The Ascension Parish Council on Thursday took a big step toward its goal of seeing industrial development on approximately 17,000 acres along the Mississippi River by adopting the West Bank Industrial Overlay ordinance.
“This is a major milestone in turning this dream into a reality,” says Mike Eades, president and CEO of the Ascension Economic Development Corp., in a prepared statement issued this morning. “By providing the mechanism to rezone portions of this property for industrial use, the parish has placed the area in serious contention for new, major industrial facilities needing access to the Mississippi River.”
Ascension officials say the property, which includes 10 miles of Mississippi River frontage and 4.5 miles of railway, is the largest single tract of developable land with river access in the United States.
Eades stresses there is still much work to do to realize the full potential of the property, adding industrial development on it could create thousands of jobs.
“It is our intention to develop this site into a well-planned, ‘shared services’ business and industrial complex, incorporating design concepts that reflect best practices in the areas of sustainability, energy efficiency and intermodal logistics.”
Working through planning and engineering consulting firm CSRS, the AEDC is engaging outside consultants to study river and rail logistics infrastructure, and will issue further work orders in the near future on other required due diligence items. The AEDC and its partners are also working on various development and financing scenarios, Eades says.
