SugArena among area projects getting help from capital outlay budget

Published 6:00 am Sunday, June 13, 2021

The recently completed spring session of the Louisiana Legislature was a productive one, from all accounts, but it is especially important for several projects in the Teche Area that received funding through the adopted capital outlay budget.

One of the big winners from the legislation is the Acadiana Fairgrounds, better known locally as the SugArena.

The often neglected facility that provides a home for local rodeo, 4-H and barrel racing competitors. And, thanks to grassroots efforts to lobby for funding, the facility will be getting a new tractor, new paint and a booth for its judges and announcer during the competitions that take place there.

“I reached out to Sen. Fred Mills to see if there was anything we could do to get funding,” said Acadiana Fairgrounds Board Chairman Pat Carlyon, a retired educator who became chairman a little over a year ago after a year as vice-chairman. “He put me in touch with Blake Miguez and Beau Beaullieu, and we were able to get some legislation written.”

The results were beyond Carlyon’s expectations. The final capital outlay plan that Gov. John Bel Edwards signed into law last week includes $400,000 for the facility to do some much needed work.

“Well, we will get a new tractor,” Carlyon said. “Everybody was excited when we got the old one repaired, but it still needed to be replaced. And we will be painting the whole structure, scraping down the beams and the rest of the building to make it look nice and last a while longer.”

Other projects planned for the windfall include upgrading the fire alarm system and building a booth to keep the announcer and judges, as well as their equipment, out of the elements and provide some soundproofing during competitions.

For the SugArena money, the odds are good that it will be funded but not definite. The money is in the plan at a Priority 2, which in past years meant it may be funded this year, maybe next, but it is still likely at some point. Most items rated Priority 1, or those that are funded with non-recurring revenues or other monies in the budget, are more likely to come through.

Although the SugArena had received revenue from the parish government in the past for operating and maintenance expenses, that money dwindled over the years. When the oilfield bust landed on Iberia Parish with a resounding thud in 2015, the SugArena was one of the operations targeted for cuts.

Not all of the funding coming to the Teche Area is for specific local projects. Two larger items, the Morganza to Gulf of Mexico Flood Control Feasibility Study and I-49 extension from Lafayette to the Westbank Expressway, also received funding. Those projects touch on Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes, as well as several others.

In Iberia Parish specifically, the plan designates $2.3 million for the Rodere Canal Water Control Structure, which is a part of the parish’s master plan for flood control. Additionally, there is $180,000 for planning and construction of new elevators for the Iberia Parish Courthouse, $450,000 for improvements to Labit Road, as well as funding for the dredging of the channel leading to the Port of Iberia, improvements to City Park and West End Park in New Iberia, and funds for a new fire station in Loreauville.

St. Martin parish also has some sizable projects on tap, mainly repairs to the levee along Louisiana Highway 352 and an access road for the Spanish Trail Industrial Park. There is also $750,000 for drainage work along the Joe Daigre Canal, a project that has been anticipated for years.

In St. Mary Parish, the capital outlay plan includes $14.4 million for the Back Lakeside Flood Protection Project, as well as $3 million for overlay of a portion of Louisiana Highway 182.

The Franklin Foundation Hospital is also slated to receive $1 million for a wellness center.

Here’s a list of some of the projects that either have a designation of Priority 1 or are dedicated from non-recurring revenues in the state’s 2021-2022 Capital Outlay Plan.

IBERIA PARISH

Rodere Canal water control structure, $2,300,000

Courthouse elevators, $180,000

Labit Road improvements, $450,000

Sewer system improvements, $200,000

Acadiana Gulf of Mexico Access Channel (AGMAC), $28,000,000

Squirrel Run levee maintenance, $250,000

Loreauville Fire Station, $882,000

Bayou Teche Museum expansion and George Rodrigue Park, $2,207,500

New Iberia City Park and West End Community Centers improvements, $500,000

Fulton Street Landing, $360,000

Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory, $1,932,185

Progress Point Business Park and Airport Gateway, $2,164,680

ST. MARTIN PARISH

Louisiana Highway 352 Levee Slide Repair, $ 2,200,000

Road Improvements on Four-Mile Bayou Road, $739,000

Joe Daigre Canal drainage improvements, $750,000

Spanish Trail Industrial Park Access Road, $1,000,000

Parks Water System improvements, $50,000

St. Martinville Water Drainage Project, $200,000

North Business Park, $400,000

ST. MARY PARISH

St. Mary Back Lakeside Flood Protection, $14,400,000

Louisiana Highway 182 overlay from State Highway 3069 to State Highway 317, $3,000,000

West St. Mary Hydrologic Study, $187,500

Infrastructure Improvements and Construction of a Welding Training Center Facility at the Charenton Canal Industrial Park, $500,000

Reconstruction of Martin Luther King Roadway in Charenton, $ 750,000

Reconstruction of St. Peters Road near Jeanerette $500,000

Baldwin Potable Water System Improvements, $200,000

Franklin Foundation Hospital Wellness Center, $1,000,000