St. Mary Excel reports third-quarter activities

(Editor's note: St. Mary Excel submitted this quarterly report for July 1-Sept. 30.)

St. Mary Excel continues its work to implement recommendations of the Urban Land Institute panel, “Morgan City and Berwick Louisiana: Building the Foundation for a New Economy Along the Atchafalaya River.”

St Mary Excel:
—Sent a letter of appreciation to Gov. John Bel Edwards, who officially recommended the Atchafalaya Coastal Basin as the preferred site for the National Estuarine Research Reserve for Louisiana. Excel board President Catherine Holcomb had made public comments at the June 15 2022 Coastal Protection and Restor-tion Board meeting thanking the governor for the recommendation.

Excel board member Kelly Boudreaux, supported by Margaret Metz Theriot, presented testimony July 28 at a congressional briefing hosted by the Coastal States Organization on the community process of engagement in NERR designation. This briefing was part of the federal 50th anniversary of the Coastal Zone Management Act.

—Hosted a meeting of local officials with Dr. Robert Twilley on July 19 for hearing next steps in the NERR process. Attendees included: St. Mary Parish government and Economic Development Office, city of Morgan City, town of Berwick, state Sen. Brett Allain, Friends of NERR organizers and St. Mary Excel.

—Facilitated a meeting of stakeholders from the Morgan City-Berwick-Amelia area to provide input on the use of flood mitigation tools for informing the state’s coastal master plan and watershed initiative. The meeting was hosted by researchers from The Water Institute of the Gulf and Purdue University.

Stakeholders from the Stephensville community participated in a similar meeting. Input from the meetings will be reported in a project titled, “Incorporating Equity and Social Vulnerability into the Design of Flood Risk and Mitigation Strategies.”

The project will contribute to research used to inform the state’s coastal master plan and watershed initiative.

—Applauded Berwick elected officials in their Lighthouse Food Truck development. Council-woman Colleen Askew facilitated and highlighted the Berwick community’s food truck investment in a podcast hosted by Kevin Shepherd of Verdunity.
Verdunity’s work in the area was made possible through a USDA grant to St. Mary Excel.

—Applauded the city of Morgan City and town of Berwick in their completion of the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area signage project to connect neighborhoods (Elliott, Walsh, Wyandotte, Old Brashear, Klingsville, Golden Farms, Coal Chute, and MacArthur) with planned and existing biking trails.

—Made inquiry on process for resurfacing La. 182 (making ADA sidewalks and turning lanes) as appropriate to local priorities.

—Participated in a meeting hosted by the city of Morgan City on the Bike Morgan City project. At the meeting, Cassie Parker of South Central Planning reviewed grants received to: 1) place pedestrian head crossings on intersections identified as dangerous crossings for pedestrians/bikers; 2) place trails from downtown Morgan City to South Louisiana Community College.

At the meeting, Mayor Lee Dragna requested and secured additional Recreational Trails funding from the recreational trails program to complete the biking/hiking trails from the Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau via the levee to David Drive and then striping to La. 70.

—Hosted a Local Interest Group meeting Sept. 16 to share information across political subdivisions and community organizations.

Topics included: LANERR, upcoming neighborhood recognition challenge, resilience lab status, lighthouses, river dredging progress, chamber activities and more. Group members were encouraged to present the information shared with them to members of the entity they represent.

Attendee representatives included: Kiwanis, Nicholls State University, South Louisiana Comm-unity College Young Memorial Campus, Lake End Park, St. Mary Parish Economic Development Office, Rotary International, Ochsner St. Mary, town of Berwick, city of Morgan City, Charlie Rig Museum, AARP/Keep St. Mary Beautiful, Sen. Brett Allain’s office, Rep. Beryl Amedee’s office, Port of Morgan City, and Hellenic Inc.

Organizations that were invited, but unable to attend included: St. Mary Parish School Board, NAACP, Central Catholic High School, 100 Black Men, Ministerial Alliance, The H & B Young Foundation, St. Mary Parish Levee District, Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau, Community Foundation of Acadiana St. Mary Parish Affiliate, and Hoodstock. Representatives of organizations unable to attend may e-mail catherinepholcomb@att.net for a YouTube video recording of the meeting.

The next meeting for the group is planned for January 2023 unless needed earlier.