Twenty minutes into a meeting, tension builds between two New Orleans East power brokers: businessman Sherman Copelin and state senator Ann Duplessis.

“One of the things that Sherman Copelin is very good at doing is creating conflict,” Duplessis said at the meeting. “We will not allow that to happen tonight.”

With an uninviting crowd, Copelin was silenced.

“He does not speak for Eastover.  He doesn't live in Eastover.  He doesn't speak for the east,” Duplessis told the crowd.

A plan being pushed by Copelin and Eastover subdivision developer Donnie Pate could change the once luxurious living community forever.  There are strong opinions on both sides as to whether that change would be for the better or worse.

“There are a lot of unknowns with this whole thing and it's pretty frightening,” said Eastover resident Tangee Wall.

What's frightening for Wall is turning an area that was once one of Eastover's golf courses into a large lake.

Copelin and Pate want to sell the clay to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and use that money to pay off a mortgage and repair Hurricane Katrina damage.

But it's the size of the borrow pit that has some Eastover residents concerned.  The plan calls for the Corps of Engineers to take 100 acres of dirt, digging about 30 feet deep. 

“This is our home here, and as you see, we're less than 100 feet from the proposed lake,” explained resident Lester Zeigler.  He foresees about three years of digging, causing his house serious problems.

“We dug a six-foot pool and immediately after we had to fix our porch.  So I can only imagine what a 100 acre lake will do,” he said.

Eyewitness News did have a lengthy meeting with former state lawmaker Sherman Copelin and five other Eastover homeowners who are in favor of selling the clay to the Corps, but Copelin declined a request to do an on camera interview for this story.

“I think most of the homeowners want our community restored,” said homeowner Ronnie Burns, one of the few residents who did agree to speak, saying he supports the plans of Copelin and Pate, because there does not seem to be any alternative.

“I think people want to have a first-class neighborhood,” Burns explained.  “I don't know why the battle lines are drawn, or what’s on the agenda.  All I know is there is only one option on the table.”

It is an option developer Donnie Pate says will give Eastover residents a gorgeous lake plus the pre-storm amenities to which they were accustomed.

“In New Orleans East we have about 10 or 15 other communities (which are) lake-based: Lake Bullard, Lake Forest Estates, Spring Lake, Lake Carmel.  This is not a new invention out here,” he said.

But in search of another alternative, the group against the plan has filed suit against the developer and the Corps of Engineers.

“We didn't ask for any money from the Corps.  All we asked for them to pause the digging until we can get good information,” Duplessis said.

But suing the Corps prompted a countersuit by Pate, saying this was costing all parties $23 million.  It's that money that has the state senator, who is also an Eastover resident, skeptical.

“You are talking about a $23 million profit.  Absolutely (money is) the motivation,” said Duplessis.  “Some of the key people who are part of this project don't even live in New Orleans.”

In response, Pate said, “It's definitely a money issue in that if we don't get this done we are not going to have the capital with which to rebuild Eastover and we will all be losers then.”

When asked whether Pate will make money off of the deal, he replied, “I hope to make a little bit, but it's important to know I'm in a third or fourth position.”

Before his profit, Pate says comes $3.5 million for the clubhouse, golf course repairs and turning an area into a lake with jogging trails.

But at the Eastover meeting where tempers flared, even a former Corps employee and a president of a neighboring parish, Plaquemines president Billy Nungesser, cautioned residents to proceed slowly.

“I think what you are doing is the right thing: asking for this process to be paused while you find out and get more information,” said former Corps Deputy Commander Murray Starkel.

It is information residents of Eastover say they have started to gather.

“I would love to trust,” Duplessis said, “but I'm of the Reagan theory: trust but verify.”

That verification includes an engineering report by structural engineer Kerwin Julien, paid for by the residents against the plan, which says "While creating a nearby lake may provide a source for viewing pleasure and potential storm water retention, the 3 to 5 years it will take the complete excavation to come to fruition may have a detrimental effect on surrounding structures and pavement."

The developer says those structural concerns will be covered under a $10 million liability policy which names Eastover property owners as the insurer.

“From everything that I've gotten so far, I think this would be the worst thing that could happen to us,” said Duplessis.

Developers say it may be the only thing that will ensure the restoration of one of the city’s most prestigious communities before the storm.

The Army Corps of Engineers said it could not provide much comment on this story because of the ongoing litigation, but did provide a statement.

It reads: “The Corps is currently investigating a potential contractor furnished site called Eastover 2.  This investigation is being conducted at the request of the landowner.  The Corps is waiting for a complete package from the landowner and has not determined whether or not the site may contain suitable borrow material for use in levee construction.  Since this property is a privately-owned (anything not in government hands) piece of property the Corps can not speculate on the future use of the property.”