By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The St. Charles Parish Council this week approved construction contracts for a new parish community center and new emergency operations center. The projects are part of a $29 million parish capital projects program aided by more than $11 million in grants.

The council agreed to a $10.6 million contract with Lamar Contractors of Hahnville for construction of the 30,000-square-foot Edward A. Dufresne Community Center, named in honor of the late parish judge who donated the land to the parish for the facility.

The community center was originally budgeted at $4.8 million, but parish officials said the final price tag included additional architectural fees needed to design the facility so it would not be susceptible to flooding. The changes were necessary for the parish to be able to use the building as a base for distributing food and supplies in the event of a disaster.

Parish spokesperson Renee Simpson said the parish has received about $7.8 million in Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant funding for the project. She said the parish plans to construct a permanent backup power generator at the facility through a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant in the amount of $275,000.

The building is designed to withstand winds up to 130 mph. It will include office space for Parks and Recreation, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program and the Community Services Department. The building will also feature community meeting rooms, an arena designed to seat more than 1,000 people and a 195-space parking lot. The parish will hold a groundbreaking for the community center, located next to the new Sheriff’s Office complex, Friday at 11:30 a.m. The project is expected to take about a year-and-a-half to complete.

“This facility will allow us so much flexibility in being able to get things accomplished — from scheduling a last-minute basketball game to staging assisted evacuations in a climate-controlled building to attracting special events,” Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said. “It’s something the parish will be able to grow with, as it will be built in a way that will allow for relatively easy expansions at a reasonable cost with very little downtime, and the parish will get use out of the facility on a daily basis.”

The council also accepted a $5.9 million contract with Aegis Construction of LaPlace for construction of the new emergency operations center in Hahnville, which will be built on land across from the parish courthouse. The new 13,000 square-foot facility will replace cramped offices within the basement of the courthouse that were built in the Cold War-era. The building is designed to withstand winds of up to 200 mph.

Simpson said about half the EOC’s construction costs will be paid with parish tax dollars. She said Dow Chemical donated $870,000 toward the project.

Other projects included in the parish capital projects program include a new animal shelter, which is under construction; a new driver’s license bureau, which will be built near the new EOC; a storage building for the clerk of court; and the relocation of the parish’s public work’s department and equipment yard, which are now complete.