Vermilion Parish--Priority Issues

Economic Development

• Fishing and shrimping directly impacted by destruction of coastal ecology and marshland
• Farms require immediate assistance to recover from storm surge damage
• Agricultural economy dependant on crops and livestock vulnerable to saltwater intrusion
• Local economy weakened by lack of economic diversity
• Underutilized parish ports lack a comprehensive master plan for development
• Tremendous gaps exist in the vocational and skilled workforce necessary for rebuilding and expanding parish economy
• Lack of local leadership, planning, and economic development agencies to drive, maintain, and sustain planned growth

Flood Protection and Coastal Restoration

• Man made structures, such as Hwy 82 and GIWW, interrupt the movement of freshwater from the north to the south of the parish causing damage to the marsh ecology, loss of wetlands and coastal erosion
• Abandoned ships and pipeline canals making interior marshes vulnerable to saltwater intrusion, storm effects, and destructive wave action
• Coastal erosion and shoreline retreat caused by loss of long-shore sediment transport
• Erosion of levee has left agricultural lands and communities north of GIWW vulnerable to storm surges
• Loss of interior marshes due to agricultural activities in the Lakes and Chenier sub-basins
• Due to permissive development in coastal zones, private property damaged by Hurricane Rita may be mitigated in ways deleterious to surrounding ecology

Education

• Three damaged schools in the floodplain need to be mitigated
• Two schools need to relocate in order to meet the changing demographics of the parish and to mitigate against future flood exposure. 
• Destruction of a community library and lack of mobile library service has left large areas of parish without library access

Public Safety

• Damaged fire stations need to be mitigated
• Response time in the southern part of the parish is unacceptably long for emergency medical services
• Shelters in northern Vermilion parish lack sewer, water, and electrical capacity to support evacuee populations

Transportation and Infrastructure

• Sediment and debris in Delcambre canal making navigation and movement impossible for shallow and deep draft vessels
• Critical water and sewage treatment utilities remain unmitigated in vulnerable areas of floodplain
• Roads and bridges in some areas lack capacity for rapid evacuation of parish population
• Towns providing refuge for evacuees (Maurice, Kaplan, and Gueydan) lack emergency power capacity for sewage, water, and electrical service
• Lack of land use plans creating unsafe driving conditions for vehicles entering highways or driving past road entrances
• Lack of a comprehensive water management plan to guide and integrate development in less flood prone areas of parish

Housing and Community Development

• Destruction of marshland has reduced ability of coastal buffer to reduce impact of storm surges on inland communities
• Lack of comprehensive planning has left parish vulnerable to future property losses
• Lack of impact fees from builders and developers has reduced the parish's ability to construct and maintain infrastructure
• Parish lacks staff and expert capacity to enforce new building codes that provide a standard for hurricane and flood protection
• Increased cost of hurricane resistant building at flood elevation making housing less affordable in floodplain
• Lack of development controls in marshlands has introduced development deleterious to marsh ecology causing damage that is greatly amplified by storm events such as Hurricane Rita