W
wyliepoon
Guest
From Architectural Record:
Link to article
New Orleans Introduces First Master Plan for Rebuilding
January 18, 2006
       
Rough conceptual image of a future New Orleans neighborhood. Image courtesy Bring New Orleans Back Commission
On January 11, members of the Urban Planning Committee of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission (BNOBC) presented their long- term vision for rebuilding the city. Issues they addressed ranged from the establishment of neighborhood planning teams to ensure residents' participation to the procurement of funding for buyouts and the creation of the Crescent City Rebuilding Authority to manage the redevelopment process.
Dubbed, "comprehensive and aggressive" by committee chair Joseph Canizaro, a local real estate developer, and "controversial" by Mayor Nagin, the plan marries lofty, visionary concepts for a "bigger, better New Orleans" with tangible deadlines for those participating in the process.
John Beckman, principal with the Philadelphia firm of Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC, master planners for the BNOBC, detailed the plan to a jam-packed (and often contentious) room at the Sheraton New Orleans. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 50 percent of New Orleans houses were flooded with at least four feet of water, Beckman said. The storm ravaged roughly 110,000 households. At least 25,000 of the city's 38,000 historically-significant properties were damaged.
The urban planning committee's framework for rebuilding includes not only a call for greater flood and storm water protection, but calls for every neighborhood to have basic infrastructure, public schools, cultural and community facilities, places of worship, health facilities, open spaces, convenient retail, and access to public transit (most likely light rail). The plan is based on the premise that the federal government will provide the promised hurricane protection system, Canizaro said. Before making specific neighborhood plans, urban planners are awaiting FEMA's release of its base flood-elevation maps, which could determine where redevelopment will be feasible.
ADVERTISEMENT
The commission now has its work cut out for it if it is to meet its self-imposed deadlines in the coming months. By January 20, Reed Kroloff, dean of Tulane's School of Architecture, and New Orleans architect Ray Manning will begin forming neighborhood planning teams comprised of residents and experts like economists, urban planners and public outreach specialists. The two have pledged to have the groups organized by February 20, and to have them identify the number of residents committed to returning to New Orleans by March 20. By April 20, the committee hopes to secure funding to enable homeowners who don't want to rebuild to be bought out. By May 20, Manning and Kroloff will present the information gathered by the neighborhood planning teams. All committees of the BNOBC will make a final presentation June 20, and the urban planning committee has set a deadline for August 20 to complete a financial analysis, secure funding and begin reconstruction.
One of the biggest challenges faced by the committee, admitted Canizaro, is devising a long-term goal in the face of so many unknowns, including future population estimates and revenue streams. And one of the primary concerns among New Orleans residents, especially those who continue to be displaced from their flood-damaged homes, is that they will be excluded from the rebuilding process. Kroloff pledged to utilize every means possible, including the Internet and public access channels, to include residents in the planning phase of the rebuilding. "The urban planning committee has presented a plan and now we will go into the public realm and find out what people are feeling and thinking," he said.
Residents are understandably wary, especially in light of the city city's quick slating for demolition of storm-damaged homes in certain neighborhoods. Initially, 55,000 homes were marked for demolition, says Tami Frazier, a spokesperson with the Mayor's office. Citizens filed a lawsuit against the city to halt the demolition, and on January 18 a federal court ruled that homeowners must be given seven to ten days notice before demolition.
The committee's plan encourages Congress to reconsider passage of the Baker Bill, which would finance a federal buyout of heavily damaged homes for 100 percent of the pre-Katrina market value, less mortgage and insurance. The plan also supported creation of the Crescent City Rebuilding Authority, which will be comprised of paid professionals, to manage redevelopment. Beckman detailed specifics of such an authority, including a scheduled life-expectancy. "It should have a 10-year life span," he said. "It needs to finish its work."
Beckman outlined the committee's ideas for financial vehicles to support various aspects of the plan, including bonding options, tax credit incentives, below-market interest rate loans, and institutions to provide funding not available from other financial sources. The committee proposed a four-month delay in the issuance of building permits in heavily damaged areas, allowing time to assess future viability of those areas.
People representing the historic Holy Cross neighborhood, New Orleans East, Lakeview and Gentilly expressed concerns that a third-party panel comprised largely of non-residents would determine the viability of neighborhoods that they feared were being viewed more as plans and abstract concepts than their homes.
Through its efforts, the building committee is "setting up a model for the next major community that suffers another catastrophic event," Kroloff said. "More than half of the country lives in an area of geographic instability."
"The question is not what will happen, but when," Manning added.
View the urban planning committee's complete report at www.bringneworleansback.org or www.cityofno.com
Urban Planning Final Report (pdf)
Link to article
New Orleans Introduces First Master Plan for Rebuilding
January 18, 2006
       
Rough conceptual image of a future New Orleans neighborhood. Image courtesy Bring New Orleans Back Commission
On January 11, members of the Urban Planning Committee of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission (BNOBC) presented their long- term vision for rebuilding the city. Issues they addressed ranged from the establishment of neighborhood planning teams to ensure residents' participation to the procurement of funding for buyouts and the creation of the Crescent City Rebuilding Authority to manage the redevelopment process.
Dubbed, "comprehensive and aggressive" by committee chair Joseph Canizaro, a local real estate developer, and "controversial" by Mayor Nagin, the plan marries lofty, visionary concepts for a "bigger, better New Orleans" with tangible deadlines for those participating in the process.
John Beckman, principal with the Philadelphia firm of Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC, master planners for the BNOBC, detailed the plan to a jam-packed (and often contentious) room at the Sheraton New Orleans. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 50 percent of New Orleans houses were flooded with at least four feet of water, Beckman said. The storm ravaged roughly 110,000 households. At least 25,000 of the city's 38,000 historically-significant properties were damaged.
The urban planning committee's framework for rebuilding includes not only a call for greater flood and storm water protection, but calls for every neighborhood to have basic infrastructure, public schools, cultural and community facilities, places of worship, health facilities, open spaces, convenient retail, and access to public transit (most likely light rail). The plan is based on the premise that the federal government will provide the promised hurricane protection system, Canizaro said. Before making specific neighborhood plans, urban planners are awaiting FEMA's release of its base flood-elevation maps, which could determine where redevelopment will be feasible.
ADVERTISEMENT
The commission now has its work cut out for it if it is to meet its self-imposed deadlines in the coming months. By January 20, Reed Kroloff, dean of Tulane's School of Architecture, and New Orleans architect Ray Manning will begin forming neighborhood planning teams comprised of residents and experts like economists, urban planners and public outreach specialists. The two have pledged to have the groups organized by February 20, and to have them identify the number of residents committed to returning to New Orleans by March 20. By April 20, the committee hopes to secure funding to enable homeowners who don't want to rebuild to be bought out. By May 20, Manning and Kroloff will present the information gathered by the neighborhood planning teams. All committees of the BNOBC will make a final presentation June 20, and the urban planning committee has set a deadline for August 20 to complete a financial analysis, secure funding and begin reconstruction.
One of the biggest challenges faced by the committee, admitted Canizaro, is devising a long-term goal in the face of so many unknowns, including future population estimates and revenue streams. And one of the primary concerns among New Orleans residents, especially those who continue to be displaced from their flood-damaged homes, is that they will be excluded from the rebuilding process. Kroloff pledged to utilize every means possible, including the Internet and public access channels, to include residents in the planning phase of the rebuilding. "The urban planning committee has presented a plan and now we will go into the public realm and find out what people are feeling and thinking," he said.
Residents are understandably wary, especially in light of the city city's quick slating for demolition of storm-damaged homes in certain neighborhoods. Initially, 55,000 homes were marked for demolition, says Tami Frazier, a spokesperson with the Mayor's office. Citizens filed a lawsuit against the city to halt the demolition, and on January 18 a federal court ruled that homeowners must be given seven to ten days notice before demolition.
The committee's plan encourages Congress to reconsider passage of the Baker Bill, which would finance a federal buyout of heavily damaged homes for 100 percent of the pre-Katrina market value, less mortgage and insurance. The plan also supported creation of the Crescent City Rebuilding Authority, which will be comprised of paid professionals, to manage redevelopment. Beckman detailed specifics of such an authority, including a scheduled life-expectancy. "It should have a 10-year life span," he said. "It needs to finish its work."
Beckman outlined the committee's ideas for financial vehicles to support various aspects of the plan, including bonding options, tax credit incentives, below-market interest rate loans, and institutions to provide funding not available from other financial sources. The committee proposed a four-month delay in the issuance of building permits in heavily damaged areas, allowing time to assess future viability of those areas.
People representing the historic Holy Cross neighborhood, New Orleans East, Lakeview and Gentilly expressed concerns that a third-party panel comprised largely of non-residents would determine the viability of neighborhoods that they feared were being viewed more as plans and abstract concepts than their homes.
Through its efforts, the building committee is "setting up a model for the next major community that suffers another catastrophic event," Kroloff said. "More than half of the country lives in an area of geographic instability."
"The question is not what will happen, but when," Manning added.
View the urban planning committee's complete report at www.bringneworleansback.org or www.cityofno.com
Urban Planning Final Report (pdf)