Number of certified development-ready sites grows in Acadiana
BROUSSARD, La. (KLFY)- Acadiana is home to more than a dozen development-ready certified sites. These are areas that could save businesses looking to move to the area up to six months of planning.
The Louisiana Economic Development or LED has a certified site program. It outlines a list of due diligence that must be completed to classify an area as a development-ready industrial site.
“These are all things that a company would have to do if they picked a site to locate on. We get that done upfront,” says Troy Wayman with One Acadiana. He explains the list includes things like wetlands delineation, soil studies, and phase 1 environmentals just to name a few.
“Once a site is certified it means faster time to market for a project. It may save them as much as six months of due diligence time when they are looking at a site,” says Wayman.
When One Acadiana was formed five years ago, there were three certified sites in the region, they are currently working on their 15th and 16th site.
Related to this story: New industrial park to break ground in Broussard
“We also recognize that that is only part of the equation. We have the site certified now we have to get projects to land on those certified sites. We are constantly working on selling those sites,” said Wayman. He says the certified sites are an economic development marketing tool that creates a competitive advantage for Acadiana.
The 16th site being worked on now means that there’s a certified site in all nine parishes in Acadiana.