Parkwood Land Company levee plays the waiting game

April 29--Orange County Flood Damage Prevention Order concerning the Appeals and Adjustment Board language approved. Check.

Permits from agencies to work on the levee. Check.

Letter from FEMA stating fill material on-site can be used... Waiting.

Sonny Stevenson, owner of Parkwood Land Company, continues to wait for approval to move forward on construction of the levee located northeast of the intersection of the Neches River and Interstate 10 in Orange County. The same levee that has raised concerns over the past five years.

Stevenson expressed concern of a breach on an 800 foot section of the levee earlier this year. He was issued a permit to repair the back section of the levee, but not to raise it.

Previously, Stevenson has requested to be exempt from the requirement of a "No-rise certificate" to continue work on his property. A request that was denied by the commissioners in July 2010.

Without the certificate, Stevenson is legally prevented from filling in the property where it would have an adverse affect on the water level of the levee.

Stevenson was issued a Stop Work order in 2010 for fill in a floodway without a permit.

In a letter sent to Stevenson dated June 24, the request for a permit was denied due the property currently in violation of the Orange County Flood Damage Prevention Order.

The letter also reads: 'You deposited substantial amounts of fill material onto the site without obtaining a permit.'

FEMA previously ordered Orange County to cause Stevenson to remove the fill material previously deposited at the location.

The unpermitted fill, if left, could affect flood insurance, disaster assistance and FA/FHA mortgages according to Sr. National Hazards Specialist FEMA Region VI Flood and Mitigation and Insurance Jack Graham, CFM.

Graham said FEMA would work with the county to help bring the county into compliance, according to a previously published article in The Orange Leader.

In an e-mail dated April 14, 2015, a senior natural hazards specialist with FEMA the original development in the area was determined by Orange County to be in violation of the county's adopted Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance (court order) and any additional development performed in the area must be compliant with the county's court order.

Stevenson requested a letter in writing stating permission to use the materials on site.

"I want to know what I can use," Stevenson said. "Is that material considered on site?"

If the material is declared permissible, and the levee repaired, Stevenson could be back at ground zero.

"He could do what he wanted to do through proper procedures" Environmental Health and Code Compliance Director Joel Ardoin said.

Letters from the Army Corps of Engineers, dated Aug. 2010, reads 'As of April 26, 2007, the Nationwide Permit 3 Verification no longer required you to receive an individual Section 401 Water Quality Certification and Coastal Zone Management Act consistency determination from TCEQ because these activities authorized by Nationwide Permit 3 were determined to be consistent with the aforementioned regulations.'

Grandfathering the levee allows the levee to remain but the work on the structure in 2013 is subject to current regulations, according to previously published articles in the Orange Leader.

Commissioners Court approved filing a lawsuit in 2014 against Parkwood Land Company for public nuisance.

In a letter sent to Stevenson dated June 24, 2014, the request for a permit was denied due the property currently in violation of the Orange County Flood Damage Prevention Order.

The Orange County Flood Damage Prevention Order however did not include language concerning the Appeals and Adjustment Board, which was approved recently by the Orange County Commissioners Court.

A date for an appeal has not been set at this time.

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