[StBernard] St. Bernard is awarded $60,000

[Westley Annis]

This is a good step in the direction of redevelopment; to attempt to take a
comprehensive view of the community as a whole and then at the unique
opportunities on the neighborhood or district level.

All efforts should ensure a commitment to the integrity of our residential
neighborhoods with health, safety, welfare and quality of life improvement
as the priority.  Caution should be taken to the details when an outside
consulting firm is hired "to rewrite the parish's zoning regulations in an
effort to simplify the rebuilding process for officials and private
developers"  and to streamline the "approval and permitting processes".  
 
  If our regulations are being rewritten they should be written for the
protection of the residents who have already rebuilt our community.  It will
be very important for citizens to actively participate in the public
hearings of any new regulations or zoning changes, to have easy access to
all information, to be fully heard  and for the current timeline and
procedures for public hearings to be improved on the side of caution towards
a more engaged citizenry. 

In the Ohio Street neighborhood around the refinery we are already
"pedestrian friendly" and enjoy the opportunity to walk to the high school
or to commercial neighborhood restaurants, small pantry type groceries and
other businesses.  We used to ride bikes or walk to the old Library.  We
have requested the replacement of our sidewalks {on the four most eastern
streets} to ADA standards and the enforcement of no truck routes and no
industrial traffic on any of our residential streets.

Hopefully, any NEW "zoning" regulations will stop refinery encroachment. 

We are all for progress but we are also for our neighborhoods.  Looking
forward to see what our parish planners will proposed as they have been
working so hard on these types of redevelopment concepts.

SJK


-----Original Message-----
St. Bernard is awarded $60,000
Thursday, September 18, 2008St. Bernard bureau
The St. Bernard Community Foundation has awarded $60,000 to St. Bernard
Parish government, which will allow the parish to hire a consulting firm to
rewrite the parish's zoning regulations in an effort to simplify the
rebuilding process for officials and private developers. 

Donald Poland Consulting, of Hartford, Conn., will update and modernize the
regulations by the end of the year, according to a news release from the St.
Bernard Community Foundation. 

Under the effort, a design development district will be created to introduce
mixed uses and the latest in "smart codes" along major entryways and
high-traffic areas, such as Judge Perez Drive near Jackson Barracks, the St.
Bernard Highway gateway, the parish government complex area and Village
Square. 

The new designs will allow the parish to phase in more pedestrian-friendly,
mixed use development without excessive, complicated requirements that could
slow the rate of reinvestment. The approval and permitting processes also
will be streamlined. 

The St. Bernard Community Foundation is an affiliate of the Greater New
Orleans Foundation.