[StBernard] LRA Long Term Planning Task Force Receives Updates and Final Reports from Duany Neighborhood Design

[Westley Annis]

LRA Long Term Planning Task Force Receives Updates and Final Reports from Duany Neighborhood Design Charrettes

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- The Louisiana Recovery Authority's (LRA) LongTerm Planning Task Force met today to receive updates and final reports from the neighborhood design charretes led by Andres Duany and other town planners from Duany-Planter-Zyberk (DPZ) Company earlier this year. 

Through these charrettes planners worked with thousands of citizens and community leaders from three distinct areas including: downtown Lake Charles, South Acadiana and Arabi and other parts of St. Bernard parish. 

"These plans have become the building blocks of South Louisiana's regional vision and demonstrate how big ideas for rebuilding safer, stronger and smarter can be implemented at the local level, one neighborhood at a time," said Donna Fraiche, Chair of the LRA Long Term Planning Task Force. 

The first charrette resulted in the development of a comprehensive planning strategy for downtown Lake Charles, which, like many downtowns in the U.S. has been adversely impacted by decentralized growth over the last 20 years. 

Lori Morinvoich with the City of Lake Charles provided a brief update on the implementation of this plan, noting that the City of Lake Charles is actively using the Smart Codes that were developed through the charrettes. 

The second charrette focused on parts of Vermilion Parish, including Erath, Delcambre and Abbeville, which were devastated by Hurricane Rita. Key recommendations from the Vermilion Parish charrette included: the establishment of codes to protect open space from urban sprawl; adjustment of the embankment at the Intracoastal Waterway to better intercept storm surges and; the creation of a new neighborhood north of Erath to receive residents from Erath and Vermilion Parish who choose to build on higher ground. 

The third charette initially focused on Arabi, but was expanded to include all of St. Bernard Parish, which was one of the most extensively damaged parishes in Louisiana. While outside consultant planning in St. Bernard Parish continues, the City Planning Commission is currently in the process of updating its code of ordinances, which have not been comprehensively reviewed since 1965. The St. Bernard City Council and City Planning Commission are also aggressively working to develop a comprehensive land use plan for the future. 

Funding for the charrettes was provided by the LRA Support Foundation, a private nonprofit organization that raised funds to secure a team of world-renowned planners and experts to help plan for Louisiana's future. More information about the charrettes and copies of the final plans are available online at www.louisianaspeaks.org <http://keelson.eatel.net/websites/la.gov/action.cfm?md=communication&task=addClick&msg_ID=2440&ID=dsiNe7i4n%2Dnx&redirect=http://www.louisianaspeaks.org> . 

In other action, the Task Force received an update from the project manager for the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP), Steven Bingler on the current status of the comprehensive neighborhood planning effort. Bingler noted that the members of the Community Support Organization were named and a formal memorandum of understanding was signed last month, signifying the official start of the unified effort. 

He also noted that planners from the unified team are currently assembling all of the planning data and resources that had previously been created to establish a base level of work that has been done and prevent the duplication of efforts. He also reported that in addition to the neighborhood planning meetings that are being held locally, UNOP plans to host two Community Congresses in the fall that will be broadcast to residents that are displaced in other states.

The unified neighborhood planning initiative is a bottom up approach to planning that will incorporate the vision of neighborhoods and districts into a citywide plan that will be completed in December- January 2006. 

Dr. Eric Baumgartner, who serves as a resource to the Louisiana Health Care Redesign Collaborative, also provided an update on efforts to integrate the work of the collaborative with the unified neighborhood planning effort on health care concepts that have implications to planning, such as the medical home concept.

LRA Education Policy Advisor, Ramsey Green also briefed the Task Force on the LRA's action to adopt eight principles from American Architectural Foundation's National Summit on School Design and green building concepts in an effort to encourage the repair and reconstruction of primary and secondary schools that serve as centers of community. 

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Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, displacing more than 200,000 homes and 18,000 businesses. In the aftermath of these storms, Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco established the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) to serve as the planning and coordinating body for Louisiana's recovery. This 33-member body is coordinating across jurisdictions, supporting community recovery and resurgence, ensuring integrity and effectiveness, and planning for one of the most extensive rebuilding efforts in the world.