GONZALES, La. (AP) — The Gonzales City Council has voted 3-1 to rezone an 18-acre parcel from residential to C-2 commercial so Emerson Process Management can continue with plans to build a $10 million regional campus expansion project.
Emerson Process Management refurbishes and remanufactures valves for industrial plants.
The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/LMBglq ) the company’s expansion would be around 105,000 square feet and include a regional headquarters for Instrument and Valve Services, a subsidiary of Emerson and a training center with a lab to simulate plant control systems. The campus would consolidate six Emerson or subsidiary operations in Louisiana, including the two in the Ascension Parish.
Company officials have said the expansion will bring about 180 permanent jobs to Gonzales with an annual payroll of $9.2 million. Emerson has been in Ascension Parish for 40 years.
The proposed ordinance changed generated a great deal of interest in the community and alleged reports of misinformation from both opponents and supporters.
About 60 people crowded the small council chambers on South Irma Boulevard on Monday night.
Community leader Tyrone Smith said he represented local residents who are not opposed to Emerson coming to Gonzales but who are against the efforts to rezone that particular tract from residential to commercial.
The expansion would be on about 18 acres of a 75-acre wooded tract near South Veterans Boulevard and West Orice Roth, near the Interstate 10/La. 30 interchange, just down the road from Gonzales Middle School and homes on Darla Avenue.
Opponents fear an increase of truck traffic and say the rezoning will be too close to homes in primarily minority neighborhoods and to the middle school when other properly zoned sites are available in the city.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
