Leday presented a consistency determination request from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the 2026 calendar year maintenance dredging of three Mississippi River deep draft crossings (Fairview, Belmont, Rich Bend) at a depth of -53 feet with three feet of advanced maintenance. No public comments were made.
  • EMU 12, 13, and 14 Discussion:
    • These three Estuarine Management Units (Salvador, Cuba Island, Davis Pond) were introduced in February and were brought back for discussion. Mr. Leday noted that these EMUs are already fully developed in the local coastal program and that updated soil maps are being sought from South Central Planning. A committee member asked about improved small boat access in Salvador and Cataouatche; Mr. Leday said no specific projects are on the books. Previous comments on Davis Pond diversion flow rates were noted.
  • Introduction of EMUs 7 and 11:
    • Mr. Leday introduced EMU 7 (LaBranche Wetlands) and EMU 11 (Alamans Wetlands). These will be formally discussed at the next meeting. The committee is continuing a process to review all EMUs and then approve them as a batch.
  • Announcements:
    • Christmas Tree Pens: Mr. Leday reported that approval was finally received. On March 4, 2026, a field trip (with CZAC members John, Courtney, Lewis) visited Cuba Island to mark the three pen sites (total ~450 linear feet). Contractors (By Boat Rentals) were working on installation. Committee discussed declining tree collection numbers; possible future partnerships with other parishes and use of non-invasive maintenance material were mentioned.
    • CPRA Priority Project List 36 (PPL 36): St. Charles Parish submitted four projects; none were selected. The LaBranche Marsh creation project was deemed outside the coastal zone.
    • CPRA Master Plan 29: Two freshwater siphon projects from the Bonnet Carré Spillway were submitted. Feedback expected soon; a second solicitation period in July–September 2026.
    • Upcoming Meetings:
      • CPRA MP29 Regional Workgroup – Barataria: March 12 (in St. Charles Parish)
      • CPRA Governor’s Advisory Commission: March 5 (recording available)
      • CPRA Board Meeting: March 18
      • Coastal Day: March 30

Key Outcomes

  • Unanimous approval of previous meeting’s minutes.
  • No votes on JPAs; public comment periods closed with no input. The Louisiana River Market JPA remains under consideration for a Coastal Use Permit.
  • EMUs 12, 13, and 14 will be included in the final batch approval after all EMUs have been reviewed.
  • EMUs 7 and 11 were introduced for discussion at the next meeting.
  • Christmas tree pen project is being implemented; future outreach to other parishes for tree sourcing is planned. Committee members encouraged continued field trips.
  • CPRA PPL 36 submission was not successful; LaBranche Marsh creation rejected due to coastal zone boundaries. Other projects will be resubmitted in the next cycle.
  • Next meeting will include further discussion of EMUs 7 and 11 and other business.

Meeting Transcript

Board committee meeting to order. If we all please rise for a moment of silent meditation, followed by the pledge. Thank you. Okay. Please let the record show that Mr. Rome, Landry, Guillaume, Martinez, and Culp were in attendance with Miss Babbin and Mr. Lambert absent. Okay, first order of business on the agenda is approval of the previous meetings and minutes. Can we get a motion to approve those? Motion by Mr. Gillette. Second by Mr. Martinez. Any discussion. Hearing none, uh please uh vocalize your vote. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed. And please cast your vote digitally. And that motion passes unanimously. Okay. The first uh official item on the agenda is presentation by the Pontchatrain Conservatory, Miss Christy Trail and her team. Uh Ms. Trail, you have the floor. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Uh good, let's see, is it afternoon? Good afternoon. My name is Christy Trail, the executive director of Pontchatrain Conservancy. I appreciate you all allowing me to present to you all today. It's going to share a presentation that just covers a few different aspects of our work, but happy to answer any questions if you all want to know specifically what we're working on in this parish. So have a little bit of a history lesson for some of you all. So let's see if I can test some of your history knowledge of the area. Um today we're going to talk about the history of a light, a lake and a coast. So just a little bit about myself. Um I did grew up here on Lake Pontchatrain on the South Shore in Mettery. Uh went to Elishou, uh, graduated civil engineering, worked in the oil and gas industry for a little over 20 years, and now have been working in the nonprofit sector for about 10 years. So quite a change. Um I have this little information about my father on there because it's just interesting. Many of you all will appreciate this. My parents were not born here, they moved here in the 1960s. I was born here. Uh, but my father fell so in love with this place, and he raised me with Louisiana, it's just the greatest place on earth. So it's very gratifying to be in a position where I can finally get back. So a little bit about our organization and the area that we work in. We work in 16 parishes in Southeast Louisiana. Sometimes I can just kind of shorten that to say we work on everything in the East Bank in Louisiana. Um, but this is the watershed of Lake Pontchatrain. So all the waters that drain into Lake Pontchatrain and out of Lake Pontchatrain, that is the Pontchatrain Basin. You can see our vision and mission statement up there.

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