Posted on February 20, 2018
By Claire Tayl, daily advertiser
The Acadiana Planning Commission voted Wednesday to spend $25 million in federal funds on nine regional drainage projects, including four in Lafayette Parish that total $11.2 million.
Two of the Lafayette Parish projects are in Youngsville and two are in Scott.
Youngsville Mayor Ken Ritter said the coulees in his two projects, Bayou Parc Perdu and the LaSalle Coulee, drain 80 percent to 90 percent of Youngsville, where hundreds of homes flooded during the August 2016 storms.
The APC-approved funding list also includes one project each in Iberia, Evangeline, St. Martin and Vermilion parishes.
Acadia, St. Landry and St. Mary parishes did not get funds for projects specific to their areas, but all parishes will participate in a regional water gauge network project approved at a cost of $2.4 million.
St. Landry Parish President Bill Fontenot, who is also the APC chairman, said he’s taking a lot of flack because none of the approved projects are in St. Landry Parish. But the parish will be part of the water gauge project.
Area parish leaders agreed in 2017 to pool their federal hazard mitigation grant program funds instead of each parish spending a few million without a regional approach to addressing the drainage problem.
“We need to be patient and understand this is a lifelong, generational program,” Fontenot said. “If we did this the old way, we’d all be at the governor’s office fighting for a little piece of the pie.”
Monique Boulet, CEO of the Acadiana Planning Commission, said the regional water gauge project will gather data throughout the watershed and lays the groundwork for a much-needed watershed model, of which St. Landry Parish will be a part.
The projects approved Wednesday are not the same as the Lafayette Parish coulee cleaning projects Mayor-President Joel Robideaux announced last week that will be paid for with a $9 million surplus transferred from a public health tax fund, part of which voters agreed to rededicate in 2017.
Between the coulee cleaning and the four projects approved for federal funding Wednesday, Robideaux said Lafayette Parish residents should see work on at least $20 million in drainage projects over the next two years.
The two Youngsville projects include:
– Coulee LaSalle detention pond, $2.3 million to build a 22.5-acre detention pond as a reservoir for Coulee LaSalle. It’s expected to help ease flooding in Lafayette, St. Martin and Iberia parishes.
– Bayou Parc Perdu/Bailey Grove regional detention ponds, $5 million to build detention ponds as a reservoir for Bayou Parc Perdu during storms. It’s expected to ease flooding in lower Lafayette and parts of Iberia and Vermilion parishes.
The Scott projects include:
– Coulee Ile des Cannes lateral L8C regional detention facilities, $1.5 million to build a detention pond. It’s expected to relieve flooding of at least 100 homes in Scott along with Acadia, Vermilion and St. Landry parishes.
– Coulee Ile des Cannes flood control project: $2.4 million to improve a section of the coulee which has been underway since the 1980s.
Other projects on the list for funding include:
– Evangeline Parish — $1.4 million, detention pond (northwest of Ville Platte).
– Iberia Parish — $5.3 million, Bayou Parc Perdu regional detention and improvements at Lake Peigneur.
– St. Martin Parish — $2 million, Cypress Bayou/Coulee LaSalle drainage improvements.
– Vermilion Parish — $2.7 million, elevation of a section of the La. 14 bypass.
If problems surface in permitting, obtaining rights of way or otherwise in the planning phase of a project, the following are on the standby list to replace them.
– Lafayette Parish, $2.2 million, Coulee Mine east flood control project
– Lafayette Parish, $1.5 million, Isaac Verot Anselm Coulee regional detention facilities
– Vermilion Parish, $4.5 million, Bayou Parc Perdu regional detention ponds
– Vermilion Parish, $3.3 million, Superior Canal East End Locks conveyance
In all, 22 projects were submitted for funding, totaling about $80 million, St. Martin Parish President Guy Cormier said. Those not funded with the $25 million will be kept alive for future funding.
“I’m confident there’s going to be some more money coming down,” he said.
The APC and local governments have to come up with matching funds to the federal money. They also have to pay for the projects and get reimbursed with the federal money.
Mike Waldon, a retired hydrologist and environmental engineer, applauded area leaders for addressing the problem on a regional basis and said the water gauge study fits into the regional planning perfectly.
But he pushed for an environmental assessment before excavating and widening Coulee Ile des Cannes to determine how much the project will increase water flow downstream.
“It may cause more harm than good” to send more water into the Vermilion River, Waldon said.
Lafayette resident Dave Dixon said the Vermilion River is in dire need of dredging.
“You’ve got to start where you want the water to go before you bring more water to that point,” he said.
Source: daily advertiser
