The Baton Rouge Area Chamber has filed a request with the Planning Commission to rezone a 382-acre tract at 15696 Old Scenic Highway from agricultural/rural to industrial. The request is part of BRAC’s Certified Sites initiative, through which it identifies new development-ready sites in the Capital Region and increases the number of sites certified by Louisiana Economic Development that are available to economic development prospects.
The property is owned by Roland Kizer III and Jay Jackson—both of whom are Texas-based businessmen and natives of Baton Rouge. The partners have owned the parcel for years and have leased it as farmland. But Jackson says when BRAC approached them about rezoning they were open to the suggestion.
“We’re not farming it ourselves, personally, so it is certainly available and I think most of the people who looked at it thought industrial use makes the most sense,” Jackson says.
BRAC lists 19 Certified Sites in the Capital Region on its website. Created in 2010, the program ensures that a parcel either has all utilities and infrastructure in place for quick construction or can provide approved engineering plans for utility and infrastructure construction within 180 days. —Stephanie Riegel
