Here is a selection of items on the agendas for this week’s meetings of the Lafayette City and Parish councils. To see the full agendas, check out the links below:
Crime cameras. The parish is receiving $40,000 from the state treasury department that would be given to the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office to install crime cameras in Picard Park in Milton. The cameras would tie into LPSO’s Real Time Crime Center.
Housing funds. Both councils would vote on accepting $200,000 in federal Community Development Block Grants to be used toward first-time homebuyer loans and other block grant-eligible programs. Block grants are funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and are often used for housing rehabilitation and demolitions of blighted properties along with other housing-related activities.
No significant items.
No significant items.
Downtown budget. The Downtown Development Authority is a quasi-governmental public body, so the Lafayette City Council must recognize and approve its budget. The organization had $2 million in revenues and spent $648,000 in 2026, leaving an ending fund balance of $676,000 for the past fiscal year.
Lafayette grants. Lafayette’s Community Development Arts Review Panel wants to provide grant funding to several city organizations, including the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, the Children’s Museum of Acadiana and Basin Arts. The total grant funding available is $50,000 of a total request of $82,500 across several organizations.
ARPA funds. The city council is looking to move $223,000 in leftover federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars from completed projects to the City General Fund, in an effort to spend the money before an ARPA spending deadline of Dec. 31, 2026. Otherwise, the funds would have to be returned to the federal government. Around $223,000 is being moved from a fund for Sun Wellness Center and a Vermilion Street design project. The city received $86 million in APRA funding following the COVID-19 pandemic. Boulet inherited $28 million of those funds when she entered office back in late 2023, with roughly $1.6 million as of early this year, according to LCG budget documents.
K9 training & more. The city is receiving $220,000 from the state, which will then be routed to the Lafayette Police Department to develop a new canine training facility. Funds will be used to purchase and survey land, put up site fencing and assess the overall project cost. Additionally, the city marshal’s office would receive $100,000 for metal detectors, a trailer and defibrillators.
Health screenings. The city is receiving a $177,954 FEMA grant to conduct cancer screenings for Lafayette firefighters. The city is matching the grant with $17,795 transferred from the Lafayette Fire Department’s capital outlay funds.
Rezoning. If this introduction is approved, the city council would consider whether to rezone nine properties off of General Mouton Avenue that are currently zoned for heavy commercial use, turning the area into a mix-used neighborhood, so the properties can be turned into short-term and long-term rentals, with the plan to bring in retail.
Another downtown bar. A bar is looking to open downtown. Plush Syndicate, has said it will feature AI bartenders — whatever that means. Like every bar trying to open downtown, it needs the council to approve a conditional use permit to sell alcohol because of a longstanding moratorium on new bars in the area. Over the last year, two bars have sought a CUP; one was approved, the other was denied, and both received pushback from the Downtown Development Authority. The DDA is asking that the council deny the CUP for Plush Syndicate, on top of a pause on granting any new CUPs, with DDA CEO Kevin Blanchard arguing that the process has become increasingly lax.
