The new restrooms at Sunset Point in Mandeville are almost ready for use.

Plastic fencing blocks access to the fishing pier at Sunset Point in Mandeville. The pier was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ida last year and remains closed to the public.

Portions of Sunset Point damaged by Hurricane Ida remain blocked off for safety reasons.

The new restrooms at Sunset Point in Mandeville are almost ready for use.

Plastic fencing blocks access to the fishing pier at Sunset Point in Mandeville. The pier was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ida last year and remains closed to the public.

Portions of Sunset Point damaged by Hurricane Ida remain blocked off for safety reasons.

Mandeville’s Sunset Point, a popular recreation spot on Lake Pontchartrain that has been off-limits since Hurricane Ida last year, has reopened to the public. And while it may not be the most glamorous of features, a new restroom building on the site is now substantially complete and the facilities are almost ready for use, city officials said during a recent City Council meeting.

Once the restrooms open, the portable toilets will be removed.

The $234,696 public improvement project began before the storm did additional damage during the 2021 hurricane season. 

Still, it isn't all good news, as Sunset Point's main attraction will remain out of commission for the foreseeable future.

The point’s fishing pier, extending 400 feet into Lake Pontchartrain immediately east of the Causeway, was clobbered by the Category 4 storm that made landfall Aug. 29 near Port Fourchon and presented a nightmare scenario for the heavily timbered waterfront community of Old Mandeville.

Sunset Point, a secluded finger of land jutting into the lake from Massena Street near the border of the city’s historic district, was closed to the public and put into use as a staging area by the city’s debris cleanup contractor shortly after Ida. When the contractor completed cleanup operations in the fall, the city kept Sunset Point blocked off because of safety concerns.

The pier’s foundation was weakened, and large sections of the walkway were removed by the storm. City officials feared users could plunge into the lake if they tried to access it.

In addition, several other picnic and viewing areas over the water near the shoreline were left in similar condition, creating a hazard for public use.

However, the roadway that runs through the recreation point was not damaged, nor were other sections where users often park to watch sunsets or get a view of the lake.

By the end of the year, Mayor Clay Madden said citizens realized that the storm cleanup efforts had been completed and were curious about the status of the point. As its name implies, it’s a favorite location for watching sunsets over the lake.

“People started calling and asking about it,” Madden said. “It’s a popular spot and people were wondering why it was still closed.”

The mayor said he instructed the public works department to secure access points to the pier and other hazardous areas so that the public could use at least part of the small park. Those dangerous areas have been sealed off by plastic fencing, and barricades blocking the sole entrance to the point were removed in April.

Madden said Mandeville Public Works Director Keith LaGrange and other engineers are looking into ways to rebuild the pier with a different design or with different materials to make it better able to withstand future storms. It remains unclear how much federal money may be available to make those upgrades, city officials said.

Regardless, the mayor said the pier is likely to remain off-limits for at least the next several months.

Storms have been a problem for the lighted pier that attracts anglers and sightseers from throughout the area. It opened in April 2005 and was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina a few months later. It was repaired and reopened in July 2007.

The pier was heavily damaged again during Hurricane Isaac in August 2012. Repairs, which cost $343,305, were completed and the pier reopened in June 2013.

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