This is certainly good for the rebuilding of the city. I’m glad the the LRA is not holding up the distribution of the Block Grants to homeowners pending a citywide Master Plan.
The first excerpt explains the LRA’s part, and the second concerns some of the Neighborhood Planning Associations.
“Work on a combined recovery plan for New Orleans neighborhoods should be complete by December and could later gain the force of law if it prompts major changes to the city’s zoning ordinance or master land-use plan, officials said.
The project’s completion is scheduled for December, months after the Louisiana Recovery Authority is expected to begin doling out billions of dollars in rehabilitation grants and buyouts to individual homeowners, but that should not be cause for concern in New Orleans, said David Voelker, an LRA board member heavily involved in negotiations with city officials.
“They’re able to get them (grants) on the same timetable as before,” he said. “Most of those (homeowners) by now have a pretty good idea of what they want to do, so there’s not reason to hold them up.”
He added, however, that as the neighborhood-specific planning effort plays out through the fall, it may help homeowners still struggling with rebuilding choices.
‘Pivotal step’
Louisiana Recovery Authority officials have fretted that slow neighborhood planning in New Orleans left a gaping hole in their work on a regional blueprint for recovery. But Andy Kopplin, the agency’s executive director, on Wednesday praised negotiations for the so-called Unified New Orleans Neighborhood Plan.
“Our job at the LRA is not to plan for the vision of New Orleans,” Kopplin said.”
and
“The planning program will take into account independent planning efforts launched early in some neighborhoods, including Broadmoor, Gentilly and Lakeview. A flurry of planning initiatives launched in Gentilly through the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association, and affecting nearly two dozen neighborhoods, make that part of town a model for the citywide effort, officials said.
Decisions that neighborhood residents are now making on rebuilding their homes will influence planning for infrastructure improvements, whether they involve water lines or transit service, Bingler said.”