Baton Rouge North Economic Development District officials will discuss the group’s strategic plan at a retreat tomorrow, which they believe will improve five key priorities for the troubled area: Quality of life, business activity, job outlook, income level and wealth.
The retreat, which will take place at Southern University on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon, comes shortly after a pair of economic wins for north Baton Rouge—announced assembly plants for Ready Shield Solutions and Brown Eagle.
“You’re starting to see these pockets of things developing in north Baton Rouge,” says Rinaldi Jacobs, co-interim director of BRNEDD. “We hope to bring more businesses to north Baton Rouge and improve the ones already here.”
That’s where the strategic plan comes in, says Jacobs, who considers the draft a “roadmap for significant economic development change in north Baton Rouge,” generally defined as the area north of Florida Boulevard that is within the city limits.
At Saturday’s retreat, board members will review the plan’s main goals, as well as specific objectives and action items that were originally outlined in the group’s July 12 meeting agenda.
Officials might try to spur job growth, for example, by potentially revisiting the district’s land use plan, or by creating a database of banking institutions willing to expand capital access in the area. Those are just some of the 22 action items identified in the plan as potential ways to attract, recruit and retain businesses that create new jobs for residents—the first goal of the strategic plan.
In conjunction with Louisiana Economic Development and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, the organization is also eyeing the 12 opportunity zones inside district boundaries, Jacobs says, adding staff members have already received “a number of inquiries” about those sites.
“We’re looking for companies that can help the people of the district have gainful employment and buy houses, as well as attract more retail and office space,” he says.
Board members will also touch on other action items, such as whether to offer the employees of high-paying companies incentives to live in the district and how BRNEDD officials would help neighborhoods re-establish homeowners’ associations.
There will be a separate meeting to address any changes members wish to make to the drafted document, Jacobs says, likely within the next 30 days.
The BRNEDD still has yet to hire an executive director, according to co-interim director Woodrow Muhammad, a position that has been advertised since March. Members had hoped to have a candidate to present to the full board for a vote in time for the July meeting.
