By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – St. John Parish President Bill Hubbard said that he will probably seek an April election date to make what he calls his final attempt to get voters to support a bond issue for a hurricane levee in St. John.

Hubbard said that the events seen in St. John from the two recent hurricanes make it more clear than ever how important a levee is here.

St. John officials had proposed a $25 million bond issue this past summer that included $4 million to pay for the local share of the hurricane levee along the lake.

But voters narrowly defeated the bond issue.

That left St. John residents without the matching money to the federal project, which will ultimately give the parish the hurricane levee it has needed for so long.

Following Hurricane Ike’s passage to the southwest of Louisiana, the potential for flooding here was made clear as many homes on the north side of Airline Highway had water lapping up to their doorsteps, while several dozen homes in the parish took water and actually flooded.

That was only from a 6-foot storm surge created from Ike’s winds. Hubbard said that a serious hurricane that comes more directly at our region could prove to be devastating.

“Ike showed us what potential there is from hurricane winds that hit us from the north and push the lake water back up the drainage canals and through the swamp to our homes,” he said. “If we got a major hurricane that came this way, I estimate that anyone north of Airline Highway could possibly have their home flood.”

Hubbard said he will try one time, and one time only, to get the bond issue passed again, and he expects it to be on an election date in April.

“I want to get it on the first possible election date and that is looking like the most probable date for us to vote again,” he said.

In the last election, the bond issue was ticketed to fund a multitude of items, including renovation of the Edgard courthouse, building more local recreation facilities, doing serious work on local drainage, improving the East Bank parish administrative facility, and more.

The $4 million for the hurricane levee was just a part of the bond issue, and Hubbard says that when he brings the matter back to the public one more time, the issue will be similar, but more specific about what will be done with the money.

Hubbard believes that the only reason the bond issue failed the first time was because it coincidentally fell on the ballot the same day the vote was there to decide on incorporating the Town of Garyville.

That controversial issue ended up getting voted down and Hubbard said that a breakdown of vote totals showed an overwhelming number of people in Garyville voted against the bond issue.

“No doubt in my mind, the bond issue would have passed if the Garyville question was not on the ballot,” he said. “The people there voted it down, but I think the next time it will be different since we will be more specific with what we propose, and we won’t have a controversial issue like that to deal with.”

The winds from Hurricane Ike brought a surprisingly large amount of water to many areas in St. John Parish that had previously not had such flooding.

Getting flooded streets and some flooded homes were areas like Cambridge, River Forest, LaPlace Park, Foxwod, Live Oak, Old 51, Homewood and Pleasure Bend. Also, Central Avenue in Reserve, as well as other areas in Reserve, received very high water in many locations.

“If we would have had 10 inches of rain from Ike, half of the houses north of Airline would have flooded,” Hubbard explained. “This just showed how vital the hurricane levee is.”

The parish even brought out inflatable sandbags for some areas, and had sandbags being offered at select locations through their web site, trying to help stop the flooding.

The $4 million will just pay the St. John portion of the hurricane levee planned by the Corps of Engineers, and it will be for Phase I of the project that is beginning in New Orleans, and coming through St. Charles, through St. John, and going west towards Baton Rouge. It is the long-awaited hurricane protection levee that has been sought for many years by region officials. But St. John cannot get the levee done without getting the bond issue passed so they can pay their share of the matching money to the federal project.

“You have to remember that this was just an inland tidal surge,” Hubbard said. “If we get a big storm, and if that hurricane levee is not there, it would be catastrophic.

“I’m going to put the bond issue up one more time for the voters in April, and if they vote it down, I promise you will never see me try that again. So hopefully they will pass it for the good of so many people here, and for their property,” he added.