Council backs $500,000 Delta Regional Authority grant application for culvert and conveyance work

Parish staff requested a board resolution to apply for $500,000 from the Delta Regional Authority's State Economic Development Assistance program to fund phase 2 of culvert and conveyance improvements at the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railroad crossings at Fairfield and Oakland.

"The Delta Regional Authority was created on the federal level," Miss Chastain told the council and explained the grant program targets communities in the Mississippi River Delta region; she said the parish previously secured DRA funding for the Parity Canal Gate. The application requires a council resolution in support of the submittal. Council members voiced support and the resolution authorizing the parish president to submit the application passed unanimously.

The funding would be applied to construction costs for three culverts under the railroad line in a Saint Rose drainage-improvement project; staff said additional watershed-initiative funds are being used alongside the DRA request to make the project shovel-ready. No matching-dollar obligations or precise financing terms were presented at the meeting; council approval at this session authorized the application process, not an award.