Yvette Michelle Crabtree Davis
April 7, 2008
Cecile D. St. Amant
April 9, 2008
Morgan City and the Downtown Marina in Houma were each awarded grants by the Louisiana Recovery Authority last month as part of an effort by the agency to aid the fisheries industry in south Louisiana damaged by the hurricanes of 2005.
The Louisiana Recovery Authority is administering billions of dollars in federal hurricane relief money.
The state Office of Community Development’s Disaster Recovery Unit – which was created following the 2005 storms – is also administering the grants.
Morgan City is receiving $1.3 million to build a city-owned ice plant with a capacity to hold 40 tons. The money is the first installment of a total $3.7 million Morgan City will receive from the LRA to help its fisheries industry.
The plant will be built on city-owned land on the Atchafalaya River waterfront near Front Street and Railroad Avenue and is expected to be used mainly by the shrimping industry.
The city will lease the ice plant to a private operator, said Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte.
A recently-closed, privately-run ice plant currently sits on the property. That building will be demolished. Matte said the plant’s closing hurt the parish’s shrimping industry and he hopes the new facility will “bring back the fleet to Morgan City.”
He said the new ice plant will be smaller than the recently-closed building, but the new one will be more efficient.
The grant will also fund dock improvements on the Atchafalaya River waterfront.
The marina in Houma, located at the intersection of Bayou Terrebonne and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, will receive $296,600 to install mooring piles, which can endure hurricane-force winds without toppling, and to construct a public fishing pier along the Intracoastal Waterway.
The marina is operated by the Port of Terrebonne and does not serve commercial vessels.
Port Director David Rabalais said the mooring piles are used by recreational boaters to tie up boats during hurricanes.
He said the fishing pier will be built at the marina because the site is well-used by recreational fishermen.
The port will also use the grant to dredge Bayou Terrebonne at the marina.
The Downtown Houma Marina in Houma was given a $296,600 grant by the Louisiana Recovery Authority for mooring piles and other upgrades. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN
