The Calcasieu Planning and Zoning Board voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend that the Police Jury approve an application from Sasol to rezone the land where the company plans to build its multibillion-dollar ethane cracker and gas-to-liquids complex.

Sasol officials are seeking to change the designation from residential, agricultural and light industrial to heavy industrial. Mike Hayes, Sasol’s public affairs manager for U.S. megaprojects, said some of the Mossville-area properties targeted were acquired from the company’s Voluntary Property Purchase Program, which ran last year from August to early December.

If approved by the Police Jury, Sasol’s application will change the zoning designation of properties totaling 1,470 acres.

The zoning board’s recommendation came after nearly two hours of discussion in which Mossville residents, including members of Mossville Environmental Action Now, spoke out against various aspects of Sasol’s application, particularly a proposal to close Evergreen Road, which will become part of Sasol’s expanded facility. Residents said closing the road would create transportation hardships in their daily lives, especially those with elderly family members.

Sasol’s application calls for the severing of Evergreen Road east of the Kansas City Southern Railroad, which will eliminate the only north-south connection between Houston River Road and Old Spanish Trail east of La. 27.

Sasol and the parish will each invest up to $10 million to extend Coach Williams Drive with a north-south road adjacent to the company’s westernmost boundary. The new road will replace Evergreen Road.

“Anthony Ferry Road and the areas north of Houston River Road will then have a direct shot to Highway 108 and Interstate 10,” Hayes said before the meeting. “It’s really going to open up the west side of the parish quite a bit, and it should shift a lot of traffic out of Westlake and a lot of traffic off of Highway 27. It will really provide a convenient access to Houston River Road and the areas east of Sulphur and north of Interstate 10.”

Board member John Duhon, however, proposed an amendment to Sasol’s application that would require the company to keep Evergreen Road open to the public until construction on Coach Williams Drive is completed — which could take two to three years. Duhon’s amendment passed.

As part of its application, Sasol is seeking to make area changes that company officials believe will improve the quality of life for those who will remain in the area once construction begins on the company’s ethane cracker next year.

In an 18-minute PowerPoint presentation, Paul Hippman, manager of Sasol’s Westlake facility, outlined the improvements the company plans to make as a result of its rezoning efforts.

Among them is an estimated $1 million investment to improve Mossville’s drinking water for residents who opted out of the property purchase program, which will include a Sasol offer to pay off the Mossville waterworks district’s $335,000 debt.

Sasol also plans to provide $500,000 in matching state funds, which will give the parish the ability to replace Mossville’s aging water lines.

Once the water district’s debt is paid and its water lines are upgraded, Westlake will take over the water service to the community. The Mossville water district, in turn, would be dissolved.

Hayes said Sasol is also offering to pay Westlake’s out-of-pocket capital expenses in upgrading Mossville’s water lines and connecting the community to them.

“So at the end of the process, you will have new main waterline headers in Mossville, you will have Westlake water feeding it and the community will be part of the Westlake customer base,” Hayes said.

In addition to upgrading Mossville’s water lines, Hayes said Sasol will be responsible for ensuring that the community’s “sewerage issue” is covered, as the number of residents decrease when the property purchase program ends.

Sasol is also promising the community unrestricted access to area cemeteries.

Ronald Carrier of Sulphur read a statement on behalf of MEAN members, indicating that the group was against changing the zoning of three areas west of the KCS line from agricultural to heavy industrial. The sites include land next to Wallace Road and J. Colphus Road, as well as land west of Evergreen Road and Hardy Road.

MEAN’s statement also objected to Sasol’s proposal to relocate the Matheson Tri Gas Industrial facility to a site north of the pipeline right of way and to the south of Murrell Road.

Local activist Charlie Atherton said he objected to the application’s time frame, which he believed moved too quickly. He asked that the board delay action on the application for 45 days to give the public a chance to review the document and give input.

Sasol’s proposed $7 billion ethane cracker will produce ethylene, which, in turn, will be used to make products such as synthetic fibers, detergents, paints and fragrances. The facility is expected to produce about 1.5 million tons of ethylene a year.

The company’s GTL complex is expected to produce more than 96,000 barrels of diesel fuels and chemicals each day. The complex will also house Sasol’s second linear alkyl benzene unit, which will increase the company’s production of detergent alkylates. The project will cost $11 billion-$14 billion.

Sasol’s application will be presented to the Police Jury on Thursday night for final approval.John Mitchell