[StBernard] What is Smart Growth

[Westley Annis]

So you are all probably wondering about resollution #14-"Smart Growth" 
that the Parish is considering adopting.

Here's my interpretation of this hot, buzz word among urban planners:

The Smart Code referred to in #15 probably incorporates the 10 basic
principles from the Smart Growth movement. I attended a seminar by the
Regional Planning Commission last year that gave examples of what is and
is not smart growth, and greater N.O.,like most cities, has not grown 
smartly.
St. Bernard needless to say, hasn't grown smartly when the boom came
in the 1960s and 70s. The suburbs of  New Orleans, including St. 
Tammany, may
be considered by many as the poster children for "Stupid Growth".

 My comments are in ( ).

1.  Mix land uses ( i.e. don't create giant tracts of one type of land 
use like a whole area
that is multi-family residential, as we have done)
2.  Take advantage of compact building design
3.  Create a range of housing opportunities and choices (i.e. all income 
levels available to
support the community's families, single adults, senior citizens, etc. 
in all walks of life)
4.  Create walkable neighborhoods (remember the grocery stores on every 
corner in
Mid-City before the 1970s?)
5.  Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of
place (i.e. can you tell the difference between being in Jumonville vs. 
Lexington if you are a visitor or
does it all look alike? You can tell Lake Vista from Lakeview, can't 
you?)
6.  Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical
environmental areas (we didin't showcase our natural habitat within the 
levee system and we ran the
egrets and othe wildlife out and killed the cypress trees and palmettos)
7.  Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities 
(don't keep building on virgin
land and let underutilized properties waste away because there's more 
profit building hundreds of 1,000
square foot new homes on undeveloped land in Meraux,  instead of 
rehabilitating the same size cottages in Arabi and
Chalmette )
8.  Provide a variety of transportation choices (like a bike path that 
goes from place to place, not just in
circles around a park and can we possibly walk from one store to 
another without sidewalks on our major streets?)
9.  Make development decisions predictable, fair and cost effective
10. Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development
decisions

Thanks, Lydia, for finding the Smart Growth bullets.

Deborah Keller