A commissioner with the Port of Greater Baton Rouge says he does not think the port will try to legally dispute the Metro Council’s decision to rezone the 60-acre property that was to be the site of a controversial barge cleaning facility.
The council Wednesday voted to rezone the property from heavy industrial to commercial, effectively killing Tubal Cain Marine Services’ plans to build a barge cleaning facility there on port-owned property.
“We’re done,” says port commissioner Bobby Watts, a local real estate agent. “We are trying to work with Tubal Cain to get the lease pulled. It’s over. We don’t want any more bad press.”
Neither port officials nor representatives from Tubal Cain spoke in favor of the project at Wednesday’s meeting, though they testified for it earlier in the week at separate hearings before the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Planning Commission.
Though earlier in the week there had been some suggestion the port—which worked with Tubal Cain on the project for nearly two years—might sue if the property was rezoned, Watts says that’s not on the table. Port Director Jay Hardman did not return several calls for comment this morning.
Whether Tubal Cain tries to sue the city-parish is unclear. The company could not be reached for comment.
“We thought we were doing the right thing but the people didn’t want it,” Watts says. “We had a lease and thought it was the right thing, but it’s over and we’re not worried about it anymore.”
The board of commissioners meets tonight for regularly scheduled committee meetings. The session begins at 5 p.m. at the port commission office, 2425 Ernest Wilson Drive in Port Allen.
—Stephanie Riegel
