VIDALIA &8212; The Northeast Louisiana Economic Alliance will petition the Concordia Parish Police Jury in its Monday meeting to have a portion of Panola Plantation designated a Community Development District, the alliance announced Wednesday.

The portion of the Panola property in question is a 275-acre tract between Ferriday and Clayton.

The property, owned by Cecil and Liz Brooking, has approximately 75 feet of frontage on U.S. 65 and 200 feet on Louisiana 968.

Designation as a Community Development District would provide the parish the ability to sponsor the sale of tax-exempt, non-recourse bonds in order to provide infrastructure improvement &8212; roads, waste treatment, water and fire prevention &8212; to the property in order to make it more attractive for development.

The loan would be repaid by special assessments levied on the property within the zone as it is developed, meaning the parish would have no monetary risk or exposure.

&8220;As the property is sold or leased, a portion of the proceeds goes to the investor,&8221; said Tana Trichel, president of the alliance.

If the property is never sold or leased, &8220;then the investor made a bad investment.&8221;

The Brookings and the alliance have been working for a year. Trichel said her group&8217;s goal is to make the southern end of the property &8220;shovel-ready&8221; in order to attract an industry.

The Brookings have also been working with developer Vernis Stanaland, who has an option to purchase a 43-acre portion of the northern part of the proposed development district with the goal of developing retail space.

The alliance&8217;s goal is to alleviate poverty and Stanaland&8217;s goal is to make money, but Trichel said their relationship is symbiotic.

&8220;We are working with him in that we want to create jobs, we want to support him to make it attractive to potential buyers,&8221; she said.

&8220;We have a common interest with the parish and the community to attract industry to the area,&8221; she said.

Stanaland said the designation definitely helps him sell the idea to potential tenants.

&8220;A piece of property in Tyler (Texas), Dallas or Shreveport, you know what you&8217;re getting,&8221; he said. &8220;When you come to a place like Ferriday, you need some kind of advantage to entice the tenants with.&8221;

Helping with economic development is something the parish is very interested in doing, jury President Melvin Ferrington said, especially if it doesn&8217;t cost the parish any money.

&8220;Anything the parish can do to enhance the potential of new businesses coming in, we&8217;ll do,&8221; he said.

Ferrington, as well as all parties involved, said this is only a preliminary step, but it&8217;s a step in the right direction.

&8220;It would be good for the property owners, good for the taxpayers and it would help create more jobs,&8221; he said. &8220;Anything we can do to help, we&8217;ll do.&8221;