[StBernard] LRA Planning Session Receives Standing Ovation

[Westley Annis]

LRA Planning Session Receives Standing Ovation 

Lake Charles City Council Endorses Master Plan for Rebuilding 

LAKE CHARLES, La. -- A packed week of research, public outreach, and near
round-the-clock design ended with an historic meeting of the Lake Charles
City Council on Saturday, February 11. The seven-member Council unanimously
endorsed key components of a master plan presented by the Duany
Plater-Zyberk & Co. (DPZ) team of architects and planners last Saturday. The
plan envisions, among other things, a bold reworking of the city's
underutilized waterfront and encourages an innovative public-private
corporation to accelerate downtown redevelopment. 

"You can't begin to rebuild again until you can dream again," said Sean
Reilly, who was on hand representing the Louisiana Recovery Authority, which
is supported by the LRA Support Foundation, a private, nonprofit
organization that raised private funds through the Baton Rouge Area
Foundation to bring DPZ and other teams of planning consultants to
Louisiana.

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 350 attended the special Council
session at the Lake Charles Civic Center, where only four months before,
some 3,000 Calcasieu Parish residents had taken refuge from Hurricane Rita.
DPZ principal Andres Duany walked council members and the audience through a
detailed presentation that included renderings of an Amsterdam-like canal
district and a mews-style cluster of appealing and affordable downtown
housing. When Mayor Randy Roach closed the session with a tribute to Duany
and his team, there was a standing ovation.

"I am thrilled that the Lake Charles community has embraced this planning
process and by the extent to which they were intimately involved in the
development of these plans," said Duany. "Our experience in working with
this community has set a new standard for local participation and community
involvement in the neighborhood design process." 

The enthusiasm for this, the first of three DPZ design "charrettes"
sponsored by the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA), confirms the
Authority's conviction that many South Louisiana communities are ready to
take an active role in their own recovery and rebuilding, even after
suffering through the nation's worst national disaster caused by the
back-to-back hurricanes of Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Even before the DPZ team hit town, Mayor Roach was touting the "wonderful
gift" the LRA was providing through private donations. "Never again will
these resources be available to us. Not only are we engaged in planning how
our communities will look, we are being given an opportunity to chart the
course for this area's economic future." 

The combination of the DPZ plans and the hurry-up pace suited most of those
in the Lake Charles audience. "This is the most exciting thing I've seen in
my lifetime," said long-time resident R. Patrick Diamond. "Folks, this is a
godsend."

Councilman A.B. Franklin drew laughs and nods of agreement when he said he
welcomed a planning process that finally seemed capable of moving from talk
to action. "We've had study after study after study," said Franklin. "We've
had meeting after meeting. The thought of going to one more planning meeting
just about made me puke. But I am so impressed with what I've heard tonight.
I am so thrilled."

Carolyn Woosley, chair of the Downtown Development Authority that will be
charged with much of the implementation strategy for the DPZ proposals,
talked about "a paradigm shift toward planning in this community. For a
while, we stopped even using the word planning."

Councilman Rodney Geylen assured citizens that just because the focus of the
initial stage of redevelopment planning is on the downtown area that doesn't
mean outlying neighborhoods are going to be left out. "We have to have a
starting point," said Geylen. "And it will spread. We can continue the
vision. All the people of Lake Charles will appreciate and enjoy what we're
trying to do."

In addition to two more charrettes from DPZ, there will be a tool-kit of
design guidelines produced by Pennsylvania-based Urban Design Associates and
a regional plan by the California firm headed by Peter Calthorpe. This
combination of experienced consultants has been called a "dream team" of
designers and planners. And because they all know each other and share so
many of the same principles of town and regional planning, their separate
efforts are expected to dovetail perfectly. (See www.louisianaspeaks.org
<http://keelson.eatel.net/websites/la.gov/action.cfm?md=communication&task=a
ddClick&msg_ID=1040&ID=d%3Fj8k%5CmEl%7Emp&redirect=http://www.louisianaspeak
s.org>  for more background and detail)

Last week, Duany's team worked in the South Acadiana corridor focusing on
rebuilding challenges for villages and rural communities. From February 13
to 19, the design team operated out of a studio set up at Rip Van Winkle
Gardens in New Iberia. Then, beginning March 6, the DPZ group focuses on
Arabi in St. Bernard Parrish just outside New Orleans. (See complete
schedule at www.louisianaspeaks.org
<http://keelson.eatel.net/websites/la.gov/action.cfm?md=communication&task=a
ddClick&msg_ID=1040&ID=d%3Fj8k%5CmEl%7Emp&redirect=http://www.louisianaspeak
s.org>  site).

These charrettes represent the next phase of the Louisiana Speaks planning
effort, which is a multi-faceted planning process designed to develop a
sustainable long-term vision for South Louisiana in the wake of the
destruction caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The LRA has partnered
with Long Term Community Recovery (LTCR) Teams and local officials to
develop parish-level recovery plans for 19 of the most heavily impacted
parishes in South Louisiana. 

For further information on charrettes, visit the website at
www.louisianaspeaks.org .

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, destroying more than
200,000 homes and 18,000 businesses and inflicting about $25 billion in
insured losses. 

The LRA is a state agency that addresses the short- and long-term needs of
the recovery. It will seek out and value local input as it plans and
implements the recovery. 

The LRA is supported by the LRA Support Foundation, a private, nonprofit
organization that has raised private funds through the Baton Rouge Area
Foundation to secure the current team of world-renowned planners and experts
who are responsible for developing plans for rebuilding South Louisiana. 

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