Gulf Coast Region – Site Readiness Programs

Through the help of Louisiana Economic Development (LED), the four regional Economic Development Organizations (EDO’s) along the Louisiana Gulf Coast designed a regional strategic sites inventory program to dramatically accelerate the number of development-ready sites positioned to compete for and win economic development driver projects. The goal of the program is to develop and maintain a deep inventory of sites positioned for economic development projects throughout the Louisiana Gulf Coast region.

As the program team lead, CSRS is responsible for identifying and qualifying sites for entry into the program and managing the complete site certification process. Once sites meeting the suitability criteria are identified and cataloged, we employ desktop analysis techniques to assess the development potential and any fatal flaws for the site. The desktop analysis provides critical high-level information such as base flood elevation analysis, land use and zoning analysis, wetlands, and environmental analysis to determine if the site has fatal flaws. Sites passing the desktop fatal flaw analysis are pushed further along through the detailed due diligence phase and full certification phase.

Project Success

To date, over 80 sites have been identified and screened with 60 sites having the detailed due diligence completed or in progress. Over 40 sites have gone through the full detailed due diligence process and completed certification.

Identifying new greenfield sites in highly-populated areas required a unique approach. To overcome this challenge, we calibrated the GIS suitability model to become ultra-sensitive to key site metrics across the study area. The result was the identification of smaller sites positioned in areas where sufficient buffers existed between non-contiguous zoning areas.