Lake Charles Regional Airport Director Heath Allen unveiled a conceptual sign today to be posted on Southwest Louisiana’s newest certified site. Members of Louisiana Economic Development (LED), including Secretary Don Pierson, and members of the Airport Administrative Board, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, City of Lake Charles, Entergy Louisiana, and SWLA Economic Development Alliance were on hand for the ceremonial event. 

The new sign, donated to the airport (LCH) by Entergy Louisiana, advertises the 156-acre tract of airport property designated as an official Certified Site under LED’s Site Certification Program. The airport hopes this designation attracts new tenants to the property, which is zoned for commercial or light industrial use.

“The airport was happy to work with LED, Entergy, and The Alliance to achieve certification by undergoing a rigorous site inspection, documentation process, and review of this work by a neutral third party,” said Heath Allen, Executive Director, Lake Charles Regional Airport. “Having a certified site will hopefully serve the airport and our community well into the future.” 

The airport site is the ninth certified site in Southwest Louisiana and the sixth in Calcasieu Parish.

“Having a certified site improves the chances for development because there are fewer uncertainties about a certified site once its due diligence is completed,” said Gus Fontenot, Project Coordinator for the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance. “A certified site is considered ‘shovel-ready’ by developers, which greatly increases its appeal. We’re continuing to work on getting even more certified sites for our region,” added Fontenot.

LED administers the Site Certification Program, which promotes sites that are “shovel ready” for businesses to build or locate. Since 2012, the state’s Site Certification Program has incentivized land owners to get property certified by offering to pay up to 75 percent of the costs associated with the due diligence process. That process includes environmental inspection, elevation surveys, archaeological investigations, a wetlands delineation, and much more in-depth documentation, analysis, and background work. The remaining 25 percent of the costs are covered by the landowner or others. 

For more information about Southwest Louisiana’s Site Certification Program, contact Gus Fontenot at The Alliance (337) 433-3632 or email gfontenot@allianceswla.org.