Friday, June 06, 2014

St. Landry Parish in line to receive $500,000 in state funds: Money will be used to upgrade the St. Landry Parish Airport (KOPL), ag arena and other projects

St. Landry Parish Airport employee Travis Sam prepares to move a plane Thursday located in one of the airport's hangars. 


State Sen. Elbert Lee Guillory delivered the news that St. Landry Parish is in line to receive more than $500,000 in projects from the state.

“I’ve been gone since January trying to find some good things in Baton Rouge, and I think I have,” Guillory, R-Opelousas, told the parish council’s administrative finance committee this week.

Awaiting Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature is a major bill funding projects throughout the state. The House and Senate have already passed it.

Included in that bill are about $300,000 for new hangars at the parish airport, $120,000 for upgrades to the Yambilee Ag Arena, $65,000 in upgrades to the Delta Grand and $5,000 for improvements to the Lawtell baseball field.

Guillory said the entire package totals $545,000. “I’m honored to be able to deliver this good news to you,” Guillory said.

“This is very welcome. It is coming at a good time,” said Parish President Bill Fontenot. “We have many needs, and this will help.”


Parish airport
The biggest part of the funding package will add about a dozen small hangars to Ahart Field, located just north of Opelousas off La. 749.

The airport is run by parish government. In addition to its two runways, it is already home to about 60 planes.

The parish operates two large hangars at the facility. It recently converted an unused storage building into a small, six-plane hangar.

Despite that, Fontenot said there is a waiting list of about 20 more aircraft owners who want to base their planes at the field.

Fontenot said increasing the field’s capacity will generate more revenue for the airport and foster economic growth for the parish.

The existing large hangars shelter several planes. The new ones will be one- and two-plane hangars, which the parish plans to offer at a competitive rate.

Fontenot said the goal isn’t to make money on the hangars, but on fuel sales.

“Our fuel sales have increased 400 percent since the parish took the field over,” said Jessie Bellard, the parish’s director of administration. “The addition of 12 more planes will increase that even more.”

RV hookups are always in demand.

Those hookups will also come in handy should another hurricane or other disaster strike the region. The arena is a designated livestock shelter and is often filled to capacity with animals that have to be evacuated from low lying areas when danger threatens.


Other projects

At the Delta Grand Theatre, beside Courthouse Square in downtown Opelousas, the funds will pay for a major lighting system upgrade.

“We have a lot of events that want to come to the Delta, including some major New York shows, but they require certain things and this new LED lighting system is one of them,” Fontenot said.

The smallest project, at the Lawtell ballpark, will have a big impact.

“They held their first ball game there this week in over 10 years,” Bellard said. “They have more than 200 kids signed up. They are really hustling.”

He said $5,000 isn’t much, but it is enough to purchase materials and parish workers will then supply the labor to add a pavilion and an upgraded concession area.

The ball field is a joint project between parish government, the parish council and the St. Landry Parish School Board.

The field got a major shot in the arm this past year when it was chosen as one of the St. Landry-Evangeline United Way’s Make a Difference Day projects. Scores of volunteers cleared away debris, restored the bleachers and fences and repainted everything in site.

If the governor signs the bill, the money is expected to become available with the state’s new budget year that beings July 1.

Source:  http://www.dailyworld.com

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