St. James Parish Council cleared the way for construction of the Petroplex International LLC complex on more than 1,700 acres of agricultural fields and woods near Vacherie. The property had been earmarked in early April for houses and agriculture under the new land use plan.

The council’s approval came with conditions, though.

The company will have to seek permits to run pipelines under River Road that would link the facility with the river. Parish officials said they wanted to avoid a pipe rack over the highway and protect the visual gateway to a rural portion of west St. James known for plantation homes and popular with tourists.

The $800 million tank farm, which will have large buffers from residences, could ultimately have 10 million barrels of storage capacity to handle and blend crude — including heavy Canadian and shale oil — as well as gasoline, other petroleum products, vegetable oil and bio-diesel.

The plant will be able to move commodities by ship, rail, highway or pipeline to refiners, according to permit documents.

The parish Planning Commission had voted, 5-3, to deny the facility Wednesday evening at the Parish Courthouse in Convent just hours before the council voted, 6-1, to allow the complex, overruling the commission.

Petroplex officials told the council they have been working on the project for years and received all the necessary permits. They said they spent more than $33 million to buy the site and ready it for construction.

An attorney for Petroplex, Jim Percy, told council members that the company had to start construction by July 31 under the terms of a state air permit issued in July 2009 or risk losing the permit.

“If we don’t get this approval, we’re done, and that $33 million, we lose,” Percy said.

Paul Aucoin, chairman of the St. James Parish Economic Development Board, reminded the council that the board voted unanimously in 2009 to support the project for the jobs and the tax dollars it would bring.