Morgan City benefits from facelift projects

With the arrival of 2010, Morgan City parks and streets came in line to receive priority attention by way of organizational grants and taxpayer support.

Following Mardi Gras, five of the rugged streets will see a nearly $1 million makeover, thanks to Morgan City voters who passed a proposition last fall to add three tenths of a percent to the city’s sales tax in take.

Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte offered a reminder that during December 2011, the H & B Young Foundation, Morgan City’s premier charitable benefactor, gave the city a $380,000 grant to transform the former Morgan City Swamp Gardens into a passive park. Along with that, an additional baseball diamond will be added as an expansion to the city’s Complex Baseball Park.

“The Young Foundation realized that the Swamp Gardens had become a thing of the past for the city and gave us the grant money to explore other ideas for the property,” Matte said.

The Swamp Gardens had comprised a guided walking tour through three acres of a natural swamp depicting life in the Atchafalaya Basin. The area was originally populated with bear, ducks, raccoons and alligators, but most of the animals through time had died or been donated to zoos, the mayor said. Shortly after the oil bust of the 1980s, the area began to lose its public appeal.

Matte said as a passive park the area would feature a gazebo, available for weddings, and a pathway in the shape of a figure eight. “Three times around the figure eight is one mile,” he added.

Seth Thomas, director of the Morgan City Recreation Department, said the additional baseball field would allow the city to attract tournaments.

Complex Park was known years ago among residents as the field of dreams where young people got their start playing baseball.

“Although it will not be finished in 2012, by 2013 we should be able to start scheduling Dixie Youth and other tournaments, which will bring hotel and restaurant revenue to the city,” Thomas said.

Matte said the Young Foundation grant would pay for most of both projects, along with a state grant already obtained and in the bank. “I think with a new park area, and of course the addition of the baseball field, we’ll provide more opportunities for tourists to visit Morgan City and the Cajun Coast, and explore our way of life,” he said.

Turning to the street upkeep, Matte said following Mardi Gras, work would begin on repairing rugged roadways within the city.

On tap for phase one of the project, is a south side overlay of Second, Sixth and Union streets, along with a concrete reconstruction of David Drive, Veterans and Victor II Boulevard and Youngs Road.

The project is the first to be paid for with additional city sales tax revenue. In November 2011, voters passed a proposition to add three tenths of a percent to the city’s sales tax intake. That millage changes the city’s sales tax from 8 percent to 8.3 percent with the additional monies dedicated annually to fix the city’s streets.

The first street list presented to the Morgan City Council included: Second Street from Union to South Railroad, Brashear to Eagle, and Railroad to Everett; Sixth Street from Levee to Marguerite, and Greenwood to South Everett, Ditch Avenue from Railroad to Highway 182; Union Street, from Second to Federal, and Third Street, from South Railroad to Union.

In January, the City Council voted unanimously to award the first repair contract, which Matte said is just shy of $1 million, to Huey Stockstill Construction of Houma, with the work being completed in phases.

In other construction matters, Matte said the city committed itself to contributing $20,000 to a project with Dr. Trey Morice of Atchafalaya OB/Gyn to place a synchronized beacon installation at the corner of La. Highway 70 and Victor II Boulevard.

With changes, pedestrians will be able to control traffic flow and walk from Teche Medical Center to physician offices and along the two streets with greater safety.

The installation of the beacon is pending approval from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

A number of parks in the Morgan City area have been improved courtesy of grant and millage funds. More improvements are under way across the area. HOWARD CASTAY