Bring New Orleans Back Fund : Urban Design Minutes 11-3-05

Ray Manning (RM), Jane Brooks (JB), Anna Brand (AB), Bob Markway (BM), Fritz Wagner (FW), Jean Nathan (JN), Jason Berry (JB), Elizabeth Mossop (EM), Donna Fraiche (DF), David Waggonner (DW), Chris Johnson (CEJ), Peter Reichard (PR), Andre Neff (AN), Leslie March (LM), Charles Montgomery (CM), Adam Becker (AB), Keith Scarmuzza (KS), Todd Breckman (TB), Larry Schmidt (LS), Walter Brooks (WB)

RM proposed folding Urban Design and Land Use sub-committees together. Urban Design is favorable to idea, LS and WB will propose idea to Land Use at their next meeting.

RM is interested in the proposed charrette to create examples following the Land Use and Urban Design guidelines. RM says Joe Canizaro may allow hiring a professional firm to design our strategies, and LS agrees that such a decision would be helpful.

Land Use referenced the City Planning Commissions 1999 Land Use study. Refer to website for copy of that study:

A question was raised asking if that study took into consideration the flood plan. RM said it likely did not but that our study will take it into consideration.

A question was raised why we are discussing urban design if the only flaw in our system is that the levees failed. RM said that we will use FEMAs recommendations and scientific evidence to guide our design. DW noted that insurance companies will affect residents living in these flooded. DW proposes designing neighborhoods that will contain, mitigate, or minimize the flooding in their locality rather than allowing flood to spread through other populated areas. KS noted that FEMA elevations pre-Katrina were eased to not make living in New Orleans prohibitively expensive for residents to obtain insurance, therefore do we need to be stricter than FEMA elevation requirements?

AN repeats need to give quick answers to residents seeking permits.

AN also says that before we can begin developing our strategy, we need to determine which lands are left available to us after federal and state agencies claim lands they will need for infrastructure improvements. Examples include:

Army Corps of Engineers needs if they plan to strengthen levees

Port of New Orleans needs if they plan to expand services

DOTD if they have plans to alter roadways and highways

Alden states our need to arrive at a consensus on which lands are within our ability to design.

DW would like more information on the Japanese style of levees.

JN wants federal commitment to build Category 5 levees.

There is a need to locate the person at FEMA assigned to New Orleans planning.

Action Items October 31:

Action Required By	Action	Completed
CEJ	Attend Land Use Meeting on Nov. 2	X
CEJ	Find sources of information used by Times-Picayune maps	X
AE	Schedule John Anderson to make presentation of Mississippi Charrettes
AE	Acquire list of senior contact persons in FEMA from John Anderson, especially person assigned to lead work in New Orleans
Gather information on studies already produced by other planning efforts and other regional efforts, including list of contact people
CEJ	List of all neighborhoods, neighborhood associations, and the extent of damage each neighborhood sustained (likely to be at City Planning offices)

JB	Coordinate hiring of additional researcher		X
Acquire topographic mapping of city
Acquire flood photos from Patrick Moore/Shaw
RK	Schedule Rich Campanella to give presentation		X
Schedule Doug Meffert to give presentation
Schedule Larry Schmidt to give presentation		X
NS		Contact copy center at Entergy Center to arrange use of their location for anyone to pick up materials and info
AL		Provide information on Japans superlevees
NW		Discuss housing (and temp. housing) standards with ULI
Research applicable HUD funding sources
IB		Provide information from research on Mississippi River studio
IB		Provide information on solutions to similar flooding problems encountered in other cities (esp. Asia and Netherlands)

Action Items November 3:

Action Required By	Action	Completed
CEJ	Contact PONO for additional land use plans
AB	Contact Army Corps of Engineers for land use plans
CEJ	Find website information for City Planning Land Use study	X
TB	Bring printed copies of City Planning Land Use study to next meeting (Tuesday)
WB	Provide more copies of RPC study of New Orleans
CEJ	Contact Tim Gelstone to find FEMA flood elevations

NOTE: NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON TUESDAY, NOV. 8 AT 909 POYDRAS ST. IN

JOSEPH CANIZAROS OFFICE AT 1PM (17th FLOOR).

CONFERENCE CALL WILL BE FUNCTIONAL AT THAT LOCATION.

WEEKLY MEETINGS ON THURSDAYS AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AT 1PM

BNOBC: Committee on City Planning Urban Design Sub-Committee November 3, 2005 Meeting Minutes

BNOBC: Committee on City Planning
Urban Design Sub-Committee
November 3, 2005

Meeting Minutes