City to buy property to expand park in Patterson

Morey Park on Main Street will almost double in size with the purchase of a piece of property the City Council agreed to purchase Tuesday night.
Ryan Aucoin, director of Community Development/Affairs, said the purchase of the land that adjoins the northern part of the park situated on the Lower Atchafalaya, paves the way to move forward with improvements that will hopefully attract visitors as well as let local citizens have a place to spend quality time with their families. Improvements include building a wharf, which could be fished from, and a pavilion.
The council unanimously passed an ordinance to purchase what is commonly known as the Golino property for up to $125,000. The purchase would include all buildings and improvements on the property, which include a house and shed.
“There is no set plan yet as to what will happen with those two structures,” Aucoin said.
The land is a little over half an acre and would double the size of the park, Aucoin said. The first thing the city would give attention to would be placing bulkheads on the property and then building a wharf, he said.
Groundbreaking on some of the improvements could begin this year if the property is purchased and further improvements will be an ongoing project, Aucoin said.
“We have a lot of ideas of what we could do with the park,” Aucoin said.
Mayor Rodney Grogan said he met with Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development head Sherri LeBas and state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, about traffic concerns along U.S. 90. He was told that while a traffic light on the highway is still being considered, the more realistic expectation is the highway department will build J-turns and cut off intersections in an attempt to make the thoroughfare safer through Patterson.
LeBas promised to move up the improvements to the highway by 18 months, he said. Those improvements will be part of a $4.5 million project in advance of raising the entire highway to interstate standards.
Grogan said in addition to safety issues associated with the highway and the volume of traffic, the situation is often made worse by driver inattention, the use of cell phones and poor judgment in attempting to cross the highway.
Grogan said the city continues to work on its water and sewer lines. There was no contamination Friday morning in the water after turning off the water city-wide for crews to work on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue water lines. The mayor issued a state-mandated water boil advisory which was lifted Saturday morning when tested water samples were found clean.
But when the water was turned back on around 9 a.m. Friday, a water line appears to have caused problems, Grogan said.
Steve Bierhorst, public works director, said this morning that an old Grout Street to Railroad Avenue water line burst when the water was turned back on, but it has been repaired. The line does not have any customers tied in to it and the city is considering abandoning the line completely, Bierhorst said.
Bierhorst explained that crews made a hole in a resident’s driveway to repair the line and that hole has been temporarily repaired until the city determines what to do with the water line.
Grogan said city crews deserve to be applauded for the work they are doing on all of the water lines, he said.
The council agreed to allow a Class A and C liquor permit to be issued to Catherine Crane for Mama Cat’s, a lounge where people can shoot pool, at 1104 Main St. She and her husband promised the council that they would keep music at a level that would not bother neighbors, they would prohibit guns and have a door person screening patrons.
The council approved retaining Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Company as its auditor and approved the city’s new handbook. The handbook has been the subject of several workshops with council members.
City Engineer Clay Breaud from Providence/Gulf South Engineering said a pre-bid meeting was held June 19 for the water treatment plant and bids are expected to be opened on July 8.
He explained that water lines had been replaced, with some difficulty, on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and work on the sewer lines there was ongoing. Gray Construction Company was awarded the sewer line project for $299,978.50 and is to be substantially complete by Sept. 1.
Bids on the Willow Street Sewer lines are expected July 24 with a pre-bid meeting on July 10.
Councilwoman Sandra Turner asked why the curve in the road at the recently repaired bridge entering the Shady Grove subdivision remains. Breaud said “dress-up” work remains and “we will do the best we can” to make the curve less severe by widening the roadway as much as can be done.