New business and housing developers along La. 1256/La. 27 South in South Sulphur/Carlyss and La. 385 (Common Street/Gulf Highway) in South Lake Charles could be looking at added building costs. This increase is not due so much to inflation, as to beautification.

On Tuesday, Oct. 15, the Calcasieu Planning and Zoning Board will take action on a proposed amendment to an ordinance created to provide incentives to encourage fill development and redevelopment in these areas, improve neighborhood characteristics and improve the overall quality of the surrounding community, according to the first sentence of the ordinance. The meeting is open to the public and a step in the process before it is introduced to the Police Jury, if and when it passes muster with the Zoning Board.     

Examples of improvements in standards that could add to costs include hard-surfaced parking lots and drives visible from the public right-of-way, landscaping and/or fencing buffers and no aluminum or metal siding. Entrances will need to be designed as focal points.

Get stakeholders involved early on

Carlyss landowner and Lake Charles resident Matt Redd said he is all for beautification. However, he thinks new laws that add to the price tag of a project will hinder new support service businesses from setting up shop along the LNG corridor, businesses vital to the industry and the area economy. New standards will also impact the development of family land that fronts La. 27 South.

“It’s flawed,” Redd said, “the process, the ordinance. There’s no stakeholder input, no economic impact study, no incentives, and I do think it will take incentives to put such a plan in place.”

Redd wants to see stakeholder input early on, before planning is too far underway. He was notified in the first part of September, he said, and since he’s been emailing back and forth with the Planning Division, the ordinance has been revised.

To get an idea of the price tag for new standards, he enlisted the help of architect Jeff Kudla, Landscape Management and Angelico Construction.

“We conducted a case study on Wayne & Layne’s, a long-standing restaurant and bar on Hwy. 27. We assumed a catastrophic event would require the owner to rebuild (current business owners, etc. will be grandfathered in) and developed a site plan and cost estimates. The project would require over $515,000 in additional costs,” Redd said.

He suggested a better improvement for this stretch of highway. Four-lane it. When the Industrial Tax Exemption ends for a nearby LNG export facility in three years, funds could be bonded to finance it.