Bring New Orleans Back Commission
Committee on City Planning
Urban Design Sub-Committee

Meeting Minutes 10/31/05 1

calls should be made to find the source of their information.

AE mentioned that John Anderson (JA) in his office participated in the Mississippi Charrettes and may be able to provide contact information for senior FEMA officers. AE said it may be possible for us to schedule JA to give a presentation to the Urban Design Sub-Committee (UDSC) on the Mississippi Charrettes findings. More information can be found at:

www.mississippirenewal.com

RM, RK, and AE discussed upcoming AIA and APA charrettes but were not convinced that involvement with them would be productive.

Idea to hold our own charrette met with enthusiasm.

RM questioned what our role is in the City Planning Group, or the larger Commission. Are we the facilitators that will be the voice bringing all groups together? Will we organize and merge the ideas of the other groups to create our deliverable?

In effort to exchange idea more freely, can we schedule one member from each City Planning sub-committee to make a presentation of their work to us?

Many requested more information that has already been produced or is currently being produced with other relevant planning efforts and other regional efforts, including a list of their contact people.

CJ suggested listing a set of guiding principles to help focus our work efforts. Furthermore, we can develop a set of principles for each neighborhood. City Planning will have a list of all neighborhoods, the neighborhood associations and their leadership, and an assessment of damage each neighborhood has sustained.

RM suggested that we use our financial resources to hire people to do some of this research for us. JB suggested a graduate student, Anna Brand, and will give further information later today so a request for funds may be made.

This research should be complete, with materials readily available by our meeting on November 10, so we may provide them to ULI when they arrive on November 12. The ULI conference will be held November 14-18.

Other information that we may provide would be topographic mapping of the city. Patrick Moore has provided the Shaw Group with GSI maps of New Orleans showing hourly photos of the city documenting the flood levels at each hour.

Other resources mentioned were Rich Campanella and Craig Colton. It was suggested that Rich make a presentation to our UDSC. RK said he could speak to him.

Meeting Minutes 10/31/05 2

Interest was raised in the possibility of Doug Meffert and Larry Schmidt making presentations to our UDSC, too.

Materials we gather may be of use to other groups as well, and we can make them available to them. NS suggested the copy center on the 10th floor of the Entergy Center was available, and arrangements will be made with them.

RM reiterated the need to finalize our process, and said we will decide it by the end of our meeting on Thursday, November 3.

RM asked PR and the Bureau of Governmental Research be more active in the meetings and not just observe our proceedings. PR offered any assistance his office could provide.

RM asked each attendee to voice what they believe to be our goals:

JN wants to know what we can do for the city to be able to support itself and repopulate itself, especially in areas of town not badly damaged but are currently deserted. Also, what can we say with our work that can convince people to return. Do we weigh-in on preservation and retrieval of historic structures as opposed to demolition? How do we address temporary housing, especially the plan to concentrate the temporary housing?

CJ suggested short-term and long-term principles. What quick-and-dirty solutions will get the city running, and what refined solutions will eventually replace them?

JB sees need to assist small businesses in addition to the major problems of housing, jobs and schools. Can we develop a quick and clear strategy for coming back?

NW will discuss housing standards with ULI.

AE proposes an urban design driven by ecological consequence. If the footprint of buildable area in the city is clearly defined, it could expedite people moving back into the city because they will know what areas will be safe to live in. He also stressed need to develop a levee system that can withstand a Category 5 storm.

DW asked if it was possible to build on high unused land, such as the Almonaster parcel.

RK agreed that density will be affected by loss of buildable land

JN said that many residents of flooded neighborhoods would be inclined to return to the city if they knew they were not living in a flood-prone area.

RM listed the following points that will be of use to our study:

1) Levee protection

2) Understand the footprint of buildable or re-buildable space

3) Design will be based on research, not geopolitical politics

4) New housing vs. existing retrievable housing (preservation)

5) Temporary, intermediate, and long-term locations of temporary housing

6) Jobs/business, schools, and housing

7) Transit and transportation corridors, and mass-transit

Meeting Minutes 10/31/05 3

PR asks if it is possible to build around parks, and RK confirms that mid-rises around parks with lower-level parking are feasible and such an idea has been used in other metropolitan areas.

AE has heard that FEMA raised their flood map somewhere between 20-25

AL recommends many points. Superleves, such as those in Japan, are one option. He then referenced urban studies from 1970s where buildings are built around reservoirs. If we develop prototypical solutions, we could let neighborhood typologies influence the prototypes execution in that locality, maybe even make 5-10 model communities. Lastly he suggested green space and blue space as a way to map the city, and base that mapping on environmental studies.

JB and RK suggest that these neighborhood model communities could be the basis for our charrette.

AE recommends taking a holistic approach and looking beyond Orleans Parish, but RK confirms that our task is only for Orleans Parish. AE recommends a public safety footprint of land safe to build on. Lastly he asks if we split up the city into cells with intermediate levees and, if so, how many?

DW says that this division into cells will affect transportation infrastructure.

JN asks if we can mesh the economic groups findings to make economic engine districts. She also says that HUD was the strongest funding source after 9/11 and may prove to be so for us as well, so we should tap into their work.

A charrette idea is encouraged as a group of residents, small businesses, and neighborhood association representatives with a panel of experts.

IB states that good research is necessary for our work to succeed, looking to Asia and the Netherlands who have built successful solutions to similar problems. Also we need to have flexible and innovative solutions, and can use the momentum of attention focused on the city as a resource. She emphasized cross-pollinating ideas with other groups. Lastly, she can provide us with research information about the city she is about to publish.

RM and RK recommend that the state not hire another urban design consultant group for a short answer.

Ideas submitted by CJ for consideration:

1: Gathering information source list, critical pre-and-post Katrina data, review redesign models made elsewhere in Gulf South, define/list neighborhoods, list government contacts (local, state, and fed) involved

2: Coordinating with other organizations list of other organizations/contacts, a summary of their scope, and a schedule of their meetings/events

3: Outlining and establishing a direction define guiding principles, hold a charrette, draw final report, list critical issues

Meeting Minutes 10/31/05 4

Action Items:

 

Action Required By	Action
CEJ	Attend Land Use Meeting on Nov. 2
CEJ	Find sources of information used by Times-Picayune maps
AE	Schedule John Anderson to make presentation of Mississippi Charrettes
AE	Acquire list of senior contact persons in FEMA from John Anderson
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
Acquire topographic mapping of city
Acquire flood photos from Patrick Moore/Shaw
RK	Schedule Rich Campanella to give presentation
Schedule Doug Meffert to give presentation
Schedule Larry Schmidt to give presentation
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)