A proposed industrial park along the Highway 30 corridor in Ascension Parish is highlighting a familiar challenge for fast-growing communities: how to balance new development with the infrastructure needed to support it. The Ascension Parish Planning Commission recently voted to deny a requested rev ision tied to the proposed Arrowhead Industrial Park, maintaining earlier requirements that developers construct both a left- and right-turn lane before further development proceeds. The decision keeps in place traffic improvements that developers say could place a financial strain on the project, which is being developed by Harvest Companies. The proposed industrial subdivision is located on the north side of LA 30 near the intersection with LA 73, an area that has seen increasing industrial activity as companies expand along the parish’s west bank corridor. Representatives for Harvest Companies had asked the commission to modify the requirements so that only a right-turn lane would be required once 175,000 square feet of development is built. Under the request, construction of a left-turn lane would be delayed until a later phase of the project when the development reaches approximately 310,000 square feet. Zach Schmidt, a civil engineer with CSRS representing Harvest Companies, said the request reflected recommendations from the parish traffic study and the speculative nature of the development. “This is a speculative industrial development,” Schmidt told the commission. “There are a lot of assumptions that are made within the traffic study on a certain amount of square feet that could be built on the property, but we do not necessarily have tenants lined up to build buildings on the property at this time.” The development’s preliminary plan had already been approved, but questions arose afterward about when the turn lanes would need to be constructed based on the traffic study. The first filing of the project includes roughly 137 of the 169 total acres and would contain 14 buildable lots ranging in size from about 1.75 acres to just over 16 acres. Schmidt said requiring both turn lanes before tenants are secured could create a financial challenge for the project. “It would be great if the development generates 310,000 square feet. It’s not a guarantee,” he said. “In our opinion, fronting that cost now to build that when we’re not 100% sure we’re going to reach that threshold, is tough for the development to handle.” Ty Gose, founder of Harvest Companies, said demand for the site is expected to come primarily from contractors that support nearby industrial facilities. “The big demand right now is lay-down yards,” Gose told the commission. “So not a lot of people coming in and out, because the employees are actually in the plants doing the work. This is just their home base where they store a lot of equipment and materials.” He said the development could ultimately top out at around 200,000 square feet. Several commissioners expressed concern about approving new industrial development without requiring transportation improvements upfront, particularly as traffic pressures increase across Ascension Parish. Commissioner Max Nassar said he preferred to require both lanes immediately rather than delay improvements until later phases. “I like to get ahead of the game, rather than behind the game, and go ahead and do both of them,” he said. Nassar pointed to the scale of industrial investment underway across the west bank of Ascension Parish as a reason to strengthen transportation infrastructure before development accelerates further. “We listen to endless conversations about traffic, about how our network is substandard to support all this additional development,” he said. “I’m looking at the West Bank right now. You’ve got Hyundai, you’ve got CF industries. You have 17,000 acres, and you don’t have any transportation infrastructure. I don’t want that to happen anymore.” ...read more read less