[StBernard] Duany meeting

[Westley Annis]

I attended, along with hundreds of others, the presentation tonight given by
Andres Duany. I could only stay for the first hour, but knowing how hungry
many who could not make it tonight are for news by other than the
professional media, here goes. The presentation is supposed to be available
on a website next week.
 
After 15 min. of introductions, Andres led off with an informative set of
slides that depicted the seven types of homes in the parish and gave his
opinion. He started with homes because he felt that was what was on the
minds of majority of the people, and he was right. The seven home types and
his comments were:
 
Antebellum plantations-historically sigificant, need to find funding to
restore and preserve Victorian cottages-historically significant, quality
construction, good investment to repair, will hold resale value, these are
already on piers off the ground and can be raised higher for about $30,000
if need be Turn of century cottages and pre-war homes -similar to Victorian
just not as historic Post war (i.e. late 1940s) -low quality, boxy, single
baths, extremely small, not worth repairing from a financial perspective,
not a demand for such small houses, better investment to demolish and
rebuild new 1950 thru 1970 ranch tract homes-abundance of tract subdivisions
of one story ranch houses with significant damage that are on slabs that
cost $80,000 or more if you could raise them on piers, recommends
demolishing 1980s to present- he called them McMansions and refers to the
custom designed and built homes of 3,000 sq ft or more that have modern
conveniences, appliances, insulation, etc. These also can't be raised for
$30,000, but if the second floor isn't damaged it may be financially worth
it to repair the first floors.
 
With regards to FEMA is anyone surprised that FEMA didn't issue the draft of
the proposed base flood plain maps? Duany said the new date is March 30. He
also said that from past experience, the initial "draft" elevations given by
FEMA changes very little from their final version that will come months
later. His experience tells him that the elevations may be raised a few feet
higher than the last set of flood plain maps, but not 15 ft. He explained
that if we had no levees, FEMA would simply say the elevation would be the
high water mark, as they told Mississippi. However, we have levees so it
would be unreasonable to ignore the protection of the levees altogther and
that's what makes it a judgement call for FEMA. 
 
( I guess struggling is a good adjective. In my opinion, no one flooded due
to rainwater. We all flooded, whether a few feet or 15 feet, due to levee
overtopping and breaches. So if FEMA's new maps state base flood elevations
2 or 3 feet higher, and it was a street that has never flooded, why raise
the house elevation at all unless it's raise high enough to withstand a
breach?  It's a different case if a neighborhood has been experiencing
rainwater flooding and these maps will correct those cases. For example. my
house slab built in 1988 is El 3.5 ft. and has never had rainwater rise
above the street curb. The Katrina water reached El. 12.5 ft. If I was to
demo and rebuild, my choices would be to rebuild to El. 3.5 which is high
enough for rain events or El. 13.5 so that a levee breach would matter.
Anything in between means I'll get less wet than Katrina in a levee break.
But rebuilding means I have to meet the new flood maps and that may say I
have to build to El. 6. What does that accomplish?  Since my house was built
after 1975 and I meet the current base flood elevation, as long as I repair,
I do not have to raise the house if I don't want to. And since it will cost
$80k or more, according to Duany to raise a slab house, I'll spend the money
on more flood insurance coverage instead.)
 
He said that existing pier homes could be raised a few feet higher or the
lot levels raised and then placed higher or homes could be built such that
the min. height of the first floor piers has enough room to use as a
carport/garage area.
 
Duany then spoke about modular homes. (Refer to the article in the TP a few
weeks ago or go to
http://homebuying.about.com/cs/modulareducation/a/modularhomes.htm for a
good explanation.) He said that the parish needs to monitor for
architectural quality on these homes. I take that to mean that when done
right, you can't tell the difference, but if a homeowner wants to cut costs,
they can be dull and boxy. I have heard experts say that they aren't
necessarily cheaper per sq.ft., but they are fast to build and will meet the
new local building codes. They can be built on any height foundation.  He
said that the parish should allow the many stick (conventional) and modular
builders a central site to build model homes that could be a one stop shop
for buyers to see the quality, negotiate price, and contract for a quality
home. He said competition will increase the quality offered and decrease the
selling price (economics 101). 
 
Then I had to leave. Maybe somebody can do this for what happened after 7pm.
 
Deborah Keller
 
 
 
80 to 100 slab raising
 
 
FEMA elevations not released today as promised. 8 feet