West Feliciana Parish Police Jury takes up proposed hospital land sale tonight

A relatively small hospital with big economic implications for West Feliciana Parish will be the subject of discussion tonight at a special meeting of the parish police jury. At issue is how much the West Feliciana Parish Hospital board is willing to pay the police jury for land it owns that the board wants to acquire for a new acute care facility. A police jury appraisal values the 14.8-acre tract at nearly $2 million. In contrast, the hospital board arrived at an appraised value of $745,000, though it does not include the entire parcel—just 7.6 acres of it. Economic development officials are hoping for a compromise. They say the planned $18 million to $22 million hospital will bring badly needed jobs to the area, but more importantly will enable the parish to serve the anticipated influx of workers involved in natural gas exploration in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale. Economic development has been a constant challenge for close-knit, rural West Feliciana. To read more about that in a recent Business Report cover story, click here. —Stephanie Riegel