Business
& Labor
New Master Planners Being Sought in New Orleans
(archrecord.construction.com - 05/10/2006)
By Sam
Lubell
New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s
Bring New Orleans Back Commission’s proposed city master
plan, which is being designed by Philadelphia-based architecture
and planning firm Wallace, Roberts, Todd , was supposed to
be the definitive document for rebuilding. But now there is
another major player vying to get involved. The Greater New
Orleans Foundation (GNOF), a local public charity, will soon
oversee a Request For Qualifications seeking planners for
many of the city’s neighborhoods. The Foundation’s
recently established Rebuild New Orleans Fund, along with
a $3.5 million grant it was awarded in late April by the Rockefeller
Foundation, will help pay for the effort.
Wallace released the initial draft
of its plan in January. The report focused on a "neighborhood-center
model," an integrated urban plan organizing neighborhoods
around central focal points like public squares, main streets,
schools, and community centers. The draft also incorporated
environmental and economic assessments, and pointed out prime
rebuilding zones. The plan recommended some of these zones
should not be rebuilt, but after sharp public criticism those
suggestions were scrapped. It appears the plans were troubled
from then on.
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After failing to receive FEMA funding
earlier this year, Nagin’s BNOB Commission was assured
support from the state-run Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA)
for its planning process. But the LRA now appears to be teaming
up with partner organization GNOF to start its new planning
process. LRA board member Donna Fraiche says her organization
supports the GNOF’s efforts, but the choice of the new
planners is up to the GNOF Board. The LRA could not be reached
for comment on whether it would now fund the Wallace plan.
A source close to the LRA did say that some elements of the
Wallace plan would likely be incorporated into any future
planning proposals.
Like the Wallace plan, the GNOF’s
plan will center on a neighborhood center model, originally
developed by New Orleans-based planners Concordia Architecture
& Planning, who are helping develop the Foundation’s
RFQ and coordinating subsequent planning. Concordia principal
Steve Bingler says he informally advised WRT on the concept
last year. Ben Johnson, CEO of the GNOF, says an RFQ will
likely be released shortly after the New Orleans mayoral runoff,
which takes place on May 20.
Meanwhile, lack of funding for the Wallace
plan would likely put that proposal in dire straits. Bring
New Orleans Back Commission urban planning committee member
Reed Kroloff, who is also the Dean of the Tulane School of
Architecture, says that “there’s no answer”
yet and that any major decisions about his team’s plan
will also be made after the mayoral runoff.
“It’s a mess,” says Kroloff.
“There are too many cooks in the kitchen.”
Regardless of what scheme eventually
moves forward, the city’s leaders will have to coordinate
with planning initiatives already underway in several New
Orleans neighborhoods working independently with the advice
of institutions like MIT and Harvard. What’s more, the
New Orleans City Council recently hired Miami-based consultants
Paul Lambert and Sheila Danzey to help develop neighborhood
plans for the 49 neighborhoods in New Orleans that took on
two or more feet of water during the Katrina crisis. But Lambert
told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that his efforts will
not conflict with other schemes, saying "our goal is
to respect the planning that has already gone on in the city.”
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