New Orleans City Planning Commission
Planning Districts Nine, Ten and Eleven
New Orleans East
The name "New Orleans East" has been used by mapmakers, planners, developers and politicians to refer to various areas of the eastern reach of the city. The most frequent reference is to the area east of the Industrial Canal. Containing 65% of the city's land, New Orleans East has been considered the logical growth corridor of the City. Beginning with residential subdivisions along Chef Menteur Highway (U.S. Highway 90) in the 1950s and 1960s, development continued through the 1970s and 1980s. The construction of Interstate 10 facilitated multifamily developments along the paralleling service roads, major commercial centers at the larger interchanges, and a mix of neighborhood services, general commercial, institutional and residential uses along the streets leading to I-10. The construction of Interstate 510 improved access to major industrial/job centers. However, the vast areas of undeveloped land in the east have presented both a great opportunity and a daunting challenge to planners and land developers. The recognition of the value of wetland areas has set the tone of balanced development during the 1980s and 1990s, with areas outside drainage and levee protection systems set aside as open space. The 1999 Land Use Plan balances the development of the remaining properties between the Industrial Canal and I-510 with the preservation of natural areas.
Section I: Definition
The Planning Districts of Nine, Ten and Eleven encompass the area known as New Orleans East. The boundaries of these Districts are the Industrial Canal on the West, Lake Pontchartrain on the North, the Orleans/St. Bernard parish line on the south and the Orleans/St. Tammany Parish line on the East. District Nine is bounded by the Industrial Canal on the west, Lake Pontchartrain to the north, Paris Road to the east, and the Intracoastal Waterway to the south. The district is made up of the following official neighborhoods-Pines Village (17A), Plum Orchard (17B), Read Boulevard West (17C), Read Boulevard East (17D), Edgelake/Little Woods (17E), and West Lake Forest (17G)-which contain several individual subdivisions such as Castle Manor, Castle Manor East, Sherwood Forest, Lake Willow, Lake Barrington, Lake Bullard, Kenilworth, Eastover, and Lake Forest.
District Ten is bounded by Paris Road on the west, Lake Pontchartrain to the north, the levee protection system on the west, and the Intracoastal Waterway to the south. The district is home to the neighborhood Village De L'Est (18), the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, and approximately half of the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. District Eleven is an irregularly shaped district that contains the remainder of New Orleans East outside of the levee protection system. It is bounded on the east by St. Tammany Parish, the southeast by Lake Borgne, and the south by St. Bernard Parish. A finger-shaped parcel (Viavant) extends below Districts Nine and Ten to the south of the Intracoastal Waterway. District Eleven contains the neighborhood Viavant/Venetian Isles (17F).
Section II: Development History
The history of development in New Orleans East is closely related to the natural land elevations, the ability to fill lots, and transportation accessibility. The highest areas tend to be along the Gentilly/Chef Menteur Ridge with gentle declines on either side reaching elevations below sea level. As a result of this topography, the earliest urbanization occurred along Downman Road and Chef Menteur Highway (U.S. 90), which was the primary roadway linking New Orleans to the Mississippi Gulf Coast via St. Tammany Parish. Highway commercial was the primary usage. In addition, fishing camps on stilts were constructed along Haynes Boulevard in configurations that resulted in an area that is best characterized as semi-rural.
The original construction of linear canals for drainage in the 1920s allowed much of the land in the center of District Nine to be used for farming while the water table was being lowered in preparation for future development. Two major development periods occurred to change this district from a semi-rural status to a significant urbanized area of the City. In the 1950s and early 1960s, substantial numbers of dwellings-both doubles and single-family detached-were built in the Pines Village Subdivision and the general area bounded by Dwyer Road, Downman Road, Chef Menteur Highway, and Read Boulevard, with additional single-family structures eastward to near Bullard Avenue.
The next major construction period began to a limited extent in 1968, but more fully after 1971, on land bounded by Morrison Road, Paris Road, Lamb Canal and Dwyer Road and owned by Lake Forest, Inc. Full-scale development ensued in conjunction with a land use plan approved by the City Planning Commission in 1966. This construction program and concurrent public expenditures for streets, parks, school, and sewerage and drainage was the largest single factor to change the land use profile in the District, as well as to make this area a significant growth area for the future development of the Metropolitan area. This land use plan was re-evaluated in 1972 by the City Planning Commission when it began to appear that significant deviations in the amount of commercial usage were occurring in actual development. Certain revisions were made, primarily in the areas east of Bullard Road between Interstate 10 and Chef Menteur Highway, to accommodate a better balance of commercial usage as well as to more accurately project the needs for schools and playgrounds. At the same time most land areas between Dwyer Road and Chef Menteur Highway west of Bullard Avenue were continuing infill with residential usage.
The area continued to grow from 1975 to 1985. New subdivisions were developed at a rapid pace in District Nine north of I-10. Supporting these new residential areas to the north, the older neighborhood south of the interstate enjoyed 100% occupancy, infill projects for vacant lots and rising property values. During this period major commercial centers developed and prospered at Read and I-10 (The Plaza), Crowder and I-10 and Morrison and I-10, along with major medical care facilities at Read Road and at Bullard Avenue and I-10. Throughout the planning district, on Lake Forest Boulevard, Morrison Road, Chef Menteur Highway and major corridors between Morrison Road and Bullard Avenue, commercial and institutional uses prospered to support the strong single-family residential base. Also during this period major recreation facilities were opened at Joe Brown Park at Read Road and the 65-acre Louisiana Nature and Science Center on Lake Forest Boulevard.
Planning District Ten had been projected to continue the land use patterns established in District Nine. Early Land Use Plans and zoning patterns followed a schema of large tracts of single-family development supported by different levels of commercial activity with corridors of dense multi-family units along the Interstate highway system. However, these development plans were significantly changed after multiple attempts to develop this area as a single, major planned community. One such plan, known as the Pontchartrain New Town-In town Plan, was supported by a major federal housing plan to build new towns near established cities. Federal funding did not continue for these projects and was followed by two privately financed attempts to build a new community under the New Town planning concept. These two projects were called Orlandia and New Orleans East. In both plans a new element of land use was expanded and made integral to the planning success of these projects. This new element was job-based land uses in the form of business parks, light industrial developments and heavy industrial developments. The projects, however, did not proceed as planned because of under-financing and the ultimate economic slowdown related to the slump in the oil industry. In the case of the New Orleans East development plan, a few single-family units, two multi-family developments and significant infrastructure was built in the area of Michoud Boulevard and Interstate 10. Eventually developed as Village de L'Est, the subdivision would become home to thousands of Vietnamese immigrants during the 1970s and 1980s. To the south of Village de l'Est, the Gentilly Road Industrial Park was developed and the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility was built on the north shore of the Intracoastal Waterway.
1975 to 1985 was a period of limited development in Planning District Eleven. The traditional development pattern of building on the high ground located along U.S. Highways 90 and 11 continued with some infill development along these corridors. With new water-oriented subdivisions becoming more popular, the residential project along U. S. 90 at Chef Pass known as Venetian Isles prospered and future sections were planned for development. However, by 1985 the economic slowdown caused new growth to taper off.
Beginning in 1986 with a national slowing of the economy directly affecting the oil industry in Louisiana, a gradual but steady decline in new land development projects began. This trend has been reversed in the past five years from 1993 to 1998 with infill, redevelopment and new proposals for both older sites and open property becoming more frequent. From 1985 to the present each of the planning districts experienced limited infill developments followed by sporadic vacancies in commercial centers, resulting in several parcels that became designated as pivotal during the 1999 Land Use Plan process.
Several commercial centers in District Nine that lost major tenants after the oil industry slowdown are poised for redevelopment. These include the Plaza at I-10 and Read Road, and smaller centers at Bullard and Morrison Road and others along Morrison. New development occurred in the Eastover area near one of the major golf courses in the region. Planning Districts Ten and Eleven experienced a major transformation of land use during this period with the creation of the Bayou Sauvage Wildlife Refuge. Designated as a national urban wildlife preservation asset by the U.S. Department of the Interior, about 30,000 acres of land previously planned for development is now preserved in its natural state for education and natural preservation programs. Major areas of land south of Chef Menteur Highway as well as East of I-510 remain viable growth areas as evidenced by the Jazzland project (a major theme park/mixed use development) and several other proposals planned for these areas. During this period job-related land use was supported by large areas of light industrial and heavy industrial properties and a self imposed industrial development tax. These areas have continued to develop and provide economic development opportunities for the entire City. Major employers such as Martin Marietta, Folgers Coffee and numerous barge/trucking/transfer companies continue to bolster the need for industrial property in order to create and support this major job-base of the City.
An extension of the Bayou Sauvage Wildlife Refuge has been proposed for an area in District Eleven between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. In Viavant sporadic proposals for projects ranging from solid waste landfills to boat marinas have been made but no large-scale projects have been developed.
Section III: Population
The following tables provide demographic statistics on the population residing within the planning district as well as the total population of the city of New Orleans. The statistics provide information on each area for 1980, 1990, 1997 and 2002.