While the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is working on its first economic impact study since 2007—with a report expected by the end of the year—it is also embarking on an update of its master plan.
On Wednesday, the Metro Council will consider executing a roughly $1 million grant application for the master plan, as well as awarding a $922,171 contract to Mansfield, Texas-based airport consulting firm Kutchins & Groh to conduct the master plan.
“The master plan will assess the current conditions at the airport and lay out a forecast for future growth, plans to achieve our goals and things of that nature,” says Ralph Hennessy, BTR assistant director of aviation. “These are generally done every 10 to 20 years, and the last time we’ve had one done was in 2007. A variety of changes have taken place here since then, and so it’s just time to go back and update the plan.”
Hennessy says funding for the master plan will all come from the Federal Aviation Administration and that no local funding is required. As reported in May, the airport also wants to determine the economic impact of its operations. Baton Rouge-based Emergent Method is currently working on the study—which will also examine ways BTR can attract more business—and expects to complete it by the end of the year.
Also at this week’s meeting, Metro Councilwoman C. Denise Marcelle is resuming her fight to see Baton Rouge Police officers outfitted with body cameras. After the council narrowly defeated in June a measure calling for the implementation of the technology by December 2016, Marcelle told Daily Report she would continue fighting to see the cameras implemented.
The resolution up for consideration this week would declare the council’s support for the technology and request the police department conduct a trial and study period on camera usage involving 100 officers, as well as form a study group to track the department’s progress and report back to the council.
Marcelle outlined her idea for such a study group to Daily Report back in June.
Also Wednesday, the council will consider awarding a contract for engineering consulting services on the proposed streetcar line along Nicholson Drive to Nicholson Transit Partners, contingent upon final approval of a $1.8 million grant the city-parish has been awarded for the planning and design of the project. Nicholson Transit Partners is a joint venture comprised of partnership leader HNTB Corp., Stantec, Manning Architects of New Orleans, Fregonese Associates of Portland and Marmillion/Gray Media.
In September 2014, the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program—coincidentally abbreviated as the TIGER program, but with no affiliation to LSU—doled out $600 million in grants nationwide, with $1.8 million going to Baton Rouge for the streetcar project. In April, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Baton Rouge is also among seven U.S. cities that will receive technical assistance via the department’s new LadderSTEP pilot program. The assistance does not come with any funding, but the department will be aiding the city-parish with the streetcar planned between the LSU campus and downtown.
The concept for a streetcar between the LSU campus and downtown Baton Rouge is part of the FuturEBR master plan, and it was initially announced in early 2014. Since then, city-parish officials have been working to identify possible funding sources.
The council convenes at 4 p.m. on the third floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. See the full meeting agenda.
—Steve Sanoski
