By JIM BUTLER
England Authority commissioners will meet November 9 to introduce and discuss a proposed Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with Applied Digital, developer of a proposed data center near Boyce.
Commissioners will forward the CEA to themselves for final action at their regular November meeting.
Curiosity about the working document contents has been growing in the months since a term sheet was accepted by the Authority and site work on the center got underway.
The 10 days between one meeting and the other provides opportunity to satisfy at least one facet – concern by some that the various entities they represent want more information about various provisions of this project and others.
That concern was expressed repeatedly over the course of the Authority’s 4 1/2-hour October session last week, though some commissioners indicated they had not heard similar concerns.
Back and forth on the subject led to protracted discourse regarding a Payment In Lieu of Taxes agreement with Coco-Cola regarding its expansion project.
No one was inclined to do anything that might upset the apple cart yet some wanted more information first.
Eventually the agreement was accepted with it apparent that sequence and schedule changes are in the offing.
That, it was noted, is to be expected considering the development learning curve the England district is experiencing.
Commissioners delayed a vote on a proposed CEA with the Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance in part due to that.
A central question to be answered going forward – who does a host of services that will be required in the wake of development? The
Authority? A contract third party? CLEDA?
Three enabling actions relative to the Biochar development were taken – site lease, initial site dirt work and waste disposal bonds authorization. The bonds are not an encumbrance of the district.
A Sierra Club representative in each instance asked commissioners to reject the resolutions, asserting environmental risks associated with the development, assertions denied by the company.
The unabridged video of the meeting is available at EnglandAirpark.org/england-authority/