Morgan City Council votes to create development district

The City Council on Tuesday created an economic development district with hopes that it will generate money to promote Morgan City.

The council voted 5-0 to create the Morgan City Hotel/Motel Corridor Economic Development District, composed entirely of property containing hotels and motels, and to authorize a tax of up to 2% on hotel occupancy.

Also Tuesday, the council approved zoning changes that will limit the M.D. Shannon property, where there are plans to sell residential lots, to residential use. The council also heard about plans to condemn and demolish two properties.

And Mayor Lee Dragna gave another warning that a newly moved pump station won’t provide adequate protection against flooding.

Development district

The mayor has backed the creation of the hotel corridor as a way to fund the promotion of Morgan City specifically, not just as part of parish or regional tourism efforts.

While the ordinance authorizes a 2% tax, Dragna said the intent is to levy a 1% tax at least in the beginning. That came about after discussions with the Louisiana Travel Association, which represents local hotel and motel owners.

The district will be led by a five-member board. The members will include two representatives from the local hotel industry and three members approved by the City Council.

One potential attraction that Dragna has talked about creating and promoting is a sports complex. Impressed by a sports complex in West Monroe, the mayor has called such facilities “the next generation of tourism.”

There are no firm plans yet, but the topic came up more than once at Tuesday’s meeting.

Cajun Coast Director Carrie Stansbury told the council that the Visitors and Convention Bureau has hired Huddle Up, a sports tourism consulting company, to assess opportunities in St. Mary.

And the council passed a resolution authorizing an agreement with Sustainability Partners, a company whose website says is “committed to helping communities thrive by permanently eliminating deferred maintenance of their essential infrastructures making them reliable, safe, and efficient.”

The company covers a wide range of government operations, Chief Administrative Officer Charlie Solar told the council. Those include water meters and sports facilities.

The resolution passed Tuesday makes it possible for Sustainability Partners to take a look at Morgan City infrastructure at no initial cost to the city governmntt.

Flood warning

Dragna gave the same warning to the City Council that he gave to the Parish Council last month: The relocation of a pump station has left the city at risk of street or even home flooding during a substantial rain.

The pump station operated by Consolidated Gravity Drainage District No. 2 in the Veterans Boulevard-Ochsner St. Mary area has been moved to a site near Lake End Park. Dragna told the Parish Council that a test found that the pumps aren’t able to pump as much water as they’re designed to handle.

Dragna, who chaired the drainage district board before it was merged with the district serving Amelia, blamed the problem on the failure of the T. Baker Smith engineering firm to measure the relative elevations properly.

People will have a claim if their homes flood because the pump station couldn’t handle a big rain, Dragna warned.

Solar, who also chairs the Gravity Drainage No. 2 and consolidated district boards, acknowledged in a letter to parish officials that the pumps didn’t handle as much water as anticipated.

But, he wrote, the test showed the pumps handle 90,000-100,000 gallons of water per minute at -1 foot elevation, and 60,000-70,000 in the -3 to -4 range.

“While this is not ideal,” Solar wrote, “we believe the pumps could be utilized in a Hurricane Harvey situation to mitigate our flood risks. But, we would likely have some water retention on our streets.”

The district is working with T. Baker Smith and people in the motor and pump industries on plans to improve the performance of the pumps, he wrote.

Shannon

The council unanimously approved the creation of a new zoning class, R1-E, and applied it the portion of the M.D. Shannon school property where a residential development is planned.

R1-E limits land use to single-family dwellings and prohibits mobile homes and commercial uses.

On the Shannon property, the city government has plans to sell 15 lots geared for garden-style homes.

The city bought the historic Shannon property from the St. Mary School Board for $100,000 and plans to use the school for Biddy Basketball and other programs.

In a related matter, the council authorized Dragna to enter an agreement with Immanuel Christian School for use of the Shannon gym by Immanuel’s basketball and volleyball teams.

Demolition
The council voted to condemn and demolish buildings at 318 Second St. and 327 Kidd St.