Here is a selection of items on the agendas for this week’s meetings of the City and Parish councils. To see the full agendas, check out the links below:
- Parish Agenda
- City Agenda (Public Comment Time!)
Lafayette 101
Unincorporated areas
Lafayette Parish is home to six municipalities, each of which has its own local government. The area outside the limits of those cities is considered unincorporated and is overseen by the parish government. Property taxes are lower in the unincorporated parts of Lafayette Parish, but local government services are reduced as a result.
Parish Council
Reports & Discussions
Fire Protection. After leading efforts to undo a set of minor property tax increases that funded fire protection in the unincorporated area, among other services, Parish Council Chair Josh Carlson is reviving the rural fire protection issue Tuesday. Lafayette Parish’s city governments typically send their fire department resources to calls in the unincorporated area, but they have repeatedly butted heads with parish government over reimbursements for that.
Final Adoption
$82 million. The Parish Council will vote on recognizing an additional $3 million from the state for its Bayou Vermilion Flood Control project, which includes the massive and embattled Homewood Drive detention ponds, as well as a major group of detention ponds along Coulee Ile des Cannes near Ridge Road. The $3 million, alongside another $10 million expected from the state in the future, brings the state’s share of the project up to $61.6 million, which is being matched by $20.5 million from parish government, largely through federal Covid relief funds. LCG has all but finished work at the CIDC ponds, and it expects to finish the Homewood ponds by February.
Louisiana Ave. Also up for a final vote Tuesday is a plan by Guillory’s administration to shift $1.6 million in Covid funds to the Louisiana Avenue extension project by cutting funding for Carmel Drive sidewalks and a City-Parish Hall roof replacement, and spending $635,000 of the parish’s unallocated funds.
Introduction
No significant items.
City Council
Final Adoption
New signal. The City Council will vote Tuesday on Councilman Andy Naquin’s plan to spend up to $250,000 to add a traffic signal to the intersection of Congress and Marie Antoinette streets near Lafayette High School. Marie Antoinette is frequently used as a connection between Congress and Johnston streets, and its intersection with Congress is a regular choke point for traffic, particularly during congested school arrival and departure times.
Moore Park. The council will also vote on the Guillory administration’s request to declare the overhaul of Moore Park near University Avenue a public necessity, which would allow Guillory to make agreements, spend money and even expropriate property. Plans include renovating nine of the park’s soccer fields and adding parking in currently-vacant areas in a $15 million bid to increase Lafayette’s sport tourism industry. The City Council has previously pushed back against the Guillory administration’s use of “public necessity” ordinances after they were used for controversial quick take expropriations on Homewood Drive and Lake Farm Road in 2021.
Introduction
No significant items.
Joint Items
Final Adoption
No significant items.
Introduction
No items.
Property
| Address | Approval | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 200 & 300 Block of Breaux Road | Parish Council | Appeal of Parish Planning Commission Action |
| 1114, 1116, 1120 & 1204 S Sterling St. | Joint councils | Donation of adjudicated property to non-profit Open Doors Louisiana [Final] |
| 421 Carmel Drive & 1508 Louisiana Ave. | City Council | Rezoning from Residential Single-Family (RS-1) to Commercial-Heavy (CH), Mixed-Use Neighborhood (MN-1) and Public/Institutional Light (PI-L) [Final] |
| 406 East Simcoe St. | City Council | Rezoning from Mixed-Use Neighborhood (MN-1) to Mixed-Use Neighborhood (MN-2) [Final] |
| 200-400 Block Bertrand Drive | City Council | Rezoning from Commercial-Heavy (CH) to Commercial Mixed (CM-1) and Mixed-Use Neighborhood (MN-1) [Final] |