Parish Council hears about proposed warehouse in Franklin

The St. Mary Parish Council opened the new year with good news on the technology front and a major economic development announcement.

The council heard Wednesday that Kumho Tire, an Asia-based tire manufacturer, signed an agreement earlier that day with The Melis Group to construct a tire distribution center at an as-yet-undetermined site in Franklin. The 350,000-square-foot center is expected to employ about 100 people.

The project, said parish Economic Development Director Evan Boudreaux at Wednesday's council meeting, will offer high-quality, high-paying jobs that will benefit "not just the west end of the parish, but the whole parish."

The warehouse has the potential for more economic benefits in the future. St. Mary is home to three of North America's largest plants for the manufacture of carbon black, a material used to make tires.

Kumho, one of the world's top tire manufacturers, launched a significant expansion in March. The South Korea company announced plans to spend $305 million to increase production at its tire plant in Vietnam and to expand its manufacturing operation in Macon, Georgia, according to the company's website.

Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard said he believes the distribution center will be somewhere on the western edge of Franklin. The city government has improved sewer and water service in the Northwest Boulevard area with an eye toward economic development, he said.

State Rep. Vincent St. Blanc, R-Franklin, state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, and local officials came in for thanks for their work to bring the center to St. Mary Parish.

Broadband

Also Tuesday, Parish President David Hanagriff praised the progress toward providing high-speed broadband to underserved areas of the parish using the state's Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities program, known as GUMBO.

The program began a year ago with a $90 million boost from the federal government. The St. Mary Parish government, working with private provider Cajun Broadband, received two grants totaling about $960,000 to provide high-speed data service to residents in Sorrel and the Irish Bend Road area.

The service will be offered via fiber optics, which can generally offer faster upload and download speeds.

"I don't have fiber at my house," Hanagriff said. "I'm going to be jealous."

The work in St. Mary will begin in February and will be finished in May, Hanagriff said.

Councilman the Rev. Craig Mathews, who represents District 1 in western St. Mary, said the lack of broadband service in some areas has been evident since at least 2008.

That's bad for businesses that would find high-speed data useful as well as for students, he said.

"This has been a very hot topic, a very sore subject for residents of District 1 and other areas of St. Mary," Mathews said.

Using GUMBO grants to improve broadband service will require funding from the St. Mary Parish government, Mathews said. But "the benefits will yield far more than that investment."

A second round of GUMBO funding will go out in September.

St. Blanc received more praise from parish officials for his work to make the broadband projects happen. In turn, LeBlanc thanked Mathews and Hanagriff for their advocacy.

Delaying ordinances

The council voted to table two proposed ordinances that would remove stop signs from two intersections in Bayou Vista. Their sponsor, Council Scott Ramsey of Bayou Vista, was absent from Tuesday meetings.

The ordinances would remove stop signs from the intersections of Columbus at Jupiter and Universe at Saturn.

Ramsey has argued in the past that the stop signs impede traffic in the area. He had also introduced an ordinance requiring a traffic engineer's report on proposed installation or removal of stop signs.

Opponents said the stop signs are needed for the safety of children and older residents in the area.

On Wednesday, former Councilman Glen Hidalgo told the council that members who vote to remove the stop signs will regret their votes after an accident at one of those intersections.

Another ordinance proposed for introduction would have banned the sale of imported shrimp in St. Mary Parish.

The ordinance was proposed by Councilman Rodney Olander, R-Franklin, a shrimper and a member of a state shrimp fishing advisory board.

Olander put off introduction of the ordinance, saying he wants to look further into the details of how it would work.