RS 38:307

§307. Orleans Levee District; powers of board of commissioners A.(1) The board of commissioners of the Orleans Levee District shall have and exercise all and singular the powers now conferred upon that board by law, as well as such powers as are herein granted. The board shall have full and exclusive right, jurisdiction, power, and authority to locate, relocate, construct, maintain, extend, and improve levees, embankments, seawalls, jetties, breakwaters, water basins, and other works in relation to such projects and to conduct all dredging operations necessary in connection therewith or incidental thereto along, over, and on the shores, bottom, and bed of Lake Pontchartrain in the parish of Orleans from its western boundary to the boundary line separating township 11 south, range 12 east, from township 11 south, range 13 east, at a distance not to exceed three miles from the present shore line, as the board may determine, and along and on the shores adjacent to the lake and along the canals connected therewith. The levees, embankments, seawalls, jetties, breakwaters, water basins, and other works shall be of such character and extent and of such height, width, slope, design, and material as the board determines, with power and authority to improve and to protect the same with such other structures as are deemed necessary and proper by the board. All final plans and specifications covering and relating to works of a permanent nature shall be submitted to the office of engineering or its successor for approval as to soundness of engineering practice and feasibility, but not as to form, extent of area, or detail and such plans and specifications shall be approved by the office of engineering prior to their adoption by the levee board. (2) The office of engineering, or its successor, shall promptly and with all possible preference over other work pass upon the plans and specifications so submitted to it by the levee board. B.(1) The board shall have the right, jurisdiction, power, and authority to plan, execute, and maintain all the works and all the phases of the projects and improvements undertaken hereunder. (2) For the purpose of construction and administration the total area is divided into five zones as follows: Zone 1. From New Basin Canal to Orleans Canal. Zone 2. From Orleans Canal to Bayou St. John. Zone 3. From Bayou St. John to London Avenue. Zone 4. From London Avenue to Industrial Canal. Zone 5. From Industrial Canal to lower limits of project. (3) Except as to fill and flood and wave protection, these zones shall be completed one at a time, so that one zone shall be finished before another is begun; however, no work, except that connected with the construction and the creation of aviation fields, shall be commenced in Zone 5 until three Zones are completed. C.(1) In the planning, designing, and executing of a project, the board shall have jurisdiction, power, and authority, within the territorial limits of the project, to dedicate to public use and to lay out, construct, embellish, and maintain a system of parks, beaches, tracts of lands, and streets, with the necessary and related or unrelated buildings and the usual adjuncts to the kind of development contemplated hereunder and to construct and equip and maintain playgrounds, places of amusement and entertainment, golf links, gymnasiums, swimming pools, bathing beaches, aviation fields, and other like places. (2) The board of commissioners of the Orleans Levee District may establish rental rates or other types of docking charges for boat slips in any marina it owns or operates. All rental rates and all other types of docking charges for boat slips established by the board shall be fair and equitable; and no surcharges, rental rates, or other charges for the use of marina facilities shall be assessed at a higher rate to nonresidents of Orleans Parish than those assessed to residents of Orleans Parish. D. The board may contract with the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans and with any public utility now or hereafter operating in the city of New Orleans on such terms as are agreed upon between the board and the sewerage and water board and the respective utilities for the financing, construction, and extension of sewerage, water, and drainage facilities, and other necessary public utilities in, on, and through the development. However, the board shall not, by contract or otherwise, have any control of or any jurisdiction over the utilities or any of them as to rates, service, charges, or otherwise. E. The board may acquire by donation, purchase, exchange, expropriation, or appropriation and include in the development and improvements any private property north of a line commencing at the intersection of the Orleans-Jefferson Parish line and the extension of the south property line of Robert E. Lee Boulevard, formerly Adams Avenue, thence continuing in an easterly direction along this extended line and along the southern property line of Robert E. Lee Boulevard to the west bank of Bayou St. John, thence across Bayou St. John in a northeasterly direction to the southeast property line of Pressburg and the east bank of Bayou St. John, thence in an easterly direction along the south property line of Pressburg Street to the southeast property line corner of Pressburg Street and Spanish Fort shell road, thence in a northerly direction along the east property line of the Spanish Fort shell road to the southeast property line of Hibernia Avenue, Edinburg Avenue, and the Spanish Fort shell road; thence in an easterly direction along the south property line of Hibernia Avenue to the southeast property line corner of Hibernia Avenue and Hayne Boulevard, thence along the east and/or south property line of Hayne Boulevard to an intersection with the west property line of the Industrial Canal; thence resuming at the east property line of the Industrial Canal at Hayne Boulevard and continuing along the south side of Hayne Boulevard to a point of intersection at which the south side of Hayne Boulevard projected meets the boundary line between township 11 south, range 12 east, and township 11 south, range 13 east, within the aforesaid limits in the parish of Orleans, which may be necessary in connection with a project. In the event of expropriation or appropriation the compensation to be paid for property taken for levee and levee drainage purposes shall be the actual cash value of the property before construction of the levee or the levee drainage facilities; compensation for property taken for other than levee and levee drainage purposes shall be as provided by the constitution and laws of the state for property expropriated or appropriated for a public purpose. F. All property owned by the state or the title to which is in the name of the state and all property which by its nature, situation, and location is not susceptible of private ownership under the present laws and constitution of the state, and within the area of the works of reclamation and improvement is specifically vested in the levee board. G. The board, in its discretion, may enter into an agreement with the city of New Orleans by which the board may extend all or any part of its construction work it deems proper on the adjacent City Park Extension. H. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to deprive the city of New Orleans of any rights or powers that it presently has or exerts within its municipal limits or to confer further police power upon the board of commissioners of the Orleans Levee District. I. The work of reclamation, construction, and improvement herein and heretofore authorized and provided for shall be accomplished by letting out contracts therefor from time to time in accordance with law at the time of the letting of the contracts. Acts 1985, No. 785, §1, eff. July 22, 1985; Acts 1986, No. 559, §1; Acts 2012, No. 753, §5.