The St. Martin Parish government will blacktop a stretch of Boon Lasseigne Road that is badly in need of repair, as soon as a bridge that the state Department of Transportation recently closed off is fixed.
Parish President Pete Delcambre said at Wednesday's parish council meeting that the bridge is expected to be completed by Friday.
Councilman Chris Tauzin brought the issue up, explaining that the previous two parish administrations had looked into whether the road was a parish road or not, and could not find a record of it being so.
Though the road is supposed to be a gravel road, it is in such bad shape because of the traffic from nearby sugar cane farms that it is nearly impassable for the family living near the bridge, Tauzin said.
At one point the state changed the name of Highway 401 to Highway 347, Tauzin said, which led to the parish administration not being able to find a record of the road as parish property. The research used the new highway 347 designation to try to find the road in its listings, instead of the old 401 designation.
But current council clerk Brooke Thibodeaux was able to research the issue and found that the parish does own the road, Tauzin said.
The stretch of road in question formerly was near his district, until the districts were redrawn, Tauzin said, so he had been involved with looking into the situation for some time. Councilman David Poirier and Tauzin wanted to bring the issue up at the council meeting, but Poirier was unable to attend the meeting so Tauzin put the issue on the agenda.
Tauzin proposed building the road up and blacktopping it from the bridge to the last house before Section 28 Road. The councilman said Public Works Director Wes Dupuis told him it would likely cost a maximum of $60,000 to $80,000 to blacktop the 347 feet from the bridge to the driveway of the house. Tauzin also asked Director of Finance Sean Hundley if the parish could find the money to do that.
"I would ask that the administration consider blacktopping from the last house back to the bridge as soon as the bridge would be finished," Tauzin said. "That would eliminate the problems of not being able to have access for fire trucks, access for medical. If something happens, they really can't get to them right now."
Cane rows come right up to the road currently, Tauzin said, so he proposes maintaining the road and putting in drainage ditches beside it to help keep the road and the cane fields separate.
"These people have been dealing with this a very, very long time," Tauzin said. "I think we need to put that to rest and give these people access to the road, and the condition of the road needs to be brought up and maintained."
Delcambre said that if that section of approximately 350 feet is blacktopped, then every resident on Boon Lasseigne Road would have access to blacktop and to Section 28 Road.
But an Oct. 17 inspection of the bridge led DOTD to close the bridge down immediately.
The parish government went to its bridge engineers, Huval & Associates, and got a proposal within a week's time to rebuild the bridge within three weeks.
"I was out there today and the individuals on the bridge said they were hoping to have the bridge complete and accessible next Friday," Delcambre said.
The parish is contacting DOTD to be on site the day the bridge construction is complete so the bridge and road can be reopened.
"We are looking into getting the last 350 feet (blacktopped) so all residents on Boon Lasseigne Road will have access to blacktop and therefore access to Section 28 Road."
Delcambre said he suggests having the bridge engineers inspect the bridge regularly so that any issues can be addressed before the DOTD has to shut down the bridge again.
Fire ratings
St. Martin Parish's new fire rating of Class 4 is a lot higher than projected, parish Fire Coordinator Brody Miller told the council.
The parish consolidated its ratings into one grading for the upper part of the parish and one for Lower St. Martin Parish.
"We had a lot of Class Fives and a lot of Class Sixes and we brought them all down," Miller said. "We are going to be rerated again in 2026 off of 2025."
Land donation
The council introduced an ordinance to accept a donation from St. Martin Land Co. of three lots and a pontoon bridge in Butte La Rose Bay, which is moored to one of the lots, that encompasses the Uncle Dick Davis Campground/Park.
Tauzin said the parish had the opportunity to apply for a grant for bulkhead work on the property a few years back but couldn't as it didn't own the land. The parish has been leasing the land for $1 a year.
The family that owns St. Martin Land Co. offered to donate the land to the parish, if it could retain mineral rights and if the parish continues to use the name Uncle Dick Davis Campground for the property, Tauzin said.
"It's a big part of Butte La Rose and a big part of St. Martin Parish," he said. "We just did a bunch of work in that area, in the park itself. I just wanted to thank St. Martin Land for reaching out to St. Martin Parish and making this thing happen."
Resolutions
The council introduced a resolution authorizing Delcambre to sign a change order for an increase of $16,515 for the Stephensville Street and Drainage Improvement Project by Triton Construction.
Around $15,000 of that was a result of excavating for work on Dawn Drive, which exposed the waterline and caused the construction company to have to adjust at what height the storm drain pipes are being placed.
Engineer Nick Sonnier of Sellers & Associates told the council that the location of the waterline was marked by the state, but not the level below the ground where the waterline runs, so it wasn't until the area was dug up that the issue was exposed.
The council also authorized the parish president to extend the contract time for the parish courthouse work by ARL Construction for three additional days, and to execute a change order for an increase of $10,200 and a 45-day extension for the Catahoula Coulee Slope Protection Project by Diverac Solutions.
The council passed a resolution to appoint Jamie Angelle to serve on the parish planning commission.
In other business
The council ruled to show cause and proceed with orders of condemnation on properties at 1032 Andrew Drive, St. Martinville, and 1139 Papit Guidry Road, St. Martinville.
The council tabled action on property at 6015-B Main Highway, St. Martinville, as property owners have not responded to contact from the parish.
A neighbor addressed the council about that property, saying he and his wife are frustrated because they are unable to sell their property because of the blighted condition of the property next door, and said their property value keeps dropping because the issue is not being addressed.
The council also sat as a board of adjustment and granted exceptions to :
• Irving Charpentier to move a single-family mobile home onto property on Banker Road that is zoned C-1 (Light Industrial);
• Evelyn Bourque to move a single-family mobile home onto property on Hugh Daspit Road that is zoned C-1 (Light Industrial);
• and to Monica Steward to move a single-family mobile home onto property on Prairie Highway that is zoned W-1 (Woodland/Floodplain Commercial/Light Industrial Uses).
