The Voice of Southwest Louisiana March 2018 Issue

SWLA news
Editor’s Note: This series of articles provided by Imperial Calcasieu Regional Planning
& Development Commission (IMCAL) will inform, educate and update our readers on
events affecting transportation and economic development in Southwest Louisiana.
Regional Planning
Commission
By Cheri L. Soileau, AICP, Executive/MPO Director
In the past columns, the
spotlight has been on
the MPO (Metropolitan
Planning Organization).
However, we are more
than just the MPO. We are
also the regional planning
commission for five parishes
in Southwest Louisiana-
Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu,
Cameron and Jefferson Davis.
There are 8 planning districts
in Louisiana, all created by the
Louisiana Legislature and all
have independent boards of
directors, executive director
and staff to do a variety of
economic development
planning activities. We are
considered a government
entity and follow all
federal and state laws and
regulations, as applicable.
We have a membership of 2
parishes, 10 municipalities,
two ports, two airports, two
tourism commissions and a
redevelopment authority.
We welcome any parish and
municipality as members. We
have a full board of directors
and an Executive Board, which
consists of 9 representatives
from four of the five parishes.
All of this can be found on our
website: www.imcal.la.
As a regional planning
commission, we are the
agency which works with a
parish or a municipality to
apply for public infrastructure
grants such as water, sewer
and roads in rural areas. We
work with a variety of Federal
and state agencies, including
EDA (Economic Development
Administration) (part of the US
Department of Commerce),
Delta Regional Authority
(also part of the Department
of Commerce), United State
Department of Agriculture,
Louisiana Economic
Development, Louisiana
State Office of Community
Development, just to name a
few.
We receive planning
funds from EDA to help
our region with those
needs which encourage
economic development in a
municipality or parish. We
help our region find those
grant funds which help with
improvement and we can also
help with general planning
needs. Many of our smaller
cities are growing very quickly
and it’s important that, as
growth occurs, the growth is
what the citizens want. We
are the designated recipient
for federal funds from many
Federal agencies and are
constantly searching for grant
opportunities that can help
our region.
In the next year, you will also
see changes to what we do.
We are beginning to become
more involved in disaster
recovery and resiliency issues
and will be the agency to
help our region not only
with recovery but identify
and address items to help
minimize impacts of natural
or man-made disasters. In
the almost 2 years I have
been with the agency, I have
seen two separate flooding
events and Hurricane Harvey
impact SW Louisiana. We, as
a region, must collaborate
on minimizing the impact
of these disasters and plan
how to recover as quickly as
possible.
As always, we welcome
comments and questions.
Knowledge is power and
any way we can share our
knowledge, we are glad to do
so.
Our Long-Range
Transportation Plan website is
up and running.
Visit www.transportplanswla.
com and find the interactive
map. Make comments about
transportation issues you are
experiencing and sign up for
updates.
Cheri L. Soileau, AICP,
Executive/MPO Director
Imperial Calcasieu
Regional Planning &
Development Commission
Lake Charles Urbanized
MPO
4310 Ryan Street, Suite 330
Lake Charles LA 70605
O: 337-433-1771
C: 469-964-2015
www.imcal.la
Volume 5 • Number 8 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM March 2018 5