Memorial park will be built in front of courthouse

When St. Charles Parish President V. J. St. Pierre Jr. left office in 2015, he wanted a Veterans Memorial and Community Park in Luling and left with assurances from incoming Parish President Larry Cochran that it would get done.

At Monday’s council meeting, the $72,000 engineering contract for a memorial park was awarded to Linfield, Hunter & Junius Inc., but the project was approved with differences.

The approved $489,000 memorial park will be built on the front lawn of the St. Charles Parish Courthouse.

Before leaving office, St. Pierre said he planned it to go on land donated by Judge Edward Dufresne in Luling. He said putting the park there would meet Dufresne’s request that whatever was built on the land surrounding the Edward A. Dufresne Community Center would benefit everyone.

The former parish president also noted the parish lacked a veterans memorial so he planned one as a large community park for the location.

The plan approved Monday calls for honoring all branches of the military along with first responders and law enforcement.

Cochran’s administration has released artist renderings of the proposed park on the courthouse grounds.

The Hahnville park would include monuments, a memorial wall and water fountain. Seating will be provided inside the park.

Linfield, Hunter & Junius Inc. has been hired to design and oversee construction of the park.

The project will be done in phases with Phase 1 to begin this year.

Councilwoman Julia Fisher-Perrier said she’d been contacted by the West St. Charles VFW Post 3750 saying they’d only met once with the parish about the project and asked for more time to consider the project.

Darrin Duhe, the parish’s executive director of procurement and government buildings, assured Fisher-Perrier there would be more meetings about it although the council proceeded with awarding the contract.

Resident Milton Allemand of Hahnville told the council he supported a military memorial, but questioned including law enforcement when it has its own memorial and first responders that can afford its own memorial.