Madisonville retains historic building

The trade made earlier this month that gave the St. Tammany Parish Library a 1.5-acre vacant plot of land adjacent to the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum in Madisonville where a new library is proposed to be built was amended by the Parish Council Thursday night.

The original ordinance agreed to swap the historic library that was damaged beyond repair by Katrina to the town in exchange for a large swath of land on Mabel Drive, donated to the library for the new structure.

After the trade was made, it was learned the damaged library at 400 Cedar St. may be eligible to receive additional FEMA funding for repairs.

After the library applied for assistance, they determined the building would not be structurally sound to support the weight of books anymore, so they opened a new branch west of the town for the time being. But FEMA still offered them money to restore the damaged building.

Library Assistant Director Don Westmoreland said when the trade was negotiated, FEMA approached the library and said their initial estimate of less than $100,000 may be too low and requested to perform a second evaluation of the property. But in order to get any money offered by FEMA, the library would need to maintain possession of the structure.

To ensure the 101-year-old building’s restoration, the council unanimously voted last night to amend the original ordinance and allow the library to retain possession of the 2,000-square-foot structure along with the plot of land until the FEMA funds are approved and disbursed.

The St. Tammany Parish Library announced sometime last year its intentions of building a state of the art library in Madisonville that would work in conjunction with the museum.

Initial plans have the facility costing nearly $5 million and totaling almost 15,000 square feet. The structure is also forecasted to maintain the architecture of the museum by being raised off the ground where the bottom level would serve as a parking lot.

Although the plans saw some opposition when first introduced, the majority of the town expressed excitement for the library.

Once complete, the library will contain numerous rooms that will be utilized as classrooms for educational events.

This will also become the 14th branch of the library system in St. Tammany.