Land Use Planning

The St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes Land Use and Transportation Vision Plan was a planning effort to recommend logical and responsible redevelopment following the devastation of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

BKI coordinated the St. Bernard Parish portion of the plan, including organizing Advisory Committee Meetings, one public input session, and several presentations to the St. Bernard Parish Planning Commission and Parish Council. Technical analyses performed by BKI included a literature review of past planning documents; an analysis of existing conditions, including a comparison of pre- and post-Katrina demographic data; and a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) investigation of post-Katrina recovery data. These analyses, public/advisory committee sessions, and best practices techniques were the primary inputs into the Conceptual Land Use Plan and the Conceptual Major Thoroughfare Plan included in the St. Bernard final report document prepared by BKI.

The Metairie Central Business District (CBD), like many suburban town centers, was born of the growth and prosperity experienced during the city’s rapid urbanization in the 50s, 60s and 70s. As a result, it now suffers from many of the problems associated with improper planning and land use controls, such as inadequate infrastructure, land use conflicts, lack of available development sites, relatively high property values population decline, and employment loss.

In an effort to alleviate some of these problems, BKI was selected by the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission and Jefferson Parish as the primary consultant to work with community partners to establish a comprehensive land use and transportation plan for the Metairie CBD.  The intended purpose of this plan was to help establish the procedural model for land use data collection and community interaction used by the Parish in planning the future development of the City in its general, Parish-wide Comprehensive Plan process.

Working with a Project Steering Committee and the public, the BKI team established a plan to foster redevelopment and reuse in the CBD, while supporting pockets of stable, dense development which provide a large number of retail and office jobs to the region.  The plan, as adopted through ordinance by the Parish, encourages mixed-land use, including residential and commercial elements, and is now followed and routinely consulted as part of local decision-making.

BKI was contracted to be part of the Planning Team to develop a broadly-supported recovery plan for the City of New Orleans following the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.  The plan was a blend between traditional community-based planning and strategic planning and featured a high degree of public participation and input. 

BKI had a lead role in setting priorities, schedules and directions for the development of the overall plan, and special involvement in the assessment of flood risk and infrastructure recovery. BKI coordinated the development of the list of recovery projects, the setting of priorities and estimating costs. The plan was delivered on schedule and was approved by the New Orleans City Planning Commission, the City Council and the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA).