The Iberia Parish Council voted for and passed a resolution placing more regulations on parish homeowners wishing to build ponds at Wednesday’s meeting.

The issue was introduced by Councilman Paul Landry, who said some constituents in his district have suffered from a lack of pond regulation from Iberia Parish Government.

“All this came about because I had an individual next to one my streets in the parish, he talked to (Planning and Zoning Director) John (Raines), and John explained there was no permit fee but he had to get a permit. Six months later, he dug the pond, spreads the dirt and caused flooding all down one side of Jacqueline Drive.”

The initial resolution was to establish a permit fee and penalties for residents who don’t follow proper procedure in digging ponds. Raines said he currently has no recourse if a resident does violate procedure.

“It doesn’t cost you anything to get a permit to dig a pond, and if you do it wrong I have no financial damages I can implement against you to make it correct,” Raines said.

After a recommendation from legal counsel Andy Shealy, the motion was amended to read that residential and commercial property owners who are wishing to dig new ponds have to pay a $150 fee and provide a survey to Raines.

The motion passed 9-3, with council members Lloyd Brown, Warren Gachassin and Joel Dugas voting against.

Gachassin’s main contention was the new law and associated costs would disincentive residents to build up their property.

“At this point, I can’t do it because I can’t afford the survey,” he said hypothetically. “At the end of the day, how much more strings do we need to attach for people to build their properties up? Why do we continue to make things harder and harder, just because a plane crashes doesn’t mean we ban planes completely.”