Proposed airport sparks discussion at meeting
Published 12:00 am Saturday, June 30, 2001
REBECCA CARRASCO
GRAND POINT – St. James United, a group opposing the prospect of locating a regional airport complex in St. James Parish, recently held it fourth meeting and a large crowd heard updates on the state of the project’s development. A central theme of the meeting was the importance of getting right the basic facts. St. James Parish Councilman Elwyn Bocz endeavored to quell a number of rumors concerning the proposed airport. “I have heard that the Sunshine Bridge is being reinforced so that a railroad track can be put over it. The truth is that the Sunshine Bridge has been a project that has been going on for several years and it has nothing to do with the airport. Someone said that the reason that Highway 3125 had this big space on one side away from the businesses is because they knew they were going to relocate all of the businesses. The truth is that the right of way was brought 20 years ago with the idea that they would make Highway 3125 four lanes,” Bocz said. Such misconceptions stem from basic misunderstandings about the airport project’s beginnings. Bocz said the Louisiana Airport Authority was created several years ago to consider how Louisiana might benefit from the economic development in Central and South America. “The first thing the Louisiana Airport Authority did,” he explained, “was to hire a consulting firm to look at south Louisiana and see if it was feasible to build an intermodal airport that could encompass the use of ships, rail, trucking, and of course airplanes.” According to Bocz, the first study found three sites suitable. “The three sites were the west bank of St. John Parish, east New Orleans, and the Ponchatoula/Hammond area,” Bocz said. “Those are the only sites ever mentioned by the LAA. “A councilman from St. Charles Parish, G. Ram’ Ramchandran, disagreed and said it should be in St. James Parish on the east bank. He went to the press and to the television stations and he promoted his ideas, and that is the reason that all of this started.” Bocz said he and other public officials met with Ramchandran in person and asked him to “please quit stirring up the people in St. James Parish,” but he insisted that “the newspapers had misquoted him and that he never said that the airport should be on the east bank of St. James Parish.” In asking Ramchandran Thursday as to whether or not he said an airport should be located on the east bank of St. James Parish he replied, “A hypothetical layout for this airport is something I have been developing for the past three years. The location for it could possibly be on the parish line of St. James and Ascension – it has a lot of open land and is sparsely populated.” He continued, “No site has been selected yet, but the merit of the case warrants the use of the existing infrastructure.” The next phase of the study is to select a site and Bocz said, “Until that happens nobody knows what’s going to take place.” Nevertheless, Bocz reiterated his agreement with the group’s concerns, but emphasized that a decision had not been made as to where the airport would be located. “The LAA has never said at any of their meetings that the airport was going to be on the east bank of the St. James Parish,” Bocz explained. “They have never said that and I have been to every meeting. But if at that time for some strange reason they decide that it is St. James Parish, then you are ready. “I have officially said in the minutes that I am 100 percent against this project coming into St. James Parish.” Asked by Bocz whether the LAA had ever indicated that Grand Point, or the east bank of St. James Parish, was being considered as a site, St. James United spokesperson Brenda Huget conceded they had not. “They never said the site was in St. James Parish, but we want to let them know we don’t want them to look at this site at all,” Huget said. St. James Parish Councilman Timothy Roussel said he hoped rumors would not come from St. James United. “A successful organization hinges on holding and maintaining the respect of the groups that they are presenting to,” he advised. “If you continue to act in a respectful way you will get the attention of the governor.” State Rep. Robert “Bobby” Faucheux Jr. also attended the meeting and he pronounced the most definite word of the evening: “There will not be an airport in St. James Parish.”