A group of French Quarter business owners is suing the Sewerage & Water Board, claiming the agency’s nearly 10-month construction project on lower Decatur Street has harmed their businesses and damaged their property.
In documents filed Friday in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, nine business owners say they should be compensated financially due to problems that have resulted from S&WB’s nearly $10 million, federally funded project to replace century-old underground water infrastructure on Decatur between Esplanade Avenue and Dumaine Street.
The work, initially scheduled to wrap up in May, will hit its one-year anniversary in September.
The business owners, represented by attorney Robert Ellis of the firm Bivalacqua, Gelé + Ellis, are also asking the court to force the utility to speed up work, remove barricades from areas where there’s no construction activity and make other changes that will improve living and working conditions for a section of the French Quarter that’s home to dozens of bars, restaurants and other small businesses.
“Local businesses have been forced to close, are on the precipice of closing, and/or have lost significant revenue,” wrote Ellis in a 20-page document submitted to the court. “Access to residents’ homes has been substantially obstructed. The damage continues unabated with no definite end in sight. Plaintiffs are now forced to seek court intervention to obtain relief.”
Representatives of the Sewerage & Water Board did not respond to a request for comment before this story was published.
The lawsuit is the latest sign of distress on lower Decatur, where frustrated business owners and residents say disorganized work and unnecessary barricades have already led to the closure of the restaurants Café Sbisa and Lufu NOLA and the retail store Dead on Decatur.
Late last week, Mayor Helena Moreno announced a grant program to help small businesses impacted by the project. But while some merchants said the effort was appreciated, it did not deter them from filing suit.
In a statement Monday announcing that the stabilization fund is now accepting applications, a spokesperson for Moreno said, “The grants devised by the mayor are only a part of the package of fixes we’ve committed to assist businesses in the lower Decatur area. We’re accelerating construction, holding Sewerage and Water Board accountable, and clearing obstacles for businesses as fast as we can.”
Increased frustration
The lawsuit is the latest action to draw attention to the plight of Decatur Street business owners from work S&WB officials say was delayed by high water on the Mississippi River, which makes it more likely groundwater will seep into trenches, and the discovery of historical artifacts on the site.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the owners of seven Decatur Street establishments — the Original French Market Restaurant & Bar, Frank’s Restaurant, Minnow Jewelry Bar, Sidney’s, the Abbey Bar, Turtle Bay and Gold Leaf Investments. Two other nearby businesses — Cornet and Huge Ass Cantina — also joined the suit.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to force the S&WB to provide advance notice before any new road closures, to “deploy a twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week work schedule,” and suspend all water and sewerage billing for businesses and residents in the construction zone.
They also want S&WB leaders to appear before the New Orleans City Council to discuss the project’s construction schedule, cost and other details.
“The Decatur Project is chaotic,” Ellis wrote. “[S&WB] has not required its contractors to proceed with construction sequentially or logically. Rather, contractors have abandoned work on some portions of this project to work on other blocks; work has been inexplicably delayed at other locations. Completion deadlines have been missed and extended, exacerbating the damage to businesses and historic properties.”
Ellis also wrote that his clients’ “businesses and homes have been shaken to their core for months by heavy machinery, jack hammering and earth-moving activities, causing excessive vibrations, settlement, and physical damage.”
On June 16, two dozen business owners and others met at the Original French Market Restaurant & Bar to commiserate about inconsistent contractor hours, poor communications with the S&WB and seemingly unnecessary street closures. They expressed dismay at the S&WB’s decision to tear up several blocks of the lower French Quarter at once, as opposed to moving block by block.
S&WB Executive Director Randy Hayman, who attended the meeting, said recently the utility is targeting a late September completion date for the work.
