The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury voted by a wide margin Thursday to allow an Alexandria contractor expanding a portion of Interstate 10 to build an asphalt plant near Iowa.

The vote at the Police Jury''s regular meeting capped off weeks of heated debate and public rhetoric over the plant, which will be built about a quarter-mile from Iowa High School.

It was a victory for Gilchrist Construction Co. of Alexandria, which has the $68 million contract to expand and repave I-10 between Iowa and Lake Charles and wants to build the asphalt plant to supply materials for the interstate project.

Opponents of the project argued that the plant will increase truck traffic and produce toxic fumes, affecting the school and nearby homes and clogging Iowa''s already busy interstate exit.

Thursday''s vote was to rezone the land from agricultural to heavy industrial to accommodate the project. It is contingent on Gilchrist getting a permit for the plant from the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The land will revert to an agricultural zoning 60 days after the interstate contract is completed. Gilchrist''s state contract is for 800 days.

Iowa resident Sally Mhire said she lives less than a quarter-mile from the plant site and is concerned about its effect on the health of her husband, who suffers from pulmonary disease. She said it will also affect her family''s lifestyle.

"I have a covered patio and a big barbecue out there." she said. "I don''t want to smell that while I''m trying to eat or cook."

Gilchrist representative Mike Hudnall said those concerns were misplaced. The company, he said, has safely operated a similar plant in Alexandria near schools and residential areas. If approved by the DEQ, the Alexandria plant will be moved to the Iowa site.

"We''re a responsible contractor. If it is toxic, we don''t want to be near it," Hudnall told police jurors. "You''ve got asphalt plants right here in this parish right next to schools and casinos and everything else."

Hudnall said Gilchrist has asked the state Department of Transportation and Development for permission to build a ramp connecting the plant access road to the I-10 on ramp.

The ramp would allow the heavy trucks carrying asphalt direct access to the interstate, he said.

Police Juror Hal McMillin said he supported the plant because it would support a project that will improve the "number one worst road in all the United States."

"We need to do this road," McMillin said. "And I know Iowa is going to be inconvenienced, and I hate that, but we''ve got to put it somewhere. It''s a good location, and I think we need to do this thing and do it now."

Health questions

Wilma Subra, a well-known New Iberia toxicologist and environmental activist, said the plant would harm the health of residents and would be better off in an industrial area.

"You don''t put a facility that has toxic emissions that are released into the air next to a community, next to a school, next to a residential area for two years and think it''s going to be OK," Subra said.