Read the full article at HoumaToday.com
Posted Nov 23, 2017 at 7:13 PM
Residents can weigh in on a list of projects that aim to help make Terrebonne and Lafourche more resilient as the threat of inundation from the Gulf of Mexico grows.
It will be the fifth and final round of public forums led by LA SAFE, a state initiative to get public input on Louisiana’s $50 billion master plan to deal with coastal erosion and flooding and protect against hurricanes.
Terrebonne’s forum is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, along Barrow Street near La. 311.
Lafourche’s session is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Mathews Government Complex, 4876 La. 1.
Similar forums are scheduled throughout December in other coastal parishes.
“At these meetings, LA SAFE invites residents, officials and other stakeholders to come to the table one last time to have their voices heard as we present projects that are being considered in this exhibition-style event,” program officials say in a news release.
The planning team has engaged with more than 1,750 people at nearly 50 meetings across the six LA SAFE parishes since Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the initiative on March. The group has also received feedback online.
Each of the six parishes involved — the others are Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. John the Baptist and St. Tammany — will receive $5 million to $7 million for a test project based, in part, on discussions and plans that emerged from the public hearings, officials said. The communities were chosen because the $40 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that will pay for the projects is set aside specifically for parishes with unmet needs from Hurricane Isaac in 2012.
At the previous round of forums, which ended earlier this month, residents provided feedback on draft strategies developed by the LA SAFE team as a result of earlier community meetings.
Planners have since worked with residents, parish officials and others to narrow the potential project list.
Participants in the coming forums will be able to rank which projects make the most sense in their parishes, giving planners an idea of which ones residents prefer. The selected projects will be announced early 2018.
For more on the program, visit LASAFE.la.gov.
