BusinessReport.com

Posted on November 24 at 5:41 p.m.

As someone who is open minded enough to see both sides of the issue regarding the proposed development on Perkins, I find JR Ball's article incredibly one sided, judgmental, and ignorant. He makes the argument that this development is exactly what Baton Rouge needs, obviously a number of people disagree. Instead of trivializing their concerns maybe you could take the time to look at the large picture and re-think your attitude concerning development in Baton Rouge. Ball makes the comment that the Southdown residents opposed Wal-Mart, considering that Wal-Mart abandoned the Southdowns location and left behind a big vacant eyesore that no one is likely to redevelop anytime soon, how can you possibly blame them? I agree with much of what the first post has to say (blue_ink_pin), but am not entirely certain that this particular development constitutes smart growth. In my opinion, one of the problems with the rate of growth in the Baton Rouge area is the unwillingness of the powers that be to assess infrastructure and make determinations to promote smart growth and limit new development in areas with limited infrastructure. There are plenty of parts of downtown, Government Street, and particularly Florida Boulevard that are underdeveloped and more importantly have the infrastructure to handle new business and housing, but developers continue to build large developments in areas that can not handle them. Why keep expanding outwards when there are so many areas in Baton Rouge that need revitalized? The Perkins and College Drive intersection near the proposed development is one of the most congested in town. I'm not even completely opposed to the development (this is at least on a portion of Perkins that is 4 lanes with a center turn lane), but I do believe it should be studied in greater detail. Looking at the unfettered development taking place further up Perkins past Bluebonnet and again across the Ascension Parish line, it doesn’t appear that any assessments of traffic impacts are taken into account at all. It seems like Louisianans have developed such a fear of scaring away business that they have become willing to allow developers to develop virtually carte blanche. This is a ridiculous attitude. Baton Rouge is a desirable market and developers are going to develop even with increased restrictions or requirements (of course I’m talking about reasonable requirements). City Council and their counterparts in outlying parishes have the power to ensure that responsible development occurs that benefits the people of Baton Rouge without eroding away what we already have. Traffic has become one of the biggest complaints in the Baton Rouge area, but people fail to realize that the answer to our traffic problems isn’t more or wider roads. The answer is simple, encourage development in areas that already have the infrastructure in place and discourage or restrict development on typically residential two lane roads like Perkins and Highland.

On Rouzan hell