Officials explore Lakefront restaurant idea

After years of talk about trying to bring a restaurant to Lake End Parkway in Morgan City, organizers hope to finally make substantial progress on putting that talk into action.

Last year, community group St. Mary Excel commissioned Urban Land Institute to do an economic study to explore ways to diversify and grow the Morgan City and Berwick area economy.

Among the recommendations in the study released earlier this year was to try to facilitate building a restaurant at Lake End Parkway. St. Mary Excel is working with the Restaurant on the Lake committee to determine what would be necessary to bring a restaurant to the parkway.

Michelle Denning has done of much of the work on developing the plan, Mancuso said.

That plan involves pursuing a public-private partnership in which the city could partner with a private developer to construct a restaurant on the banks of Lake Palourde, said Monica Mancuso, president of St. Mary Excel, during Tuesday’s Morgan City Council meeting.

Officials have put together a request for qualifications, which would showcase what’s already in the area and allow people to present ideas. Authorities would then select the best ideas to implement, Mancuso said.

Councilman Louis Tamporello said the concept of putting a restaurant on the city’s lakefront has been discussed for 10 to 12 years. He expressed support of the idea for officials to take an active approach to gauging interest from developers to make the idea a reality.

Putting together requests for qualifications would easily and clearly provide information to developers interested in the area and also would not require the city to commit to a project should officials choose to reject any proposal, Mancuso said.

Mancuso asked that the council consider taking action on publicly releasing the request for qualifications at its May council meeting.

During Tuesday’s meeting, resident Jeff Matherne said he was recently digging around the Lawrence Park marker sign to assist the Block 27 Committee, which is trying to revitalize the park.

The park sign is currently located at the corner of 2nd and Everett streets. During the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, the sign is blocked by the stage and not visible, Matherne said.

Matherne was approached about possibly moving the sign to a more visible spot at the corner of 2nd and Freret streets. Matherne has agreed to do all of the work himself if the council approves the measure. The council didn’t take any action on the matter Tuesday.

In other business, the council

—Approved supporting the Louisiana Development Ready Communities Program and its work plan.

—Declared surplus equipment in the city’s old steam plant that’s no longer in use.

—Declared surplus six air pack bottles from the fire department and approved a cooperative endeavor agreement to donate those bottles to the Stephensville Volunteer Fire Department.

—Authorized the city to enter into an agreement to donate four surplus police units to the town of Baldwin.

—Approved closing the La. 182 bridge in Morgan City from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 13 as part of the “Easy Riding on the Bayou” event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the filming of the movie “Easy Rider” in St. Mary Parish. The event is held in conjunction with Bikers on the Bayou in downtown Franklin that same day.

— Approved the American Legion Riders Post 328’s 17th annual Freedom Ride May 26. The ride starts at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium at 9 a.m. Members place wreaths at Blue Star Markers throughout the parish to honor veterans.

—Approved World Mission Inc. to hold its seventh annual free youth tennis camp at Lawrence Park from 8-10 a.m. June 3-6.

—Introduced an ordinance to adopt the city’s millage rate of 14.75 mills for municipal expenses in 2019, .97 mills for the purpose of paying interest due on bonds issued by the city and 2 mills to pay for maintenance and other expenses associated with the auditorium.

—Authorized providing up to $1,800 to assist the Mississippi Bass Federation with hosting a qualifying tournament in the area.

—Approved pre-clearance on liquor and beer permits for Yra Chaves doing business at The Michelada House, 500 Front St. Tamporello was the lone vote against the pre-clearance permits.

—Accepted the appointments of Linda Bradley to the Archives Commission, Bethany Taylor Thibodeaux to the Main Street Committee, Jo Ann Blanchard and Jackie Cheramie to the Historic District Committee and Angela Reynaud to the Convention, Tourism and Culture Committee.

—Observed a moment of silence for longtime city employee Tracy Lajaunie who recently died.