Planning District Six (Continued)

Gentilly

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The following section provides a synthesis of citizen comments and input gathered at a public workshop held at St. Francis Cabrini Life Center, on the evening of July 16, 1998 and a follow up meeting on October 15, 1998. Approximately 65 residents and business owners, in five small groups, participated in the workshop identifying pivotal development parcels and land use conflicts and creating a proposed land use map for the district. Approximately 10 residents and business partners participated in the second meeting. The resulting input was incorporated into the Future Land Use section and appropriate changes were made to the proposed land use map. 

In general, participants like the existing quality of the district. The main concerns centered on the two regional commercial areas, Gentilly Woods Shopping Center and Gentilly Shopping Center at Gentilly Boulevard and Elysian Fields. Today the interest of the neighborhood is in strengthening neighborhood-level commercial activities by attracting higher end specialty shops and restaurants. Participants expressed strong support for maintaining the district's residential nature. They are dissatisfied with the deteriorating condition of the apartment complex at Elysian Fields and Interstate 610 and the condition of the streets, and unanimously oppose a proposal to build a second span over Lake Pontchartrain.

Citizens also noted the specific location of new churches and the undesired possibility of these uses expanding onto adjacent parcels and into the surrounding residential neighborhoods. The group specifically endorsed existing small neighborhood commercial areas such as the Filmore/Franklin area. An increased emphasis on transit by locating a transit center to serve the University of New Orleans and other businesses in the area was recommended by participants.

Pivotal Parcels

Pivotal Parcels are sites the community thinks can greatly affect or have the potential to affect the surrounding area. The following sites and solutions were identified in District Six:

Most attention was focused on existing commercial areas: 

• Gentilly Woods Shopping Center at the intersection of Gentilly and Chef Menteur - Develop into a vocational-technical center or community college; mid-level shopping center 
• Rite Aid shopping center at Elysian Fields and Gentilly 
• Scattered neighborhood commercial areas - Maintain small-scale activity; particular needs include bookstore, hardware store, and better shops and boutiques 

• Service station at Robert E. Lee and Chatham - Parking lot 
• Apartments at Elysian Fields and Interstate 610 - Grocery store, community center, sit down restaurant, UNO 
• Vista Shores Country Club - Nice restaurant (no more fast food), nice recreation center, single-family residential 
• Milne Boys Home-the building appears vacant although it is not, residents expressed desire for refurbishment 
• Old grocery store at St. Anthony and Mirabeau 
• Roller rink at corner of Elysian Fields and Leon Simon 

• Athis and Franklin - Single-family residential 
• Vacant lots on St. Bernard - Rehabilitation center, police substation, assisted living facility 
• St. Roch and Robert E. Lee - Park, single-family residences only, no doubles 
• Lakeshore Drive and Franklin - Married housing for UNO with height and size restrictions 
• Land near Southern University of New Orleans 
• Lots on 4300 and 4400 block of St. Bernard 

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 Six

A location along Lake Pontchartrain and the ready variety of available services have endowed District Six with strong assets. The district is home to four institutions of higher education: the University of New Orleans, Southern University of New Orleans, Dillard University, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Additional assets in the district include: the Milne Boys Home; Pontchartrain Park recreation area containing a golf course, tennis courts and soft ball fields; Lake Shore Drive Park; and the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park, located at the former Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park.

District Six contains two nodes of regional commercial activity with smaller, neighborhood commercial areas dispersed throughout the area. Regional commercial uses are found at the Gentilly Shopping Center and the Gentilly Woods Shopping Center. The district also offers a variety of residential neighborhoods, ranging from single-family homes in Lake Terrace and Lake Oaks to multi-family housing in apartments along Mirabeau.

The Gentilly neighborhood has a wealth of green space along the lakefront and within City Park. Many residential areas have been designed with large front yards, landscaped roadways and planned neighborhood parks. The low density, well landscaped areas also enjoy convenient access to other areas of the city both by interstate and by major thoroughfares including Elysian Fields Avenue and Robert E. Lee Boulevard. 

Citizens in District Six are highly satisfied with their quality of life, as evidenced not only by their comments at public meetings but also by the high rate of home ownership: 65 percent of the housing units were owner-occupied in 1990, a percentage well above the citywide rate of 36.5 percent. Two other statistics are worth special note: household income is above the city average, but it is growing at a slower rate than the city and actually declined between 1980 and 1990. The district also has an unusually high percentage of the population over 64 years of age (27.6 percent compared to 11.0 percent citywide), which in part may explain the reduced rate of income growth. Overall, the area is likely to remain stable, although monitoring changes will be warranted after the year 2000 Census.

Issues/Problems:

Residents enjoy the access to other parts of the city, the range of neighborhood services, and the overall ambience of the area. Their major concerns are about any loss or deterioration of these features -- declines in the rate of owner-occupancy, reduction in quality or variety of services; evidence of deteriorating housing or increasing densities; and the potential for infill and large new development to be out of character in scale, density or appearance. 

The character of future developments on the many "pivotal parcels," which include large sites owned by the Levee Board or by one of the universities, is of particular concern to residents. This is a concern voiced in many neighborhoods in New Orleans, of course, but it is especially pertinent in Planning District Six because commercial and institutional developments directly abut single- and one-two family residential areas. Overly-dense development without the setbacks and landscaping characteristic of so much of the District may reduce the quality of life found in this quiet neighborhood. The residents' assessment of problems is confirmed in detailed neighborhood plans as well as in the daily duties of the City Planning Commission to research zoning applications.

Plan Recommendations:

District Six is projected to remain stable over the next 30 years. The proposed land use map strengthens district assets (strong residential community, nodes of neighborhood commercial services and recreational space) and discourages detrimental activities such as spot zoning. Centralizing commercial uses and reducing spot zoning will benefit the district in two ways. First, residents will have fewer conflicts with parking, litter, and traffic problems associated with commercial encroachment. Second, limiting commercial development to major thoroughfares, intersections, and other historically commercial locations will stimulate development that serves the community's needs and desires better than a more haphazard pattern of commerce. This approach will strengthen existing neighborhood commercial centers such as those located along the east/west corridor of Filmore, and lead to important neighborhood commercial concentrations at Filmore's intersections with Elysian Fields and Franklin Avenue.

Promotion of residential integrity: As one of the newer parts of New Orleans, development in Planning District Six is characterized by different land uses being separated from one another; this pattern is quite different from development in the older parts of the city, which has often resulted in a pattern which finds residential and commercial uses side-by-side or within the same building. Residential development is noticeably homogenous in District Six: there are many areas where single family houses are the only use; multi-family development can be found only in a few limited areas; and there are uniformly distinctive areas of one- to two-family homes. Overall, most of District Six is a very low density residential use, and the 1999 Land Use Plan provides for continuation of that pattern. Other Land Use Plan recommendations are intended to protect and support these residential areas. 

Concentration and redevelopment of neighborhood and regional commercial activities: The 1999 Land Use Plan proposes to reduce commercial spot zoning activities throughout the district in order to strengthen residential areas, specifically on Clematis Street and parts of Elysian Fields. Commercial activity should be concentrated at existing nodes, the largest of which is the neighborhood shopping area around Elysian Fields and Gentilly Blvd., and the general commercial activity at Gentilly Woods Shopping Center. The latter area also offers the opportunity for development of a community or vocational/technical school on vacant property. As with the shopping center, such a school would be well-served by bus lines and would be convenient to business and industry where joint training/work programs could be developed.

Small clusters of neighborhood services and shops are proposed to continue (but not expand) at a limited number of intersections of major streets, where some business activity already exists. As with Clematis Street, however, the Plan proposes the eventual replacement of some scattered, often problematic, commercial uses with residential use or new park/green space. Examples include the corners located at St. Roch and Robert E. Lee, or at Athis and Franklin. Both areas were cited by residents as pivotal sites with regard to future development. 

District Six residents join many others, especially those in New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward, in seeking greater variety and quality in the shopping areas near them, However, without significant increases in population or at least an increase in the number of citizens with higher than average income, successful redevelopment of existing shopping centers in one area may come at the expense of a similar recovery elsewhere. For instance, if the Plaza in New Orleans East experiences a successful revitalization, it is likely to be more difficult to attract quality new stores to the Gentilly Woods center. But even more detrimental to efforts to stabilize and improve existing centers would be allowing new spot zones of commercial activity to be established, or new non-conforming uses to slip in. Such occurrences bleed away the market that existing commercial nodes need if they are to improve themselves. 

Concentration of industrial land uses: District Six does not face the same problems as most of the other areas of the city in terms of abandoned industrial sites or long-established industrial uses scattered among residential uses. The concentration of industry in this District lies along the Industrial Canal, in areas supported by interstate highways, rail, and water access. The 1999 Land Use Plan continues this development pattern with the exception of the UNO Research and Technology Park, which is located in the light industrial/office category at the former site of the Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park. The land use is labeled 'light industrial' because some research may involve production or assembly. However, the development plan for this research park anticipates advanced technology firms that desire a campus-like setting and that benefit from proximity to schools with relevant post-graduate programs. The synergy between these 'industries' and the university promises to create a new employment center for the city, with large numbers of high paying jobs that help diversify an economy long dependent on only one or two economic sectors. 

The development of the FBI building on nearby land already suggests the momentum the Research and Technology Park can generate. The infrastructure in place or underway can accommodate the projected development, but updates to the Land Use Plan should be alert to unanticipated impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. In future reviews, planners should consider the need to adjust traffic management programs, to require landscaped "buffer" areas between different types of land uses, or to prevent new technologically-inspired development from either encroaching into residential areas or redeveloping neighborhood commercial sites intensely. As noted in the Strategic Plan to Revise the CZO, the lakefront neighborhoods are among the most stable and attractive in the city and "[require special care that they don't become so attractive to businesses that their residential character is lost."

The importance of green space in every Planning District can be readily demonstrated in District Six, where green space can provide a buffer between potentially conflicting land uses. A large swath of grass and a stand of trees creates a transitional area between houses and businesses. Residents are able to feel the serenity of a quiet, landscaped neighborhood while being only yards from a bustling development. Using green space to separate and screen more intense development from adjoining residential areas, could be especially useful as the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park continues to grow.

Institutional Uses: The District enjoys a wide variety of uses classified as institutional: three colleges or universities, a large seminary, St. Joseph convent, and many churches too small to appear independently on the Proposed Land Use Plan. The large number and distribution of uses in this specific category call for careful monitoring to maintain a harmonious balance with adjacent residential areas. Such monitoring should be especially alert to possible expansions which might include changes in the number and types of "accessory" uses (such as day care centers) or, as with UNO, the amount of private development on the institution's property. 

Both the UNO and SUNO facilities are expected to expand over the next twenty years. As with Uptown campuses, a master plan for each school should be on file with the City's Department of Safety & Permits, and should be reviewed periodically with the surrounding community to anticipate changes and effects, and to find ways of mitigating any negative impacts. 

Increase green space, including buffer areas, and parks: With few exceptions, District residents enjoy ready access to large as well as small park areas. Thirty percent of the lakefront area under Levee Board responsibility must remain as open or recreational space, as required by State law. This legal responsibility underscores the necessity of continuing efforts to cooperate with jurisdictional owners such as UNO, the Orleans Levee Board, and the Sewerage and Water Board. Cooperation could lead to an effective long-range plan for all parties, particularly the citizens of Planning District Six. Based on a continuing and public dialogue, these developments will have a positive impact on the district, bringing future investment to the area.

City Park forms the western boundary of the district, and Pontchartrain Park is just within the eastern edge. The focus in District Six, therefore, is on maintenance of existing green space, extension of landscaping on major streets, and encouraging landscaping and the use of green space buffers for parking areas and new development. Recent construction of the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park has residents particularly nervous that the low scale, open, landscaped character of their neighborhoods will be transformed. As mentioned above, however, including a significant landscaped area along the research park's boundaries will buffer the adjacent residential communities and enhance the image and marketability of the entire area.

The proposed land use plan shows two new pockets of green space which replace vacant parcels at the intersection of Robert E. Lee and St. Roch, and as part of the grounds at the Milne Boys Home. Major landscaping improvements to the central corridor, Elysian Fields Avenue, and to St. Bernard Avenue are also indicated. 

Other Recommendations:

• In updates to the 1999 Land Use Plan, two aspects should be monitored particularly closely: (1) the growth of institutional uses (the colleges, universities and religious establishments), with special attention to issues of traffic management and parking; and (2) any evidence of continued decline in household income, increase in the number of residents over 64 years of age, or similar indications (such as increased vacancies or deterioration in the condition of building stock) that might indicate an area needing some intervening support. 

• Revisions of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance should include landscaping standards which would require green space within larger developments, and landscaping and buffer areas along all edges of non-residential uses that are either adjacent to the public right-of way or to different land uses; 

• A small area study should be conducted of the shopping area at Gentilly and Elysian Fields and the edges of the adjacent neighborhoods, for the purposes of improving traffic circulation, reducing "quality-of-life" problems (noise, litter, etc.) reported by adjacent neighborhoods, and improving the overall appearance and marketability of the collection of shops and services. This study should involve the City's Office of Economic Development and the Departments of Public Works and Safety and Permits.