A plan five years in the making took a huge step forward Thursday, as ground was broken on a new branch location of the Ascension Parish Library in Dutchtown.
The new library will be located along Hwy. 73 nearly across the street from Dutchtown High School.
The 23,000-square foot facility, set to be built on a 7 1/2 acre tract of land over the next 12 to 18 months, will give the system its fourth branch in the parish, joining branches in Donaldsonville, Galvez and Gonzales.
“We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” Library Director Angelle Deshautelles said.
The library received the land as a donation from owner Claire Schmidt, but planning the project has kept the land vacant for years, except for a sign bearing the coming construction.
“It takes time to plan such a project and develop it,” said Lauthaught Delaney Sr., president of the library’s board of directors. “We didn’t want to rush it. We want to have a library that’s usable as well as being user friendly.”
At its meeting last week in Donaldsonville, the Parish Council accepted the low bid of $3.6 million made by J.F. Juge Contractors of Prairieville. Henry Chauvin will serve as the architect of the project.
The library’s board budgeted $4.5 million for the project, Deshautelles said.
Deshautelles added that the new branch will also include two meeting rooms, 20 computer stations, dedicated study rooms and quiet rooms.
“Libraries aren’t what they used to be anymore,” Deshautelles said. “They’re not as quiet as in the past. So, we wanted to offer rooms where people can go to get away from the noise and just have quiet to read.”
According to statistics from the library, 304,015 people visited the three existing library branches in 2007. A total of 31,135 people currently have membership cards with the library.
Speaking on behalf of Parish President Tommy Martinez, Parish Chief Administrative Officer Cedric Grant called the event a “special day for Ascension Parish.”
“A society is measured by the value it puts into knowledge,” said Grant, who added that he lives only blocks away from the Donaldsonville library branch and visits it regularly. “This is another step forward for Ascension Parish.”
Parish Councilman George Valentine, who represents the area, said that with the increase population of Dutchtown, the need to have a library came naturally.
“I’m happy to live right across the street,” Valentine said. “The board and administrators did a great job in acquiring this land and work to build this branch all within its budget. This will definitely add to Dutchtown becoming a great community.”
Valentine also gave a comparison of how the Dutchtown community has grown in the five years since the project was born.
“When the sign went up, there were nine businesses you could see from here,” Valentine said. “Now, there’s 57 businesses in view of this sign. That shows you the growth out here and the need for such a wonderful facility as this library.”
Delaney said that the new branch is not the end of construction within the library system.
“As this parish grows, the library system is growing along with it,” he said. “We’re planning a huge expansion to our Gonzales branch which will basically double its size. This Dutchtown branch is also not the last library we plan to build in the parish.”
Deshautelles said that after budget moves are made for the Dutchtown branch, the system will have around $5.8 million for the planned Gonzales expansion.
“The board and administrators have put in numerous hours to make this project become a reality,” Delaney said. “I want to thank them for all of their hard work.”
