Lipsey’s, the largest firearms wholesaler in the country, has filed a petition at City Hall seeking annexation in the city of Baton Rouge for its roughly five-acre office site and warehouse at the intersection of Exchequer Boulevard and Rieger Road.
The request isn’t a surprise, given company owner Richard Lipsey’s well-funded and vocal opposition to the city of St. George incorporation effort.
Still, the petition, which comes one week after an office building on United Plaza Boulevard filed an annexation request, does represent symbolic support for the city of Baton Rouge
“I love Baton Rouge and I want to see it grow,” Lipsey says. “I think it is going to hurt the image of the state to see the Capital City divided.”
Lipsey also says he is concerned St. George organizers have yet to produce detailed plans of how they will finance and run their new city.
“There is nothing definitive whatsoever about what St George is going to do, how they will tax you, and what the costs associated with the new city are going to be,” he says. “That bothers me.”
The move, provided it is approved, is less significant in financial terms for St. George because Lipsey’s is a wholesaler of firearms, not a retailer, therefore most of its sales are not taxed, though Lipsey says the business does generate some sales tax for the city-parish.
St. George spokesman and attorney Drew Murrell declined to comment.
Lipsey’s petition will take more time to process than the petition filed last week by the owners of IIII United Plaza, which will be heard by the Metro Council at its Nov. 26 meeting. That’s because the Lipsey’s petition will require approval from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.
Because Lipsey’s property is not immediately contiguous to the boundaries of the city of Baton Rouge, a requirement for annexation, the company is requesting to annex a sliver of Interstate 10 and Rieger Road, which will be used to link the property to city-owned property across I-10.
A spokesman for DOTD could not immediately say whether the state would grant the approval, though it gave the nod to a similar move several years ago, when the city annexed the Mall of Louisiana, Baton Rouge General and several other properties that abutted state-owned right of way.
The petition request comes as tensions are building between Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s administration and organizers of St. George. An initial meeting on Wednesday between the two sides ended abruptly. Meanwhile, a lawsuit by Broome challenging incorporation could be filed as soon as tomorrow.
