Editorial
The Times Picayune
May 9, 2014
The creation of a master plan for the city of New Orleans post-Katrina was supposed to codify a vision for growth and development that protected the character of neighborhoods and involved residents in decisions.
New Orleans voters amended the City Charter to give the master plan the force of law, and after 18 months of planning and community input, the City Council approved the document in August 2010.
The underlying premise was that the rules would be clear, and development decisions would have to be made within those parameters.
But some residents in and around Holy Cross said that didn't happen with Perez APC's plan for a multi-use development on the former Holy Cross School campus along the Mississippi River.
Despite their pleas not to do so, the City Council on Thursday approved a zoning change that allows the developer to exceed the 40-foot height restriction by 20 feet and vastly broadens the uses for the property.
Only new At-large Councilman Jason Williams, who started his first term Monday, voted against the proposal.
He asked to see letters of commitment from tenants and financiers, but none were presented. "Saying you are going to do something is not good enough, particularly with this much opposition," Mr. Williams said.
"I am pro-development. But today, I'm leaning toward voting against this development because of the processes. Send a message to anybody else who wants to develop that you have to work with the neighborhood," he said before the vote.
His message is important. Going forward, the city needs to make sure the planning and zoning process is more inclusive than it appears to have been in this case.
The Perez project did improve over time. The developers scaled back the height and overall size of the plan, reducing a proposed 13-story building to a five-story building with parking underneath. In addition, the number of planned condo units was cut from 248 to 118.
At Thursday's meeting, a Perez representative said half of the acreage would be left as green space that will be open to the public. That is a good outcome, although it is not binding.
And leaders of the Lower 9 Vision Coalition, which was formed in response to the original Perez plan, argue that the 60-foot building that is planned will tower over their single-story shotgun houses and cottages.
In addition, the C1A zoning is far more permissive than the RD3 designation that had been in place. The C1A zoning is for a general commercial district, which allows everything from drug stores and dry cleaning shops to hospitals and electric substations. Perez vice president Steve Massicot on Thursday touted plans for culinary and karate schools on the site.
City Councilman James Gray, whose district includes the site in the Lower 9th Wward, is a strong supporter of the project as a way to energize the area. And Mayor Mitch Landrieu endorsed it this week. "Thanks to the strong advocacy of the community and the hard work of the City Council, the Holy Cross proposal is now in a posture that I support," he said in a statement.
"Through this development, we have an opportunity to restore an historic site and realize significant, new private investment in the Lower Ninth Ward," the mayor said in his statement.
His desire and that of the City Council to see the Holy Cross School property brought back to life is understandable. The 13.4-acre site has been vacant since the school moved to Gentilly after the campus flooded when floodwalls broke during Hurricane Katrina. That isn't good for residents or the city as a whole.
And the Perez project as it has evolved has promise.
But the Lower 9 Vision Coalition, which is made up of multiple neighborhood and community groups, had valid concerns about the scale of the plans and worked hard to come up with alternatives. The coalition held five public meetings last year to get input from the community and worked with Tulane University's City Center on development strategies. Ultimately, they felt ignored by the city.
When the master plan was approved, there was a promise of an organized process for neighborhoods to be engaged in planning. The process in this case did not work as it should.
As New Orleans continues to rebuild, the city needs to make sure it does.
The Times Picayune
May 9, 2014
The creation of a master plan for the city of New Orleans post-Katrina was supposed to codify a vision for growth and development that protected the character of neighborhoods and involved residents in decisions.
New Orleans voters amended the City Charter to give the master plan the force of law, and after 18 months of planning and community input, the City Council approved the document in August 2010.
The underlying premise was that the rules would be clear, and development decisions would have to be made within those parameters.
But some residents in and around Holy Cross said that didn't happen with Perez APC's plan for a multi-use development on the former Holy Cross School campus along the Mississippi River.
Despite their pleas not to do so, the City Council on Thursday approved a zoning change that allows the developer to exceed the 40-foot height restriction by 20 feet and vastly broadens the uses for the property.
Only new At-large Councilman Jason Williams, who started his first term Monday, voted against the proposal.
He asked to see letters of commitment from tenants and financiers, but none were presented. "Saying you are going to do something is not good enough, particularly with this much opposition," Mr. Williams said.
"I am pro-development. But today, I'm leaning toward voting against this development because of the processes. Send a message to anybody else who wants to develop that you have to work with the neighborhood," he said before the vote.
His message is important. Going forward, the city needs to make sure the planning and zoning process is more inclusive than it appears to have been in this case.
The Perez project did improve over time. The developers scaled back the height and overall size of the plan, reducing a proposed 13-story building to a five-story building with parking underneath. In addition, the number of planned condo units was cut from 248 to 118.
At Thursday's meeting, a Perez representative said half of the acreage would be left as green space that will be open to the public. That is a good outcome, although it is not binding.
And leaders of the Lower 9 Vision Coalition, which was formed in response to the original Perez plan, argue that the 60-foot building that is planned will tower over their single-story shotgun houses and cottages.
In addition, the C1A zoning is far more permissive than the RD3 designation that had been in place. The C1A zoning is for a general commercial district, which allows everything from drug stores and dry cleaning shops to hospitals and electric substations. Perez vice president Steve Massicot on Thursday touted plans for culinary and karate schools on the site.
City Councilman James Gray, whose district includes the site in the Lower 9th Wward, is a strong supporter of the project as a way to energize the area. And Mayor Mitch Landrieu endorsed it this week. "Thanks to the strong advocacy of the community and the hard work of the City Council, the Holy Cross proposal is now in a posture that I support," he said in a statement.
"Through this development, we have an opportunity to restore an historic site and realize significant, new private investment in the Lower Ninth Ward," the mayor said in his statement.
His desire and that of the City Council to see the Holy Cross School property brought back to life is understandable. The 13.4-acre site has been vacant since the school moved to Gentilly after the campus flooded when floodwalls broke during Hurricane Katrina. That isn't good for residents or the city as a whole.
And the Perez project as it has evolved has promise.
But the Lower 9 Vision Coalition, which is made up of multiple neighborhood and community groups, had valid concerns about the scale of the plans and worked hard to come up with alternatives. The coalition held five public meetings last year to get input from the community and worked with Tulane University's City Center on development strategies. Ultimately, they felt ignored by the city.
When the master plan was approved, there was a promise of an organized process for neighborhoods to be engaged in planning. The process in this case did not work as it should.
As New Orleans continues to rebuild, the city needs to make sure it does.
