December 15, 2002
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Airpark future looks bright
By Bill Sumrall The Town Talk
With the development of England Airpark, economic hard times predicted for the Alexandria area with the closing of England Air Force Base were fended off.
"The future looks bright for England Airpark as we continue to develop the infrastructure and the assets that we can offer," said Jon Grafton, England Authority executive director.
"With the continued help of our legislative delegation in both Baton Rouge and Washington and the continued support of our local elected officials, we have every reason to believe that our best days are yet to come," said Grafton.
Retired Maj. Gen. Ansel Stroud, who was adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, said, "Nobody likes to see a base being closed but England is a shining example of what can happen with a transition."
Stroud added, "Jim Meyer (the authority's first chairman) and the group he worked with deserve an awful lot of credit."
Others who helped then and now include Alexandria City Councilman Johnny Downs, Grafton said. Downs was council president at the time and exerted his influence to get the community off on the right foot in developing England Airpark, Grafton said.
Stroud said that, after the decision to close the base was made, the people, not just politicians, "all worked in harmony to maximize the assets that England provides."
"I was primarily involved in working on England becoming the Intermediate Staging Base for the JRTC (Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk)," Stroud said.
"It shows what is possible when people work together," he added.
Martin Johnson, the England Authority's commission chairman, agreed.
"The major project that I see that we're doing right now is the terminal project," Johnson said.
He was referring to a new airport terminal complex expected to cost more than $30 million. He said plans for the terminal are two-thirds complete, with a contract soon to be awarded for a new road leading to the new terminal.
"We should have out for bids the plans for the new terminal during the first quarter of 2003," Johnson said.
He also singled out Bistro on the Bayou restaurant owner Fred Rosenfeld for a $3.5 million investment in the new 43-room Parc England hotel project.
And "England Oaks is fully occupied right now and completed a new community center for its residents," Johnson said.
"That was using private funds and not England Authority funds or funds from the state. That's important because we have private investment out there that's good for all of us," he said.
In addition to job creation, Johnson said he thinks it significant that jet service has returned to the airpark.
"We have jet service for the first time in 19 years, and that's a result of central Louisiana primarily staying home and flying locally rather than driving to Shreveport, New Orleans, Lake Charles and Baton Rouge," he said.
Johnson also cited completion of the OakWing Golf Course and in the next month the golf course's clubhouse. He said the project would not have received $8 million from the state for the $13 million course without the assistance of state Rep. Charlie DeWitt, D-Alexandria, who is House speaker.
"We've applied to (become part of) the Audubon golf trail," Johnson added. "I believe in just 10 years there have been over 20 commissioners that have served on the authority, and all served without pay or as community volunteers and leaders," said Michael Tudor, an England Authority commissioner and former chairman.
"And with all deference to the staff, I truly believe the community owes a thank you to this group of community leaders," he said.
"You've had a lot of people donate a lot of time and believe deeply in the cause of advancing the economic well-being of our community," Tudor added.
State Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, said, "All the way around, it's been a success story. We still need to take the next step, in my mind. We've basically done the reuse."
The next stage, he said, is "trying to use what we have as far as monetary and human resources with the England Authority to go ahead and use that as the real base of our economic development efforts in central Louisiana."
McPherson noted the base's closure caused a local population decline reflected by the 2000 Census, although the feared economic downturn didn't materialize.
"With the stagnant growth in the South and particularly in Louisiana, when a community loses a few thousand people, which we lost with the base in an interim census period, well, it was obvious that had to be reflected in the next census, and that's of course what occurred here," the senator said.
"But fortunately we never saw a blip on the radar as far as a downturn in the economy," McPherson said, citing major construction on I-49 that spurred the economy.
Bill Sumrall: 487-6417;
bsumrall@thetowntalk.com
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