By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — A project designed to alleviate flooding and make LaPlace’s Foxwood neighborhood safer during severe rain events is one step closer to completion.

The long-awaited Foxwood Drainage Improvement Project, which will include construction of a levee to protect homes in Foxwood Subdivision, is estimated to be complete in 2015.

Once completed, the levee will extend along the north side of the Foxwood Subdivision from the LaPlace Plantation Canal to the existing LaPlace Park Levee.

The St. John the Baptist Parish Council granted authorization to advertise for bids for the project at a meeting this month, where Parish Chief Administrative Officer Michael Coburn said the levee’s design is complete. Coburn said the estimated cost of the project is $2 million, the majority of which is funded by a Gustav/Ike Community Development Block Grant and the remaining amount funded through the 2009 bond issue.

Councilwoman Jaclyn Hotard said the project is a long time in the making.

“I’m looking forward to getting the project done,” she said, adding the residents of the subdivision deserve the flood protection.

Councilman Marvin Perrilloux thanked parish administrative officials and everyone involved in getting the project moving forward.

In March 2013 a Council resolution certified the Foxwood Levee as “urgently needed,” moving the project closer to completion. At the time parish administration said the project would alleviate conditions that pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the parish and are a direct result of the damages sustained in Hurricanes Gustav/Ike.

In October 2013 parish administration requested Council action on a $101,250 wetland mitigation contract for the levee project. The agreement and payment for 2.7 acres of forested wetlands located along the future levee alignment allowed St. John Parish to receive the final permit for the levee from the Department of Natural Resources.