Alison Kuntz, 24, was so excited she could barely stand still Tuesday afternoon. The cars whizzed by on Louisiana Highway 36 in Abita Springs as she a many others gathered around to dedicate and bless a sign.

But for Kuntz, and many of the others that stood on the narrow highway shoulder, this sign was more than a marker for a new development. This sign was a symbol of their future — a future these young adults and their parents feared would never be.

On Tuesday afternoon in the blistering sun, five families gathered to dedicate the sign marking the future home of St. Andrew’s Village.

Future St. Andrew's Villagers who came out Tuesday afternoon to showtheir enthusiasm for the project are, from left, Erin Wales, Drew Kearns, Andrew Zainey, Walker Lopez and Alison Kuntz.

They were joined by families from Baton Rouge as well as many local and state dignitaries, including Abita Springs Mayor Louis Fitzmorris, Mayor Pro Tem Sheri Campbell, Former Parish Council member Pat Brister, USDA Rural Development Director Sean Leblanc and Executive Director for Disability Affairs for the Governor’s Office Brandon Burris.

A group of parents of adults with disabilities, representing five families, is heading up the project, which will be built on the 100-acre tract off Louisiana Highway 36. Patterned after successful developments in other states, St. Andrew’s Village is a faith-based community designed to provide developmentally disabled adults a place to live independently of their parents. It in turn will give the parents of these individuals peace of mind, as they will no longer have to worry about what will happen to their children once they pass away.

The development will be focused around a town center and will include an amphitheater, a recreational facility; contract work facilities; commercial businesses, where the residents can work; a restaurant; a medical facility; agricultural fields; and a chapel.

Surrounding the town center will be residences for the “villagers.”

These will consist of four bedroom homes. Three of the bedrooms will be rented out to developmentally disabled individuals and the fourth will be for a support person. Each resident will have his or her own bedroom and bathroom, and each home will include a family room, laundry room and kitchen.

Residents will share meals and will be fully supported in all activities of daily living.

The homes, which have been designed by Holly and Smith Architects, will resemble the cottages characteristic of Abita Springs.

The development itself is being developed pro bono by Krebs, LeSalle and LeMieux Consultants.

Executive Director Donna Breaux hopes to break ground on the development late this year, and hopes to have residents occupying homes by late 2010.

That day cannot come soon enough for Ellen Tomeny and Debbie Tullos, who came out Tuesday afternoon all the way from Baton Rouge. The women said there is nothing like this anywhere in the state and to having something like this being built only 50 minutes from their home is wonderful. Tomeny and Tullos hope their children, James and Rachel will be able to live and work in St. Andrews Village.

The first phase is going to cost $10 million dollars, with the total project carrying a $30 million price tag. However, once it is built and occupied, the development will be self-sustaining.

“We are very pleased that St. Andrew’s Village chose Abita Springs as its location,” said Fitzmorris. “We have been working closely with the founders of St. Andrew’s Village for over a year and believer that the facility will enhance out local community in a variety of ways in addition to providing a safe, residential and day habilitation setting for adults with special

needs.”

“It looks right, it feels right and it seems like the right place to be here,” Breaux said of the choice to locate in Abita Springs.

Kuntz echoed that sentiment, saying she cannot wait to be a villager.