Morgan City P&Z will take a look at Shannon subdivision plan

Morgan City’s zoning board will get a look at plans for a residential development on the M.D. Shannon Elementary property at a meeting Tuesday.

The Morgan City Planning & Zoning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Morgan City Court building.

On the agenda is a proposal “to divide 1.6 acres of property bordered by Federal Ave., Wise St., and the M.D. Shannon school playground to create a new residential subdivision.”

The commission will also consider “a new zoning district which shall be applied to the locality.”

Historic M.D. Shannon, which once housed Morgan City High School, was most recently M.D. Shannon Elementary. The St. Mary Parish School Board closed Shannon and Hernandez Elementary in 2015 as a cost-saving move during a time of declining enrollment.

The Shannon building continued to cost the School Board $40,000 a year in utilities and maintenance. The School Board began looking for a buyer.

Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna stepped forward in August 2021 with a plan calling on the city government to buy the school. The building itself would be available to host city sports programs such as Biddy Basketball.

Dragna also proposed a residential development in the area bounded by Wise and Federal.

Under the original proposal, that property would be divided into 16 lots, each between 42 feet by 75 feet and 50 feet by 75 feet.

The lots would be laid out in two rows with a 37-foot common area — including an oval walking track — between them.

The lots would be sold by the city’s development district.

The city government bought the Shannon property in spring 2022 for $100,000 spread over three years.

The proposal looks like a win-win for the city government and the School Board, plus the local housing market.

But the idea may face some push-back.

Virgil Allen, the Mr. Charlie Rig Museum president, is also a resident of the neighborhood near Shannon.

He believes the city government could find a better use for the historic property.

“To me, that makes no sense,” Allen said. “What they want to do they can do somewhere else.”

Allen believes the lots could be a tough sell in a time with relatively high mortgage rates.

“You’ve already got empty lots,” Allen said. “You’ve got empty houses.”