The first of Mayor Melinda Mitchell’s scheduled town hall meetings was held in the Magnolia Park recreation center on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Mitchell told the Teche News she plans to hold two meetings for each of the city’s five districts during 2019.
Tuesday’s two-hour session for Dist. 1 residents featured a presentation on flooding issues by Harold Schoeffler, chairman of the Acadian Group of the Sierra Club’s Delta Chapter. Schoeffler reviewed the results of his research into the causes of the 2016 flooding event and offered suggestions for mitigating the threat.
While long-range solutions would involve dredging, canal enlarging and other costly engineering projects, Schoeffler suggested that much might be gained by more proactive use of existing flood-control assets.
One such idea, not employed at all in 2016, is the use of the Keystone Lock as a flood gate. Schoeffler’s analysis shows that a well-timed opening of both the upstream and downstream gates of the lock might have reduced water levels in the Cypress Island area by as much as a foot. Seventy percent of homes that flooded there had less than one foot of water over the floors.
Also, actions such as coordinating the opening of the Henderson Lake Control Structure and Keystone Lock when water is released from the Courtableau flood gates could result in lower water levels and quicker recovery, he maintains, when run-off from northern areas of the watershed threatens to overwhelm Cypress Island.
The Army Corps of Engineers told Schoeffler his ideas would be studied and coordination of the lock with opening of other structures will be tried. St. Martin Parish controls Keystone for navigation, but only the Corps may use it for water-level control.
Another suggestion would involve digging an additional canal to allow partial drainage of the Cypress Island Swamp directly into the Teche rather than most of it having to make its way into the Vermilion River as it currently does.
Also, the addition of a flood gate at Lake Martin would allow the lake level to be reduced to provide floodwater retention there.
Taken together, these measures could make a repeat of the $356 million disaster of 2016 much less likely.
Some residents who own homes along North Main Street complained that they have experienced recurrent flooding and sewer back-ups. Public Works superintendent Charlie Rader responded that an exhaustive program of culvert and ditch cleaning in that area is being organized.
SMEDA
Jennifer Stelly, director of the St. Martin Economic Development Authority (SMEDA), also addressed the audience to report on efforts to encourage business development in town. SMEDA is developing a program to help prospective business owners apply for tax incentives.
SMEDA also plans to begin promoting area restaurants and is working with the South Louisiana Community College to train a qualified work force for new businesses. The agency is also working on creation of a “certified site index” for developable commercial real estate.
Dist. 1 councilman Mike Fuselier said the city is promoting the festival ground area as one with development potential. “We want to improve the area by lowering the bayou banks and making access better. And we would also like to see the closed areas of Longfellow-Evangeline back in use.”
