The city council here passed a resolution opposing all the options for a reesign of the Rees Street corridor that were offered by the Acadiana Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and Neel-Schaffer, the company hired to conduct a study on the possibilities.
All options offered after the months-long study included building roundabouts in place of existing traffic light controls at the three main intersections on Rees – Latiolais Road and Mills and Refinery Streets. At the April 9 city council meeting, Mayor Ricky Calais, and all council members, said constituents have told them they are uniformly against roundabouts on Rees Street.
Neel-Schaffer and the MPO conducted four town hall meetings to solicit public feedback on proposed designs. Some options included the roundabouts, widening Rees Street to six lanes, widen walkways and add green-space strips along both sides. The study concluded that the participants in the meetings favored a less ambitious plan to keep the street at four lanes, but with boulevard dividers and the three roundabouts.
Calais said that those town hall meetings were not well attended and council members were better informed about the wishes of their constituents than the consultants. Also, the option of keeping regular light-controlled intersections was not part of any of the choices offered.
The council’s resolution supports the boulevard treatment but with traffic lights.
Councilman Neil “Sam” Melancon commented that the most important traffic issue on Rees Street is the congested area between Latiolais and I-10. In that area, 18-wheelers and other vehicles entering and leaving truck stops cause problems for traffic trying to turn onto the I-10 access ramps.
Clean Waterways
The council passed a resolution favoring the renewal of the 1.5 mill property tax that supports the Teche-Vermilion Fresh Water District. The millage has been in effect since 1970 and funds the pumping of fresh water from the Atchafalaya River into the Bayou Teche and Vermilion River.
TVFWD Director Donald Sagrera said the system is credited with the huge improvement in the water quality in those waterways by restoring some of the fresh water flow that was cut off by the construction of floodways and levees. It also ended the serious problem of salt water intrusion into ground water west of the Atchafalaya Basin.
The cost of the millage to the owner of a home valued at $150,000, Sagrera said, comes to less than $20 per year. As with all tax millages, owners of homes valued below $75,000 pay nothing due to the homestead exemption.
The millage has been renewed by voters every 10 years and will appear on the May 4 School Board election ballot. Sagrera concluded by making the jarring point that, “Without fresh water there would be no crawfish.”
No Tax Change
There will be no change in municipal ad valorem property tax rates for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The council approved the continuation of the existing 4.49- mill rate for Breaux Bridge properties.
