By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – When James Shaffette and his wife purchased their home in 2010 at 1064 Michigan Ave. they were settling in for what they expected to be a lifetime of quiet living on the North Shore.
“We loved the home and invested probably close to $20,000 in upgrades,” Shaffette said after purchasing it for $155,000.
The fact the home was the last one on the street backing up to the W-14 drainage canal was of no concern, he said, since neighbors told them it was the highest house on the street and had never flooded, not even after the heavy rains from Hurricane Katrina.
But four years ago when the city of Slidell began a W-14 construction project two blocks to the north it had Shaffette and several neighbors a little concerned when they heard the heavy thud from pilings being driven into the ground.
That was followed by a concrete box culvert that took rain waters from the north and funneled them into four openings that would squeeze to two openings when coming out on the south side of the culvert near Florida Avenue.
Within a year, Shaffette saw the first signs of what he knew was an erosion problem in the W-14 behind his house, and now four years later, has filed a lawsuit against the city and parish after neither one would take responsibility for a growing list of issues at his home, in the canal, and also for neighbors next to him.
City and parish officials acknowledge there is a long-standing dispute about who is responsible for the canal. While the parish initially had rights to it, Slidell began cleaning the canal out for many years to improve drainage, now leading the parish to say the canal is the responsibility of Slidell.
“The canal had never flooded from Katrina or from any heavy rains,” Shaffette said. “We talked to the neighbors and to experts and there were never any concerns about our house being next to the canal. There was no reason to be concerned.”
Today, city and parish officials are mum when asked about it, citing the pending litigation as a reason they cannot discuss what is clearly a growing problem that apparently is a result of the construction project further north in the W-14 canal, a waterway that is the major drainage artery for every bayou, canal or ditch in Slidell.
Additionally, the canal has not been cleaned out in over a year-and-a-half, reducing drainage capabilities in the event of another hurricane.
Meanwhile, Shaffette is watching his house slide towards the canal, with numerous signs that erosion in the canal is getting worse. The dirt on the canal side of his house has dropped close to four feet, and huge pine and oak trees on the side of the canal now lean precariously towards Shaffette’s home.
His fence sits close to 5-feet lower than it did three years ago, there are cracks on the walls in his house and large cracks in any area of concrete walkways around his home.
A friend of Shaffette’s, who is a construction consultant and viewed the box culvert, claims the problem is due to a large amount of water going into four culvert openings, then being squeezed into two openings as it comes out.
“It’s like putting your finger over the end of a hose and the water being forced out a smaller area. It comes out with greater force and over the past few years that has made the canal begin to erode on the sides from the stronger force of water,” he said.
Shaffette began contacting Slidell and parish officials by e-mail and phone calls with his first e-mail on Nov. 19, 2013 to the city, answered by City Engineer Donna O’Dell who forwarded it to Public Works. Two city workers came out that month, but “walked the property and said everything was fine.”
Since then, Shaffette said it has been nearly four years of contacting the parish and city, never with any response that would lead to help.
“They kept ping-ponging it back-and-forth and saying it wasn’t their responsibility,” he said. “Meanwhile, my house is heading for the canal.”
At one point he was told to hire his own engineer to verify there is a problem, at a cost of over $5,000, and it was later suggested he should build a bulkhead behind his house. An estimate came in at $140,000.
“What upsets me is that both the city and parish don’t care,” Shaffette said. “I have never gotten anyone to try and help me, and for several years I just wanted the problem fixed, I didn’t want to file a lawsuit. But the way this is going my house is going to fall into the canal so I had to do something.”
Anne Pablovich, assistant to Parish President Pat Brister, wrote to Shaffette two months ago and said she had discussed the matter with the engineering and legal team and “because your property is within the city limits of Slidell, any maintenance needs or issues associated with the W-14 canal within the city limits should be directed to the City of Slidell.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t be of more assistance,” she concluded.
Shaffette said he has gotten a visit several times from City Councilman Warren Crockett, who represents the area, but was told “to get a lawyer.”
Shaffette and his wife have a year-and-a-half old child now and they are especially worried about the large trees falling on his house in the next heavy rain.
“I cut some huge limbs off a few trees that were leaning over our house, but those giant pines growing on the sides of the canal could crash on our house anytime since they are all leaning a lot now,” he said.
One neighbor next to Shaffette’s house also showed problems he is beginning to see further south in the canal, with his fence also starting to separate, and cracks in his garage, at least 60 feet from the canal, indicating the erosion of the land in the area is quietly continuing to get worse.
“I pay my taxes and my house note and now I can’t even sleep wondering if a tree is going to fall on my house,” Shaffette said. “I just want someone to fix this since I wasn’t the one who did it.
“It’s insulting to see how difficult it is to get someone with the city or parish to do something,” he added. “They have all sent a clear message to us in this area—they don’t care about us.”