Shady Acres residents address VP council about drainage issues

Discouraged that they haven’t seen much progress, residents of the Shady Acres subdivision returned to the Ville Platte City Council to implore the mayor and council to fulfill promises to solve drainage problems affecting them. This is the third time in a year that the group has addressed the Council.
Last September, following the historic Flood of 2016, residents complained about poor drainage that caused widespread damage to homes across the neighborhood. At that time, both Mayor Jennifer Vidrine and the Council assured the residents that funding in the 2017-18 fiscal year would be earmarked to solve the drainage problems.
Last Tuesday evening, at the Council’s regular monthly meeting, Faye Lemoine and other residents told the mayor and councilmen that they don’t feel much has been done since the adoption of the new budget in July.
“You’ve done nothing,” Lemoine told the Council. “Putting in one culvert is not a whole plan. Talk is cheap. Please carry through with a plan. We were promised that it would be in the budget July 1. Why aren’t we ready to roll out the project?”
“I’m like a dog with a bone,” she added. “I’m not giving up until something is done.”
Lemoine even offered to volunteer to help the City carry out administrative work to move the work along.
Vidrine and City Engineer Ronnie Landreneau (who lives in Shady Acres and suffered flood damage) assured the crowd of over a dozen people that a plan is being implemented.
“Shady Acres has been a priority,” Vidrine said. “The work is in progress. But it takes time to get it all done. The plan is in action, but it’s just not something that can be done right, right now.
“But, I want to add that Shady Acres isn’t the only priority,” Vidrine continued. “There are a lot of areas of the city that flood. Right now we have three priority areas: Shady Acres, Hickory Street, and MLK Drive.”
Landreneau detailed the scheduled activity to resolve the drainage issues. He said that a private contractor would be hired to clean out two of the three ditches in the neighborhood. Also, the roots of an oak tree that is blocking drainage will be cut out. He anticipates that this work will begin within the week.
However, Landreneau said, the important work will involve removing all 12-inch pipe in the subdivision (“a half-mile of pipe,” he said) and replacing it. Forty-one catch basins would have to be installed. This would necessitate cutting through driveways.
Because all of this major work would cost in excess of $150,000, Landreneau said that the work must be put out to competitive bid, which will cause the work to be delayed until that process is complete.
“This is a process,” Vidrine said. “It will be done. Next week you will see something. And it won’t stop after that.”
Landreneau did caution that, while the improvements will help with flooding from most rainstorms, the work also depends on canals and bayous being cleaned out downstream.
Landreneau said that the State of Louisiana will be spending $25 million to do a comprehensive study of the Mermentau River Basin. Water from Ville Platte and Evangeline Parish drains into Bayou des Cannes, which flows into the Mermentau River. The results should help to plan drainage improvements across south central Louisiana.
One of the themes in the discussion was the role of the Evangeline Parish Police Jury, which also has the responsibility for maintaining drainage systems, even in the city limits.
“Last time y’all were here, I suggested that you go talk to the Police Jury,” Vidrine told the crowd. “Did you go? What did they say?”
“They simply said, ‘We’re digging every day. Thank you for coming,’” Lemoine said.
Vidrine stressed the need for inter-governmental cooperation on cleaning out the canals.
“We’ve been asking the Police Jury to help,” Vidrine explained, “because they have the proper equipment. We’re willing to do our part with the equipment that we have. But they have equipment that can do the job we can’t.”
Resident Mitch Arnaud said that he was told by Jury members that one of the hold-ups on getting cooperation was payment for the work. Councilman Mike Perron supported that assessment.
“I don’t understand that,” Vidrine vented. “Why should they charge the city to do work when the canals are in their jurisdiction and they have the equipment?”
By the end of the meeting, Shady Acres residents seemed satisfied that the City was proceeding with a plan to fix the drainage issues.
In other business, Vidrine told the Council that a deal has been reached to sell some wooded property at the north end of Dossman Street. The land has been sold to a non-profit organization, DCI, that develops lots to build single-family homes. DCI will develop ten homes for sale or rent on the land.
In order for the sale to proceed, the City needs to abandon claim to an alley on the property.
This will require a public hearing next month before the Council can take action. The hearing will be at 4:45 pm, right before the next regular meeting on Oct. 10.
After the meeting, Vidrine told the Gazette that while the final price has not been decided, each lot will be sold for up to $6,000 per lot. The money from the sale will be put into a special account for citywide beautification.
In addition, the money will be used to acquire other lots in the City, with the intention of preparing them to sell for housing development.