Zoning and Land Use at England Airpark, Rapides Parish

From Air Force base to business airpark: the 1992 closure

England Air Force Base sat in Pineville, across the Red River from Alexandria, and operated as an active US Air Force installation for decades before it was selected for closure in a round of federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decisions around 1992. That closure was part of a broader post-Cold War wave of domestic military base closures nationwide, and like many closed bases of that era, the underlying land and infrastructure -- runways, hangars, utility systems, and a substantial footprint of previously federal land -- were transferred for local civilian redevelopment rather than left vacant.

A dedicated redevelopment authority, not ordinary city or parish zoning

In the years following the base's closure, the property was redeveloped under a dedicated local redevelopment authority, generally operating today as England Airpark -- a business and industrial park built around the former base's airfield and infrastructure, with an emphasis on aviation-related, industrial, and distribution uses that can take advantage of the existing runway and utility infrastructure. This is a meaningfully different situation from ordinary land elsewhere in Pineville or unincorporated Rapides Parish: land within the former base footprint is generally governed by the redevelopment authority's own planning and leasing framework rather than standard municipal or parish zoning, and much of the property may still be held or ground-leased by the authority itself rather than available as ordinary fee-simple land for sale.

What this means for anyone evaluating land in or near the footprint

If you're looking at property within or immediately adjacent to the former England Air Force Base footprint, don't assume ordinary Pineville or Rapides Parish zoning and permitting rules apply by default -- confirm directly with the redevelopment authority whether the parcel sits within its jurisdiction, what land-use and leasing framework governs it, and whether the property is available as conventional fee-simple ownership or only under a ground lease or similar arrangement tied to the authority. Former military bases redeveloped this way often carry environmental legacy considerations too -- prior military fuel storage, maintenance operations, or other activities can leave contamination issues that require their own due diligence (a Phase I environmental site assessment, and confirmation of whether any remediation or institutional controls apply to the specific parcel) separate from an ordinary rural land purchase.

For land clearly outside the former base footprint, in Pineville proper or unincorporated Rapides Parish, ordinary municipal or parish zoning applies as described on the parish hub -- the special framework described here is specific to the former base property itself, not a parish-wide rule.