Planning District Eight (continued)

Lower Ninth Ward/Holy Cross

In 1980, Planning District Eight had a total of 9,267 housing units, equal to 4% of the city's total units. By 1990 the total units in the district declined by 5.7% to 8,735. This decline surpassed the city's total unit change for the ten-year period. The ten-year period also saw a declining number of owner occupied units and rental units, at 3.4% and 24.8%, respectively. The city experienced a decline in rental units for the period significantly lower than the district, at 14.9%. The number of vacant units increased in the district at a slightly slower pace than the city, with 17% of the district's total units marked as vacant in 1990. The average home value increased at approximately the same rate as the city over the ten-year period; however, in 1990 home values for the district were equal to only 51% of the city's average home value. Average monthly rent increased in the district slightly faster than the city's average, but it remained $65 lower than the citywide figure of $289. 

Commercial

Commercial land lies on 69 acres of land, accounting for 4.8% of the District. Historically, St. Claude Avenue provided much of the commercial services for both Holy Cross and the Lower Ninth Ward. Although many buildings are now somewhat deteriorated or obsolete, there has been scattered new development, including Walgreen's and some fast food services. A commercial hub also exists at Caffin and Galvez, and South Claiborne provides two commercial concentrations-the blocks approaching the Industrial Canal Bridge and at Tupelo-along with scattered strip commercial sites. 

Industrial 

Industrial land use accounts for 9.8% or 140 acres of land in District Eight. As might be expected, industries historically located along the Industrial Canal, particularly around the dry docks in the upper part of the neighborhood. Some of these eventually closed or were replaced with scattered commercial sites, but the area continues to have an industrial character. The other concentration is the two-block area along the riverfront between Andry and the Jackson Barracks. 

Industrial use is projected to decrease following the completion of the new lock for the Intracoastal Waterway. The dry dock located north of Claiborne Avenue will be vacated for the installation of the lock and the Port-owned site turned into green space once the $531-million, ten-year project is finished. Details of the plan are included in the section below on Proposed Land Use. 

Public and Semi-Public

Public or semi-public (institutional) uses are limited in number but several are individually quite large: the Jackson Barracks, Holy Cross High School, and Lawless Junior High and Elementary Schools. The Andrew Pete Sanchez building, a community center at Caffin and North Claiborne, expanded in the early 1990s, and is complemented by the elementary school and library located across the street. The levee recreation area from the Alabo Street Wharf to the St. Claude Bridge is used heavily by residents. 

Section V: Community Participation

The following section provides a synthesis of citizen comments and input gathered at a public workshop held at the Andrew Pete Sanchez Building on the evening of June 23, 1998 and a follow up meeting on October 20, 1998. Approximately 25 residents and business owners, in one large group, participated in the workshop identifying pivotal development parcels and land use conflicts and creating a proposed land use map for the district. 

In general, participants expressed concerns about litter accumulating in vacant lots, the number of vacant houses in the district, and a feeling of isolation from the rest of the city. Other concerns included parking problems associated with churches, opposition to additional industrial development, and drug trafficking. The residents feel that there is inadequate citizen inclusion and involvement in City and Port projects that occur in the district. 

Citizens requested coordinated planning between major projects, such as the proposed lock near St. Claude Avenue, the changing needs of the Port of New Orleans and major transportation projects proposed for the area. Citizens expressed a strong desire for additional green space buffers between the Industrial Canal Lock and the surrounding neighborhoods. The changing needs of the Port of New Orleans have resulted in reduced use of riverfront wharves, which has led citizens to consider the possibility of mixed uses along the riverfront. This desire was expressed at both meetings with strong emphasis on the need to put under-utilized riverfront facilities into new "mixed use" as soon as possible. The discussion regarding the proposed Florida Avenue Expressway centered on the possibility of some mixed use along the Florida Avenue corridor to serve the neighborhood commercial needs of the area. Some additional neighborhood commercial area between St. Claude Avenue and the riverfront area was also discussed.

Pivotal Parcels

A variety of development possibilities were identified within District Eight. The community focused on identification and potential development of vacant lots and buildings. Suggestions for the sites listed below were primarily in favor of commercial and residential uses. 

• Forstall & St. Claude, Lizardi & St. Claude-need convenience stores in close proximity to residents
• Vacant school lot at 2300 Andry 
• Caffin and Galvez, theater 

• Levee along river-should remain green space 
• Florida Avenue project, interstate corridor 
• Vacant industrial on river/public belt railroad 
• Lock area and St. Claude Avenue-should not be widened or lock replaced 
• Jackson Barracks-develop as vo-tech training center, bank, supermarket, retail-no military prison 

The schematic map which appears on the facing page summarizes comments recorded on district maps during the workshop. The summary schematic is an attempt to graphically represent the most frequent and consistent comments made by citizen participants. For ease of interpretation, various local landmarks, such as parks, housing developments, and large-scale developments, have been included. 

Section VI: Proposed Land Use for Planning District Eight

Residents cite the sense of community in District Eight as being their greatest asset. They enjoy the family atmosphere, open spaces, community activism, good upkeep which comes with the high percentage of home ownership, and they find the "Lower Ninth Ward" -- as it is popularly known -- to be a quiet and peaceful neighborhood. The levee and various accesses to the Mississippi River provide recreation and pleasing vistas of the city. 

Indeed, the land along the Mississippi River is an area of change and flexibility. As the uses of the river's edge change in response to worldwide market forces and rapidly changing maritime support technologies, this area is a major candidate for the application of Mixed use Planning to future land use. A flexible system that allows a compatible shift from maritime industrial uses to the exciting possibilities of riverfront living and shopping is the future challenge of the proposed plan.

The area also contains structures of historical significance. Two of the area's most striking homes, the "Steamboat Houses" on Egania Street, were built in 1905 and 1913. The first was built by Captain Milton Doullut and his wife, both riverboat captains, apparently inspired by the Japanese exhibit at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis as well as by plantation and steamboat architectural styles. His son, Paul, built a second home shortly after his father's house was moved about 200 feet to make room for levee construction. In 1977 the houses were designated as the city's first two landmarks. Jackson Barracks is also a large landmark within the Lower Ninth Ward. The Barracks, located along the eastern boundary of the district, is now home to the Louisiana State Guard, and is viewed positively by the community because of its job-base potential for the area.

Planning District Eight is home to people with spirit, proud of their cohesive community and aware of the area's "country" charms -- that it is peacefully quiet, that many people own their homes, and that citizens have known one another's families for generations. This community has weathered storms together, and now is trying to weather a period of economic decline: both the population and the number of housing units are decreasing at greater rates than the city; home values are only 51% of the citywide value, and average household income is 60% of the citywide figure.

Issues/problem areas:

District Eight is an area where citizens feel isolated from and neglected or ignored by the city. Residents of the area claim city services are sub-par, commercial needs are not met, and the quality of life is declining. District residents are frustrated that their complaints are not heard with the concern they believe other districts enjoy, and that theirs is the last neighborhood to be tended to. The main issue confronting District Eight is one of revitalizing distressed neighborhoods while, at the same time, placing their concerns on an equal footing with other areas of town. Success relies on encouraging revitalization efforts while ensuring that residents are part of the discussion about what constitutes an appropriate revitalization effort. Recent disputes regarding the relocation of the Industrial Lock and completion of a Florida Avenue expressway underscore the importance of including the community in large economic projects.

In the course of developing this plan, citizens have identified these and other problems related to the existing pattern of land uses in District Eight. The residents' assessment of problems are confirmed in detailed neighborhood plans as well as in the daily duties of the City Planning Commission to research zoning applications. Briefly, they are as follows: 

• Disinvestment and blight, accompanied with high vacancies and abandonment of properties throughout the District; 
• Disinvestment and blight in prime commercial corridors, 
• Concern about the future of institutional uses -- particularly Jackson Barracks 
• Proliferation of certain type of uses in certain neighborhoods (bars, bed and breakfast, churches, package liquor stores) while absence of needed ones (quality grocery store, repair, personal services); 
• Increase in number of nonconforming uses due to the lack of enforcement of the existing regulations and increase in spot zoning which creates additional conflict and destabilizes neighborhoods; 
• Incompatibility of industrial uses with the abutting residential neighborhoods (truck deliveries, noise, environmental and health concerns); 
• Lack of adequate access to the river, lack of recreation and green space, reduction of green space for commercial/industrial uses; 
• Inadequate respect for the opinions and concerns of residents of the area, and incompatible development. 

Plan Recommendations:

The 1999 Land Use Plan gives every part of the city equal planning attention. Without such parity, economic growth and investment is more likely to occur unevenly, resulting in isolated neighborhoods and neglected residents. The plan presumes that development proposed in any Planning District will receive equal regulatory scrutiny, and that zoning laws will be enforced with equal vigor in all parts of New Orleans. These assumptions make good community sense, because a concentration of wealth or poverty, or unequal zoning enforcement in any individual area, negatively affects the city as a whole. This Plan has found planning solutions for all districts in order that every neighborhood will enjoy a prosperous future. The phrase "administrative accountability" describes what is required to assure a neighborhood that its interests are given the same measure of attention as the aspirations of other parts of town. While administrative accountability is a topic larger than the Land Use Plan can encompass, this plan lays the foundation by having tried to draw citizens to workshops held throughout the city, and by trying to find solutions to all the land use problems that individual neighborhoods have identified.

A component of administrative accountability is citizen participation. In every part of town, citizens expressed dissatisfaction with their ability to participate in decision-making processes regarding land development. In Planning District 8, this dissatisfaction is dramatized by the history of a proposal by the Army Corps of Engineers to replace the outmoded lock near St. Claude Avenue. Although the lock is a crucial link for the Intracoastal Waterway, barges face a 15 to 26 hour wait to get through the 1920s-era lock. The original plan for replacement would have caused 200 residences to be displaced, and brought about permanent neighborhood disruption following construction of a high-span bridge at St. Claude Avenue. The original redevelopment plan has since been modified. A new lock will be floated in and installed north of Claiborne Avenue, an entirely industrial area. A ground-level bridge, not a high span, will replace the St. Claude Bridge, and there will be no displacement of residents. 

The history of this project can be read as an example of the effects of not involving citizens in decision-making, and in fact the residual bad feelings from the project mean that the Corps still faces neighborhood opposition, even with a $33-million mitigation program to be developed with the participation of neighborhood groups. The problem of effective citizen participation will be addressed in the Master Plan during 1999, and will advance the goal of administrative accountability. 

The other significant recommendations for District Eight seek to reinforce the district's residential nature and make it a more livable neighborhood. Specifically, the plan recommends an increase in green space along the levee and the Industrial Canal, the introduction of a Mixed use land category in areas where residential uses have traditionally coexisted with commercial, and in any abandoned industrial and commercial areas along the River. 

The Plan proposes measures to entice desirable commercial activity, suggests improvements in landscaping and street maintenance, and calls for preservation and adaptive re-use of the District's most obvious assets -- its extensive inventory of architectural treasures. The recommendations of the 1999 Land Use Plan are as follows:

Mixed Use category. As defined for the 1999 Land Use Plan, Mixed Use land designation is a hybrid category that encourages a flexible mix of residential, commercial, office and certain light industrial uses. Although a mixture of commercial and residential uses can be found in many areas of New Orleans, the current list of land use classifications does not offer a category that acknowledges the co-existence of multiple uses in the same vicinity. Mixed use, a new land use category, was created to remedy this deficiency, and allows for two or more compatible land uses to occur. 

Furthermore, while some neighborhoods such as Holy Cross, are experiencing a renaissance of redevelopment, other areas of the District are plagued by vacancies, disinvestments and overall decay. In these other areas, projecting a land use that is all residential or all commercial, is not likely to encourage redevelopment in a way that utilizes existing features of the area, that is compatible with the surrounding area, or that recaptures the traditional vitality of the street. In both types of areas, the Mixed use category is likely to attract new investment. Mixed uses are distinguished as being either Neighborhood or Urban, depending upon the intensity of the area where they are located and the size of the buildings involved. 

The Neighborhood Mixed Use category applies where small scale commercial activities can co-exist with residential uses, and ensures that existing structures are preserved. In Planning District Eight, the neighborhood scale seems appropriate along St. Claude Avenue to preserve viable housing stock and allow some neighborhood commercial development. The same categories also are proposed for the area north of Peters Street, near the Alabo Street Wharf, for development of revitalized residential, neighborhood commercial and recreational activities. 

The Urban Mixed Use category is intended to encourage redevelopment of large vacant properties or re-use of underutilized historic buildings with rather intensive land uses. This Mixed use category might be appropriate for redevelopment of the buildings and wharves that the Port of New Orleans abandons along the Mississippi River. Urban scale Mixed uses would permit low-impact manufacturing uses, small commercial operations, and open space. 

The greatest challenge in mixed use planning is to ensure compatibility of permitted uses, and to encourage development whose scale and design is harmonious with the surrounding neighborhoods. Therefore, refinement of these categories will be necessary in the revision of the City's Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, when the exact "mix" of uses allowed is further defined and delineated.

Concentration of commercial services To minimize the negative effects of commercial uses on the adjacent residential neighborhoods, the 1999 Land Use Plan proposes that future commercial development be limited to major roadways where current commercial uses are concentrated. In Planning District 8, current commercial uses are in decline, and future development should make an effort to beautify facades, maintain property, and offer higher quality services. The high intensity commercial land use designation is proposed for only one area, where a store with regional customers would not disrupt the surrounding neighborhood. The low intensity, neighborhood commercial designation is applied for several sections of the major street corridors in the District. However, such development should preserve buildings by locating in existing commercial structures or by renewing and revitalizing empty or blighted buildings when possible. 

Regional Commercial. The intersection of St. Claude and Tupelo has been designated as regional commercial with the intent of attracting a mid-sized grocery store and banking services. While some other locations within District Eight have been considered for this land use category, because of their proximity to residential neighborhoods or their inadequate access via major arterial roadways, they are instead designated as less intense Neighborhood Commercial areas. The location designated as a regional commercial center should ensure that effects of high intensity land uses on the nearby residential areas are minimal.

Neighborhood commercial land use category is proposed for sections of several major street corridors where there is an existing concentration of commercial activities and where the area immediately abuts residential neighborhoods. The low intensity commercial uses serving the area residents are proposed for a few blocks along St. Claude Avenue (most of the rest of St. Claude is neighborhood Mixed use), on South Claiborne at the intersection of Tupelo Street, and the area between Egania and Tennessee Streets. Because of its potential to cause disruption to the neighborhood's life, the nature and intensity of uses permitted should be carefully examined and any potential expansion of neighborhood commercial development should closely considered.

The proposed concentration of commercial services and Mixed use developments should result in reduction of spot zoning and gradual reduction in non-conforming uses that are identified as problematic in some neighborhoods within Planning District Eight.

Industrial Uses. The Land Use Plan proposes major reductions of the existing industrial land use designation for properties along the Mississippi River, and concentrates this use along the Industrial Canal, whose name accurately implies its being a major area of heavy industry. These assignments of industrial land use locations support the desire of residents for elimination of industrial uses from the river. With the proposed centralization of maritime and ancillary industrial activities to the Industrial Canal and Intercostal Waterway, the plan allows for both industrial growth and enjoyable residential neighborhoods.

Institutional uses. One area of exciting potential development for the district is the Jackson Barracks facility, which citizens agree should continue as an institutional use. Suggestions include such activities as a vocational training center, which could provide training for future manufacturing, or light industrial uses active in the fully-developed New Orleans Business and Industrial District. Alternatively, the Barracks could be used as a police-training academy, or a National Guard station. The citizens are in agreement that this facility should never become a prison.

In the Lower Ninth Ward, residents reported that there were "too many" churches, a comment that refers to the problems caused by inconsiderate churchgoers who disrupt the tranquillity of neighborhoods. Examples are obvious: blocked driveways, reduced safety of children who are used to quiet streets, and ugly effects of parking on neutral grounds -- torn up grass, muddy tire tracks, etc. While some citizens feel the problem is worse when the church leadership is not active in the neighborhood, the plan tries to deal with land use conflicts irrespective of personality or involvement in community concerns. That is, the plan tries to imagine how a land use can fit compatibly into a neighborhood without considering who owns the property. The most likely solution to this conflict will come with the revision of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, which will set standards for churches to ensure their harmonious co-existence with residential neighborhoods.

Redevelopment of vacant or underutilized properties. Based upon the extensive public input and other considerations including the analysis of the adjacent land uses, traffic circulation and overall stability of the area, the Plan proposes redevelopment of several properties identified as "pivotal" parcels. Accordingly, the land use designation pertinent to the proposed use of the property has been recommended. A number of vacant parcels or blighted and under used properties were discussed as pivotal for future development. Proposed development for these specific sites have been presented in greater detail in the section entitled "Pivotal Parcels" and the appropriate land use designation appears on the Proposed Land Use Map. 

Increase the amount of green space. The plan shows an increase of green space along the Industrial Canal both for an educational area where citizens can view the lock, and to provide a buffer between the lock and the neighborhood, The plan and extends green space from the Mississippi River north to Florida Avenue, and proposes additional green space along the Canal north of Claiborne Avenue once the new lock is completed. 

The north edge of Planning District Eight is currently green space which blends first into wetlands and farther along, to the Intracoastal Waterway. A proposed major transportation project in this corridor known as the Florida Avenue Project could have significant impacts on the future of this edge. Residents endorsed the creative possibility of increased commercial activity in the corridor to serve this link. However, current plans indicate a limited access system that effectively bypasses the neighborhood. If this alternative were to be chosen, the 1999 Plan calls for continued green space as a neighborhood buffer from the negative impacts of this project.

Other recommendations. Due to their general nature, Land Use Plans do not provide recommendations regarding many particular or site specific land use problems that are of concern for the neighborhoods. These problems are analyzed on the level of detailed neighborhood plans, proposed zoning, or plans developed by other agencies such as the Regional Planning Commission. As a guidance for future planning actions, the 1999 Land Use Plan makes several recommendations and proposes development of the following detailed studies:

 
• Prepare detailed neighborhood plan/study regarding each proposed alternative for the Florida Avenue expressway; 
• Recommend comprehensive strategies for addressing complex problems of decay, vacancies and disinvestment. Recommend incentives for property owners to reinvest in outdated, nonconforming structures. 
• Institute neighborhood process for discussions with the Port of New Orleans regarding wharves which are no longer needed for maritime use. 
• As a part of the work on the revision to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, develop design guidelines for specific neighborhoods and commercial/Mixed use corridors (such as St. Claude and Claiborne Avenues, Holy Cross) to ensure harmonious relationship between the existing and infill developments and enhance the overall appearance of the area. Recommend improvements to existing street and median landscaping throughout the District, and create buffer zones and strips as a part of site design to reduce potential conflict between the residential and adjoining commercial and institutional uses.