SLCC considering all comers

South Louisiana Community College is currently looking at three pieces of property for a new Evangeline Campus in St. Martin Parish.

And SLCC has issued this week yet another official request for land, or RFL, “in an attempt to allow property owners to make formal proposals for donations of land,” says a SLCC news release issued Monday, Jan. 20.

At least one of the three informal offers is in Breaux Bridge, which has touched off a rivalry between the parish’s two cities.

Tuesday, Jan. 21, at a meeting moved back a day because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the St. Martinville City Council was set to pass a resolution requesting that SLCC’s Evangeline Campus remain in St. Martinville, where it has been since its establishment half a century ago.

Meanwhile, the Breaux Bridge Area Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to SLCC chancellor Dr. Natalie Harder “to heartily endorse” the relocation of the SLCC campus in Breaux Bridge.

The letter, signed by chamber president Tom Zaunbrecher, cites a litany of advantages offered by a Breaux Bridge site, including proximity to two interstate highways, the parish school board’s headquarters, a hospital, and a wide variety of restaurants and other retail businesses.

Pellerin Life Insurance offered to donate nine acres off Rees Street in Breaux Bridge adjacent to the St. Martin School Board administration building now under construction.

The City of St. Martinville has offered to purchase nine acres from the Levert Land Company off La. 31/Main Hwy. near the old Martin Mills plant and donate it to SLCC.

The location of a third piece of property under review has not been made public. It is rumored to be in or around St. Martinville.

“Through the RFL, the college is seeking a donation of nine acres of land within the parish for a new 36,000 square-foot campus,” reads the SLCC news release.
“The college received no formal responses to its two prior RFLs. Several informal offers have been made recently, however, by property owners in Breaux Bridge and St. Martinville. The college is conducting due diligence on potential infrastructure needs on three current offers.

Construction of the new campus is expected to start on July 1, the release says.

State Sen. Fred Mills Jr., the man responsible for dislodging the Evangeline Campus from its historic site on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in St. Martinville, says the issuance of a new RFL means no one site has the upper hand.
“A brand new day, a clean slate,” Mills told Teche News.

He said phone calls were fast and furious last Wednesday afternoon with the result that SLCC and state officials agreed to issue a third RFL – in effect starting the property search anew.

Mills said that this will afford interested parties the opportunity to start fresh in making proposal. Mills added that both school officials as well as state agencies have been very open and responsive to this latest development.

Mills said that the deadline for submitting proposals is usually 14 - 21 days after the request is advertised.

That starts the clock today, Wednesday, Jan. 22, with the publication of the request in Teche News, the parish’s official journal.

Legislation authorizing and funding the renovation of the Evangeline Campus, passed by the late Rep. Sydnie Mae Durand, stipulated that the campus remain in St. Martinville. Mills removed that stipulation when it became apparent that SLCC wanted significantly more property for its new campus than was available at the old site.

After requests for land donors on Sept. 19 and Oct. 17, 2013, failed to yield results from St. Martinville area property owners, Harder reached out to Breaux Bridge business interests through its Kiwanis Club, telling the Kiwanians on Friday, Jan. 10, that if property is not donated soon, the parish might lose its community college.

Frank Pellerin of Pellerin Life Insurance made an offer the following Monday, Jan. 13, to donate nine acres of prime real estate adjacent to the new St. Martin School Board’s Instructional Center currently under construction.

The City of St. Martinville quickly followed up with an offer it its own. Councilman Craig Prosper told Teche News last week they have a commitment from J.B. Levert Land Company president Louis Michael “Andy” Andolsek to acquire a seven-to-nine-acre tract on Highway 31 just south of the old Martin Mills.

“If (LCTCS) needs to get going by July, we can certainly make that happen,” said Prosper.

Mayor Thomas Nelson is set to meet with state officials on the property this week.

The city will buy the land if a donation is out of the question and either give or lease it long-term to LCTCS, Nelson said.

Locating the new community college there would put it next to Superior Derrick Services, a large-scale fabricator for the offshore oil and gas industry, a prime place for newly trained welders and machinists, Prosper said.

The Evangeline Campus’ program offerings include business office technology, welding, nurse aide, patient care technician, and practical nursing. All programming will be in one building on the new campus.

The new $9.2 million campus is part of a $173.7 million bond package for 23 construction projects on 14 campuses within the Louisiana Community and Technical College System authorized by the state Legislature in 2007.