In April, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of one of the most consequential urban planning studies ever undertaken in New Orleans — the Growth Management Program for the Central Business District.
A public-private partnership between the business community represented by the Central Area Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, the Mayor’s Office and the City Planning Commission, the Growth Management Program was undertaken to address a wide variety of issues threatening the vitality of the CBD.
The early 1970s saw the increasing speculative demolition of historic structures throughout the CBD, only to be replaced by parking lots. This activity was compounded by uncontrolled development resulting from weak controls.
The zoning ordinance in place at the time not only permitted a small number of parcels to absorb all of the development potential of the CBD but also contained virtually no urban design controls to ensure that any development would promote pedestrian amenities, so important to attracting and retaining future development.
The area around Julia Street and St. Charles Avenue saw the development of a skid row. There was no coherent public strategy to complement the efforts of citizen groups to address the issues that skid row presented nor to encourage the renovation of important historic structures in the area.
Additionally, the current planning for the CBD did not address the growing transition of the Warehouse District away from industrial and warehousing uses into office, retail, residential and service uses. In addition, there was no vision for a broader return to the river and a replacement of active port activities with pedestrian improvements.
Finally, the program recognized that there was no overall management of the central area, nor a source of funds to provide improvements and staff to guide the development that would eventually come.
After more than two years of study and with the engagement of citizens, associations, various business groups and professional consultants, the city moved to embrace the recommendations and took action to address the issues the study had raised.
Historic preservationists urged the study to recommend a moratorium on speculative demolitions. The City Council created two historic districts in Lafayette Square and Picayune Place to protect those areas. This analysis set the rationale for the eventual creation of the Warehouse Historic District. Those actions are largely responsible for the protection of the scale of those areas, which has been a major driver for the dramatic increase of residential and service developments in those unique areas.
The program also recommended new zoning regulations for the entire CBD, which, after a two-year study, dramatically lowered the permitted density and promoted pedestrian amenities. In combination with the historic districts, the zoning ordinance prioritized the retention and renovation of existing buildings and mandated a scale of development for new buildings that respected our historic inventory.
Many of the dramatic improvements along the riverfront over the past 30 years can trace their origin to the recommendations made by the Growth Management Program.
Robert W. Becker
Finally, during the program's study, the absolute need for more active management of the central area became apparent. The study strongly recommended the creation of a business improvement district. The result was state and city legislation creating one of the first special taxing districts for the CBD. Now known as the Downtown Development District, the DDD uses tax funds raised from additional property tax collections within the district to provide services and improvements above what would ordinarily be possible from the regular property tax.
The program represents the epitome of famed urban planner Daniel Burnham’s exhortation to make no small plans.
It is in the finest tradition of urban planning when the public and private sectors come together, with the involvement of citizen advocates, to create a vision for the future and identify specific actions and strategies necessary to achieve that vision. Some 50 years later, our vibrant and successful CBD has its roots largely in the findings and recommendations of the Growth Management Program.