Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 56 - PUBLIC WORKS › Part III - Flood Control and Water Management › Subpart 1 - Water Resources and Flood Control › Chapter 3 - Statewide Flood Control Program › Subchapter A - Procedures for Implementing Statewide Flood Control Program › Section III-301 - Sequence

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. This Section
					 describes the sequence of events involved in implementing the Statewide Flood
					 Control Program. The sequence begins and ends each year during the Regular
					 Session of the Legislature. Specific procedures are described briefly in this
					 Section and are presented more fully in the pre-application, application, and
					 evaluation of proposed projects and distribution of funds sections of this
					 document.
1. Pre-Application and Resolution.
					 Sponsoring authorities are to complete the pre-application, and must submit
					 their completed pre-applications and resolutions to the Department of
					 Transportation and Development, Office of Engineering, Public Works and Water
					 Resources (DOTD) not later than 4 p.m. on May 1. Pre-applications received
					 after May 1 will not be eligible for the program in the current year, but will
					 be eligible for review during the next year. Pre-applications must include
					 documentation of the flooding problem in order to be considered.
2. Evaluation Committee Review of
					 Pre-Applications (May 1-June 1)
a.
					 Pre-applications will be reviewed and screened by the Evaluation Committee. The
					 reasons for the review are to determine whether there is documented evidence of
					 flood damages; whether the sponsoring authority is requesting DOTD assistance
					 in preparing the full application; whether the proposed solution (if such a
					 solution has been developed at this time) is eligible for funding under this
					 program; and whether the sponsoring authority is willing to assume
					 responsibility for its share of the cost, including new rights-of-way,
					 operation and maintenance costs, and other obligations, within 4 years of
					 acceptance into the program.
b.
					 Ineligible projects under this program will include those which:
i. do not reduce existing flood
					 damages;
ii.  encourage additional
					 development of flood prone areas;
iii. increase the likelihood of upstream,
					 downstream, or adjacent flood problems;
iv. have a total construction cost of less
					 than $100,000; or
v. primary
					 purpose is to provide protection against coastal storm surges.
c. All pre-applications that are
					 determined to be ineligible by the Evaluation Committee will be returned with
					 appropriate comments by June 1. All eligible pre-applications will remain on
					 file until a formal application is submitted or for a period of four subsequent
					 funding years. The pre-application evaluation criteria for DOTD assistance are
					 described in the Pre-Application Section.
d. Pre-applications that have been determined
					 to be eligible and that may move on to the application stage include:
i. pre-applications submitted by sponsoring
					 authorities with a population of more than 50,000;
ii. pre-applications from sponsoring
					 authorities to receive assistance from DOTD in the application stage;
iii. pre-applications from sponsoring
					 authorities eligible for assistance from DOTD in the application stage that
					 cannot be handled by DOTD in time for the current funding year that chose to
					 prepare their own applications.
iv.
					 pre-applications from sponsoring authorities seeking participation in the Rural
					 Grant Opportunity Program must meet the requirements of Subchapter D.
					 §327
e. Pre-applications
					 in the third group may be processed in the application stage by DOTD in time
					 for the next year's funding. Applications on which DOTD initiates work will
					 receive increased priority for assistance in application preparation in the
					 following funding years. The sponsoring authorities need not wait for DOTD
					 assistance. However, they may prepare and submit their own
					 applications.
f. At the end of the
					 pre-application review period, applicants will be notified of the status of
					 their pre-applications. The sponsoring authorities seeking DOTD assistance in
					 preparing an application will be informed by letter whether they:
i. will receive DOTD assistance in time for
					 the current funding cycle; or
ii.
					 will not receive assistance at this time and must compete for assistance again
					 the following year.
g.
					 Authorities completing their own applications may automatically move into the
					 application stage unless the proposed solution is not eligible as a project
					 under the program. If the proposed solution is not consistent with the
					 program's objectives, the Evaluation Committee may suggest alternative
					 solutions which must be addressed in order for the application to be
					 eligible.
3. Application
					 Preparation (June 1-October 1)
a. Applications
					 may be submitted anytime between June 1 and October 1, but must be received by
					 DOTD no later than 4 p.m. October 1, in order to be considered for funding
					 during the upcoming legislative session. Applications received after this
					 deadline will not be eligible for the current year's program. Applications for
					 which pre-applications were received and approved from the previous year(s) may
					 also be accepted during this period, provided all other procedures and
					 deadlines have been met and four years have not elapsed since the
					 pre-application submittal.
b. On
					 request, DOTD will prepare applications for eligible sponsoring authorities to
					 the extent possible. All applications must adhere to the methodologies
					 described in the instructions contained in the Statewide Flood Control
					 Procedures Manual.
4.
					 Evaluation Committee Review of Applications (October 1-April 1)
a. During this six-month period, the
					 Evaluation Committee will review and evaluate all completed applications in
					 order to make recommendations to the Joint Legislative Committee on
					 Transportation, Highways, and Public Works (Joint Legislative Committee) for
					 funding. Applications will be divided into urban and rural categories.
					 Applications for projects in the eleven urban areas comprise the urban
					 category, as shown in the Figure 1. and compete against all other urban
					 projects for funding. All other applications will be grouped by funding
					 district as shown in Figure 2. Proposed projects will be evaluated and ranked
					 based on criteria established by the Evaluation Committee.
b. Projects recommended to the Joint
					 Legislative Committee will include a mix of those occurring in each rural
					 funding district as well as those for urban areas of the state. The method for
					 allocating funding percentages within each district and the method for
					 allocating total program funds to the various districts are presented in
					 Subchapter D, Evaluation of Proposed Projects and Distribution of Funds.
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5. Public Hearings (February-March). As part
					 of the application evaluation process, the Joint Legislative Committee will
					 hold public hearings in locations convenient to each funding district. The
					 purpose of the hearings will be to receive comments from the public on the
					 preliminary recommendations of the Evaluation Committee. After the hearings,
					 the Evaluation Committee will incorporate public comments into its evaluation,
					 complete the project evaluations, complete the project evaluations, and submit
					 a priority ordered list of projects to the Joint Legislative
					 Committee.
6. Legislative Process
					 (March-Regular Session). From the list of projects recommended by the
					 Evaluation Committee, the Joint Legislative Committee will recommend to the
					 legislature a construction program to be funded during the regular session.
					 Projects recommended by the Evaluation Committee but not funded will remain
					 active and will automatically be included in the recommended projects for the
					 next year and receive additional points in the evaluation scoring procedure.
					 Applications for projects that are not recommended will be returned to the
					 sponsoring authorities with reasons for rejection.