[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish to develop master land-use plan

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish to develop master land-use plan

Published: Friday, August 17, 2012, 10:30 PM

  By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

St. Bernard Parish President Dave Peralta on Thursday announced that Winston
Associates of Boulder, Colo., will lead the parish through its first-ever
master land-use planning process. Once completed, the plan will serve as the
basis for land use and economic development in the parish for decades to
come. "A comprehensive plan and approach for the overall development of our
community will be a significant step toward our continued growth and
economic development," Peralta said.

The parish is still negotiating the contract, but it appears it will be
about $400,000 paid through U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development's Community Development Block Grant funds. The company is
expected to begin in late September and could take a year. Winston and its
various subcontractors already are working on short-term maintenance and
sales plans for the vacant Louisiana Land Trust lots that still dot the
parish's post-Katrina landscape.

In part, the planning team will examine the best options for bulk purchases
of LLT lots such as parties interested in purchasing five or more vacant
lots for larger developments. That is expected to include bundling lots in
targeted areas that the parish would push to redevelop first.

"We really shouldn't have sold one LLT lot before we had this plan in place,
but the good news is that we'll still have 2,000 lots come next year and can
have a plan to work with them," Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Graves
said.

The state currently is fielding interest in the lots through Aug. 28. If
more than one person is interested, an open auction will be held Oct. 13 in
the St. Bernard Parish Council chambers. About a fifth of the parish's total
lots are expected to sell in the current round of sales, or 447 of the about
2,400 remaining properties.

During the master planning process, the St. Bernard Planning Commission and
a steering committee made up of parish residents and business owners, taking
suggestions made at regular public meetings, will provide guidance, parish
Director of Community Development Candace Watkins said. Watkins said that
the selection process for that steering committee and the dates for public
meetings have not yet been determined.

Longtime Planning Commission members Earl Dauterive and Louis Schneider have
pushed the council and the administration to develop a master plan since
Hurricane Katrina and Graves said on Thursday that their efforts were
invaluable to finally getting the ball moving.

Along with Winston Associates, subcontractors czb LLC of Alexandria, Va.,
and Donald Poland Consulting of Hartford, Conn., will provide planning
services and Neel-Schaffer of Jackson, Miss., and Arcadis of Highlands
Ranch, Colo., will provide engineering and environmental services for the
project.

James Richardson, the director of Louisiana State University's Public
Administration Institute, will advise the team on economic development
issues. Wolff Lyon Architects, Boulder, Colo., will work on community design
issues.

While none of the firms is headquartered in Louisiana, Neel-Schaffer and
Arcadis each has handled various projects in the metro New Orleans area, and
Charles Buki, the head of czb, has analyzed market trends in St. Bernard and
other local parishes on behalf of the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

Donald Poland, who also is an associate with czb, helped rewrite the
parish's new zoning code that initially restricted multifamily housing and
contributed to St. Bernard's subsequent long and expensive federal court
battle over Fair Housing Act. That 2009 zoning code eventually was rescinded
in 2011 under pressure from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development but earlier this year the St. Bernard Parish Council approved an
amended version that allows multifamily dwellings in more zoning districts.

Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch at timespicayune.com or
504.826.3321.