[StBernard] Question for Craig

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Thu Dec 29 23:15:21 EST 2005



Craig,
The article from the Times Picayune below states that,"Nonresidential
buffers could be established adjacent to the parish's two refineries." My
parents live on Munster Blvd and would like to return, but are hesitant to
start working on their home due to the uncertainty of the parish. When will
decisions from the article below be made? How long will people have to wait
until the these decisions on the future of the parish will be made?

Thanks,
BJO


-----------------------------------

Plaquemines, St. Bernard start anew
They seem prepared to take divergent paths
Sunday, December 25, 2005
By Matthew Brown
West Bank bureau
The downriver parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines are starting
largely
from scratch in their recovery from Katrina, but already they appear
headed
in different directions.

St. Bernard officials are aiming for a major overhaul of what they
expect
will be a much smaller community. Their counterparts in Plaquemines
predict
a larger proportion of the parish's pre-storm population will
return, but
some officials there are inclined to let market forces, not new
zoning or
planning, shape the resettlement.

In St. Bernard, an estimated 23,000 homes and 4,000 businesses were
damaged
or destroyed by the hurricane.

>From its pre-storm tally of about 67,000 residents, the parish has
contracted to a population estimated in the hundreds, said Walter
Leger,
co-chairman for the St. Bernard Parish Citizens Recovery Committee.

The most optimistic predictions from parish officials have the
population
climbing to about half its original size in the next five years.

Whether that forecast pans out depends largely on the pace of New
Orleans'
recovery, Leger said. And even if the city's rebound goes smoothly,
few will
be lured back until flood protection is ensured.

In St. Bernard, that means closing the Mississippi River-Gulf
Outlet. The
shipping channel between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico served
as a
conduit for Katrina's storm surge and amplified its destructive
strike
against levees in St. Bernard and eastern New Orleans.

"We were sure there was adequate protection from a storm surge. But
there
wasn't," Leger said. "That's got to happen now."


Plotting a new look

In the meantime, the recovery committee plans to have a drastic
redrawing of
St. Bernard's communities ready by Jan. 25.

Leger said the Chalmette Refinery has offered the committee $100,000
to hire
a professional planner to guide the process. But a rough outline of
possibilities already has emerged:

Low-lying neighborhoods, including parts of Carolyn Park, Arabi,
Buccaneer
Villa North and St. Claude Heights, could become public green
spaces.
Nonresidential buffers could be established adjacent to the parish's
two
refineries.

Shopping districts with strict rules governing aesthetics and
landscaping
have been proposed along Paris Road, St. Claude Avenue in Old Arabi
and
Judge Perez Drive near the Orleans Parish line. And high-rise
condominium
complexes could crop up along the Mississippi River.

"St. Bernard Parish could become the newest place to develop and
live, much
better than Metairie," said Ron Chapman, a history professor at
Nunez
Community College and member of the recovery committee. "It would be
closer
to the city. You'd have the advantage of living in the country, and
you have
close proximity to the city without any congestion."

In Plaquemines, which is largely independent of New Orleans,
ambitions for
recovery are divided between the people seeking a grand re-making of
the
parish and others content with simply rebuilding what was lost.

South of Myrtle Grove on the parish's west bank and along the entire
east
bank of the Mississippi River, Katrina knocked flat or ruined an
estimated
99 percent of homes and businesses. Largely rural, dependent on
fishing, the
oil industry and agriculture, and home to about 16,000 of the
parish's
28,000 residents, lower Plaquemines and the east bank are strung out
along a
pair of highways on both sides of the Mississippi.

Trying to dramatically reshape those areas does not make sense
because of
their geography, said Parish Councilman Jay Friedman, who represents
parts
of Empire, Port Sulphur and Buras.

"You have to realize, we have one road in and one road out,"
Friedman said.
"You could come in and say, 'We're going to plan,' but how do you
require
people to come in and move back with more stringent rules and
regulations in
an area that's not conducive to planned housing or planned
development?"

Parish President Benny Rousselle disagrees. He said a freewheeling
approach
to rebuilding would be a mistake.

"Now that we have everything wiped out in the southern part, we will
have a
clean slate to build planned communities that will entice people to
return,"
Rousselle said. "I would like to see planned communities in Port
Sulphur,
Buras, Venice, Boothville. I would like to see a planned community
where we
have nothing but houses, a planned community where we have nothing
but
mobile homes, a planned community with condominiums."

But Rousselle is barred under the Parish Charter from voting on
zoning
matters, and the council already has signaled that it's unwilling to
concede
any authority on the matter. On Dec. 8, it rejected a proposal to
form a
rebuilding committee of parish officials, elected leaders, including
Rousselle, and residents.


Northern migration

History suggests not everyone will come back to lower Plaquemines
regardless
of how it is rebuilt. After Hurricanes Betsy and Camille inundated
almost
all communities south of Empire, the population shifted to Port
Sulphur and
north.

With Port Sulphur and Empire destroyed by Katrina, another shift
north
already has begun, Rousselle said.

Roughly half of Plaquemines, including its modern-day residential
and
commercial hub of Belle Chasse, survived the storms in good shape.
Residents
and parish officials say Belle Chasse and other upper Plaquemines
communities have become staging points for rebuilding and will
likely see a
sharp jump in population as families elect not to return to
harder-hit
areas.

About 3,000 of the public school system's 5,000 students are now
enrolled in
schools in upper Plaquemines.

By 2010, the parishwide population will jump above its pre-Katrina
level, to
30,000 or more people, Rousselle predicted. He said up to two-thirds
of that
population will live in upper Plaquemines.

Buras business owner Byron Marinovich isn't so sure. In the first
two months
after the storm, Marinovich, who runs a bar and gun shop, said he
looked
into home prices in Belle Chasse and found them too high. He plans
to
rebuild on the same site where his house and businesses were
destroyed.

"Some of the people are going to be forced to come down (to lower
Plaquemines) because the prices are going through the roof,"
Marinovich
said.

. . . . . . .


Matthew Brown can be reached at mbrown at timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3784.





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