Mandeville officials and boaters alike are becoming increasingly antsy as the proposed three months of work on the Lakefront boat launches gets off to a soggy start.

The launches were first closed March 3 to allow for a $125,000 renovation performed on the dilapidated structures that Public Works Director David deGeneres said was contracted to last for 90 days. Now at the halfway mark, the contractors have just finished building the dyke and draining the launch area but still have a considerable task ahead with removing the existing ramps and building the new monolithic slabs.

The onsite superintendent first mobilized in with about 35, 2,000-pound sandbags and said he expected the complete levee to take about 70 bags.

After exhausting half their allotted time, the contractor renovating the Lakefront boat launch has finally drained the area of most of the water. (Staff Photo by Chad Ruiz)

He described the placement required of the bags in the 6-foot-deep water as a pyramid shape starting with a bottom layer several bags wide, eventually stacking the bags with decreasing width until the upper-most row cleared the surface of the water.

But progress was delayed significantly when they found the depth of the water deeper than first expected and the colossal sandbags toppled over, spilling their insides.

That is coupled with the frequent rain events, sudden tide shifts and a lack of onsite presence.

But construction officials remain optimistic and said once the water is drained from the site, the process will pick up pace and the completion should fall on the scheduled date sometime in June.

The dam has recently been completed, but with a conglomeration of sandbags and lumps of sludge to hold back the impeding lake waters, which it seems to be doing successfully with only a few steady streams of water spurting through the dyke.

But if delays continue and the finished date is pushed back, City Attorney David Cressy said the company would be fined $75 per day until completed.

In any case, time and impatience continue to tick as the avid lake-goers of Mandeville are forced to launch their craft at nearby launches in Lacombe and Madisonville.