By LEONARD GRAY

BATON ROUGE – Five public information workshops are scheduled on the Louisiana Airport Authority’s intermodal shipping center, now being planned in the area between Donaldsonville and White Castle, and between the Mississippi River and Belle Rose.

The project, though, still has “years to go” before it becomes reality.

“I don’t expect to turn dirt for three years, maybe not even have the land by then,” said LAA Executive Director Glenda Jeansonne.

Jeansonne said a series of five public information workshops has been scheduled, to give the public full access to as much information and details of the planning process as possible.

Those workshops will include four at night and one on a weekend, during the day, to allow the most number of people to make at least one, she added. Each workshop will be exactly the same.

Each will include displays and have technical people on hand to answer any questions from the public. “We expect a large crowd,” she said.

The schedule for these public information workshops is as follows:

• Oct. 7, 6-9 p.m. – St. Jules Church, 7161 La. Highway 1 South, Donaldsonville.

• Oct. 8, 6-9 p.m. – Lemann Center, 1100 Clay St., Donaldsonville.

• Oct. 9, 6-9 p.m. – West Bank Hall, River Road, Vacherie.

• Oct. 10, 6-9 p.m. – White Castle Community Center, 32711 Bowie St., White Castle.

• Oct. 12, 9 a.m.-noon – Department of Public Works auditorium, Church Point Road, off Airline Highway, Gonzales.

The facility, already 10 years in the planning, still has an endless number of public-access meetings, with the first public hearings planned during the environmental-impact study process.

“The reason we did it this way, we want the people involved in the process,” she said. “We welcome questions, and we hope the people give us the opportunity to answer them.”

Several meetings have already been held with public bodies, clubs, organizations and private citizens, including local cane farmers, Jeansonne said.

“We announced the area, not the site itself,” Jeansonne pointed out. “It still has to be refined.”

The master plan for development is due to be completed in spring 2003, selection of the major developer will be in mid-2003, satisfy federal environmental concerns by the end of 2004, complete land acquisition by 2005, begin construction by 2006 and possibly open the first phase in late 2008, with four 12,000-foot runways.

At an LAA meeting held Aug. 15 in Baton Rouge, Winfield Beyea of URS Corp. and who is also the project’s manager, identified the top two selected sites, evaluated from at least 50 and reviewed through criteria such as population, wetlands, available acreage, community acceptance and constructability.

The primary 25,300-acre site desired is located in a major bend of the river and compresses all the elements of the intermodal facility, including rail, highway, the river and air runways. It straddles Iberville (45 percent), Ascension (54 percent) and Assumption (1 percent) parishes.

At that meeting, St. James Parish President Dale Hymel Jr. said he was disappointed the primary site was not located in St. James Parish, hurt economically in recent years with the loss of major industries.

However, the secondary site under consideration has a sizeable chunk of acreage in St. James Parish. This 29,000-acre alternate site has 2 percent in Iberville, 55 percent in Ascension, 25 percent in Assumption and 18 percent in St. James Parish. The LAA’s next regular board meeting is Thursday at 8:30 a.m. in its office in LaPlace.