In The News › Planning Issues

Experts cautioned that, even with billions of dollars in aid expected to flow to the city, New Orleans wouldn’t get enough to properly rebuild every section of town — or to keep rebuilt facilities in good shape.

“Unless the city’s plan addresses the mismatch between the city’s footprint and its population by initially directing development into more compact areas, the outcome will be random, scattered development in a sea of blight,” the nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research wrote in December 2005.

The Bureau of Governmental Research has put out a new report addressing the infrastructure needs of the city of New Orleans and recommendations for how to budget for improvements that need to be made. Dennis sits down with Janet Howard, the CEO of the Bureau of Governmental Research, to discuss the findings.

New Orleans, at age 292, has far more creaky infrastructure than any agency can afford to fix, according to a new report from the Bureau of Governmental Research. “The Price of Civilization” defines the problem in detail, although researchers say their tally of capital needs is not complete.

A new study by the independent Bureau of Governmental Research suggests there are “startling gaps” in the city’s ability to prevent the type of flooding seen in parts of New Orleans, Wednesday morning.

A report released Wednesday from the Bureau of Governmental Research indicated that the city needs billions to upgrade its badly impaired infrastructure.

While much attention has been paid recently to a projected $67.5 million shortfall in New Orleans’ 2010 operating budget, the Bureau of Governmental Research has been focusing on a shortfall of billions of dollars in the city’s ability to address its infrastructure needs.

A 2003 study by the Bureau of Governmental Research, an independent watchdog group, said the current CZO, written about 40 years ago and since amended hundreds of times, is “incoherent, overamended, outdated and vague,” and that “interpreting (it) is well beyond the reach of the typical developer, not to mention the average citizen.”

The commission flatly rejected one of the council’s most far-reaching suggestions: to “remove all topics not related to the physical growth of the city,” the basic subject of the master plan. Removing such unrelated material has been advocated by the Bureau of Governmental Research, but the commission said it considers including discussions of other issues appropriate.

Earlier this month, the Bureau of Governmental Research issued a report criticizing the latest draft of the New Orleans Master Plan and Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, saying it “does not live up to its mission in key areas” and “still falls short of the requirements for a good master plan.”

The Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR), a local nonprofit think tank, has followed the planning process since its inception and released several reports assessing various drafts of the plan. BGR’s latest report, “A Need for Clarity,” concludes that the most recent draft “still falls short of the requirements for a good master plan.”

Janet Howard, president of the Bureau of Governmental Research, said the latest version of the plan corrects some of the problems the bureau found in an earlier draft last year. But in an analysis posted Wednesday on its Web site, www.bgr.org, the bureau said the current version still “does not provide sufficient guidance on the physical development of the city,” is confusingly organized and hard to use, and “strays from its mission by covering an array” of unrelated issues.

While the nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research says the latest draft of the master plan has “limited improvements” over the previous draft, it says the draft still “falls short of the requirements for a good master plan.”

The Bureau of Governmental Research is expected to issue a report Wednesday on the document approved by the planning commission and now before the council. The bureau last year released a highly critical assessment of a preliminary draft of the plan, saying it did “not provide an effective guide for shaping the future physical presence of the city” and failed to “prioritize goals and policies in any meaningful way.”

I have a dog. He’s a pretty good dog. He’s a good companion; he’s friendly. But he’s a pretty lousy watchdog.

When members of the New Orleans City Planning Commission decided Tuesday to postpone for a month their scheduled vote on the city’s proposed master plan, they were worried how City Council members might respond.

One thing that cannot be disputed about the latest draft of the city’s proposed Master Plan is that it’s a monster-sized document. The plan comprises three volumes and hundreds of pages. As experts and citizens consider the efficacy of the plan, a threshold issue is: How long should the deliberative process take? Earlier this month, the nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR), a local government watchdog, released a study criticizing the plan and suggested that the process be slowed down so shortcomings in the current draft can be corrected. “At this point, it is more important to get it right than to get it done quickly,” BGR concluded. We agree — up to a point.

A philosophical clash over the city’s master plan is surfacing among authors of the plan’s current draft and those who helped craft the 2008 city charter amendment that gives the plan legal force.

The legal power afforded to the city’s master plan is driving a gap between expectations and what planners say is reality in New Orleans.

New Orleanians can’t express informed opinions on the city’s proposed master plan if they haven’t seen the entire document.

A nationally known urban planner hired by the Bureau of Governmental Research panned New Orleans’ proposed master plan Tuesday, saying the latest draft would be the longest master plan in America yet would fail to provide basic guidance on land-use issues.

New Orleans residents got their first chance to sound off on the first draft of the city’s new master plan.

The city’s draft master plan is “so deficient that it would be a mistake to adopt it.”

A government watchdog group on Monday called on the City Planning Commission to postpone public meetings on New Orleans’ master plan, including two this week, until the entire document is available for review.

The Bureau of Governmental Research, a non-partisan, issues research organization in New Orleans, called Murray’s bill an “affront to the home rule charter” of the city.

New Orleans voters last fall approved a process to create a city master plan and opted to give the finished product the force of law.

The Bureau of Governmental Research, a nonprofit policy analysis group, says Murray’s bill conflicts with New Orleans’ home rule charter, which gives the city authority to make its own laws. In November, New Orleans voters approved an amendment to the charter to give the master plan the force of law once the plan is adopted.

The Bureau of Governmental Research is urging the Louisiana Legislature to reject three bills that would require voter approval of the city’s not-yet-written master plan before the plan could take effect.

The nonprofit research organization’s report, “The House that Uncle Sam Built: The Continued Expansion of Subsidized Housing in New Orleans,” found that the number of subsidized units in New Orleans jumped from 19,865 in 2005 to 23,999 in 2009, a 21 percent increase.

Group warns trend puts stress on city

New Orleans voters narrowly agreed Tuesday to amend the City Charter to give the city’s forthcoming master plan the force of law, meaning that all zoning and land-use decisions will have to conform to the plan.

As he seeks a 10th term from the 2nd District, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson has yet to draw an endorsement from a single local elected official. But it seems he can count on Mayor Ray Nagin’s vote Tuesday.

This newspaper makes the following recommendations for the Nov. 4 ballot.

New Orleans voters will decide Nov. 4 whether to amend the City Charter to give the city’s forthcoming master plan the force of law, meaning that all zoning and land-use decisions would have to conform to the plan.

On Tuesday, November 4, New Orleans residents going to the polls will do more than elect the next president.

New Orleans residents who helped create a plethora of plans for rebuilding the city after Hurricane Katrina are being asked to go back to the drawing boards one more time.

Officials with the city of New Orleans have launched what they called the final step in coming up with a
comprehensive plan that will serve as a blueprint —enforced by law —for redevelopment after Hurricane Katrina.

The City of New Orleans and the American Bar Association (ABA) have adopted two major planning and land-use projects of Daniel R. Mandelker, J.D., the Howard A. Stamper Professor of Law. The projects are designed to help ensure sound land-use management.

The New Orleans City Council voted 7-0 on Thursday to submit to voters a City Charter amendment that would substantially revamp the way the city handles zoning and land-use regulation.

When the New Orleans City Council decides Thursday whether to call a fall election on a proposed City Charter amendment revamping the way the city makes land-use decisions, the proposal will be far less sweeping than the version introduced last month by council President Jackie Clarkson.

Real estate developers and city planning officials — often on opposing sides of the fence when it comes to zoning law — agree land use reform will benefit those enforcing the rules and those subject to them.

A New Orleans governmental watchdog group Thursday proposed revising the City Charter to limit the City Council’s role in land-use decisions, increase neighborhoods’ voice in such actions and create a city master plan with the force of law.