Gray land mulled for new government complex

Land could be purchased to build a Terrebonne Parish government complex near the intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and La. Highway 24 for a new emergency operations center, juvenile justice facility, Parish Department of Housing and Human Services office, animal shelter, and Parish Department of Public Works yard.

The Terrebonne Parish Council last week agreed to vote on an ordinance authorizing Parish President Michel Claudet to purchase 70 acres of land from North Terrebonne Investors and Cropland Investors Group for $3.4 million to build the complex.

The vote will take place at the regular parish council meeting on Dec. 2.

Claudet said the property had been appraised at one time at $6.1 million. All the facilities would be moved from their current locations to the new site.

The ordinance includes $1.4 million for developing the site, which could also have a cold storage facility for use by the local fisheries industry. The Terrebonne Economic Development Authority is pursuing further Community Development Block Grant funding to build the facility.

The juvenile justice facility near the Terrebonne Parish jail in Ashland is in a flood zone and the Public Works yard in southern Terrebonne has experienced flooding, Claudet said.

The emergency operations center is now at a temporary site on Capital Boulevard in Houma. The location at the new complex could withstand a Category 5 hurricane. The only current building in Terrebonne that can withstand a Category 5 storm is the building housing the Head Start program, which has served as an emergency facility during storms, Claudet said.

“The OEP (building) is the main thing,” he said.

Claudet said the parish pays around $100,000 a year to rent the Housing and Human Services office. The cold storage facility would be 43,000 to 75,000 square feet, but could be as large as 100,000 square feet, he said.

“We have people interested in leasing and running the facility,” Claudet said.

U.S. Highway 90 acts as a buffer for encroaching floodwater, he said. The complex site is near H.L. Bourgeois High School, the parish’s staging site for evacuations. It would also have an administrative office and warehouse area.