Our Views: Ascension faces rapid growth

The recent decision by the Ascension Parish Council to place a proposed half-cent sales tax on the Nov. 6 ballot is an acknowledgment that Ascension’s rapid growth over the past decade has also brought some costs.

The half-cent tax would be a critical part of a parish plan, which will cost $135 million in its first phase, that’s aimed primarily at improving intersections across the parish to improve traffic flow.

We look forward to studying the tax proposal in more detail. Until we know more, we won’t take a position on whether this specific tax is the best solution to Ascension Parish’s traffic challenges. There’s no question, though, that those traffic challenges are significant.

The proposed tax would last 25 years and raise the sales tax rate in unincorporated Ascension Parish from 8.5 percent to 9 percent.

Many residents of Ascension Parish are former residents of Baton Rouge who moved to Ascension because of its quieter pace and quality public schools. Their presence has meant a parish that’s much busier that it used to be, but we’re hopeful that Ascension Parish residents can manage their growth and still retain the parish’s appeal.

East Baton Rouge Parish is a cautionary example of what can happen when infrastructure needs are ignored. East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden has made progress in improving streets and roads in the parish, but his administration is playing a hard game of catch-up after voters for many years refused to approve additional infrastructure spending.

Ascension Parish residents also need to embrace smart-growth policies that manage development. Taken alone, adding more capacity to the traffic grid eventually falls prey to the law of diminishing returns.

We are eager to give the proposed tax on Ascension Parish’s Nov. 6 ballot a closer look. We hope Ascension Parish residents do the same.

Comments

1) Comment by Whatnow - 04/07/2012

"Ascension Parish residents also need to embrace smart-growth policies that manage development. " Why should we? We didn't want all of this development. Homeowners never wanted it and politicians and business owners want to turn us into southern Baton Rouge. Our schools are way overcrowded and our roads are horrible. Who was profiting from all this influx from Baton Rouge? The business owners. No thought for the citizens who wanted peace and quiet that was so descriptive of Ascension Parish. Our commissioners took none of this into account and allowed non-stop growth with no thought. Now with all this growth, we have places flooding that never did in a hundred years. Now they want to fix the problem? Control the development of subdivisions, hold developers accountable for the messes they make and stop mini malls mushrooming all over the place! They end up empty after five years anyway. Progression is not always what the majority want. Just the money hungry. And the people just put into place are among the worse. Even poor Prairieville is already looking like southern Baton Rouge.

2) Comment by 8point6 - 03/07/2012

"Ascension Parish residents also need to embrace smart-growth policies that manage development. " This from "our views"??!! Too funny! Yeah, right. The residents just don't know anything. That's why they have/are moving out of EBR parish. Seriously, bub.

3) Comment by DMJ - 03/07/2012

I hope it's not too late for Ascension to learn from the mistakes of B.R.- randomly meandering subdivisions with one way in or out which is usually a two-lane arterial road which is predictably and inevitably clogged every day, segmented and rigid zoning laws, lack of sidewalks, bike lanes and greenways...to name a few. If I was a city planner and looked at a road map of south and east Baton Rouge for the first time, I'd probably throw up. Developers were allowed to basically do whatever they wanted, resulting in the intractable daily mess that is Baton Rouge traffic.