Following are a few posts to http://www.mcno.org and the mid city discussion group on the mcno website.
Please read the multitude of replies/opinions on the discussion group. Then decide whether or not it's in your best interest as a homeowner or renter to voice your opinion this Monday, April 6th at the April Neighborhood Meeting, 6:30 pm at Grace Espiscopal, 3700 Canal St. regarding the proposed land uses of the Goody Clancy Draft Land Use of the Master Plan. Your input is crucial!!!
******DO THE MATH******
Thanks, Pattye
Draft Land Use for Master Plan
March 29th, 2009 by Jennifer Farwell
WE NEED YOUR INPUT!!!
April Neighborhood Meeting (April 6; 6:30pm at Grace Episcopal, 3700 Canal Street) will focus on the Master Plan. Come and Share Your Opinion!!!
The official District 4 Planning Meeting is Wednesday, April 22, from 6-9pm at Jesuit High School.
On Friday, March 20, planning firm Goody Clancy posted the Draft Master Plan. The proposed land use map for District 4, which includes Mid-City, is here.
The Draft Master Plan is a goldmine of information on the city and its historic and current physical environment. However, MCNO needs your input to determine whether the proposed land uses are appropriate for our neighborhood. They do not match up completely with the land uses proposed by the citizen-guided Lambert Plan.
Specifically, Goody Clancy proposes “low-density multi-family” for all the residential areas of Mid-City other than a small area on the City Park side of Bienville and Carrollton. “Urban Mixed-Use” is proposed for the Tulane Corridor and the Lindy Boggs site. For Canal, “Neighborhood Mixed-Use” is proposed.
After speaking with planners from Goody Clancy at length on Friday, March 27th, and examining the Land Use document posted with the Draft Plan, we have determined the following:
1. “Low-density multi-family” allows up to 36 residential units per acre;
2. Neighborhood mixed-use allows a mix of uses (e.g. residential and commercial), with a FAR (floor to area ratio) of 2.0. FAR is a measurement of the number of floors allowed compared to the amount of space the building takes up on the lot. For example, a two-story property that takes up half of a lot would have a FAR of 1.0. A FAR of 2.0 allows a two-story building that occupies the entire lot, or a four-story building that occupies half of the lot.
3. Urban mixed-use allows a mix of residential and commercial, with a FAR of up to 8.0. That allows a building of up to 8 stories if it consumes the entire lot, or 16 stories if it consumes half the lot.
If we do not provide sufficient input to Goody Clancy, the final land use and zoning will not reflect our desires!!!
Please attend the Neighborhood Meeting on April 6 and provide your input, then plan to attend the District 4 meeting on April 22!!!!!
Jennifer Farwell
Vice President
MCNO
Re: Mid-City - the Multi-Family Mecca?
Here's some math:
Our city blocks are 320 x 320 = 102,400 sq ft = 2.6 acres.
The "Low-Density Multi-Family" category, which most of Mid-City falls into right
now calls for up to 36 dwelling units per acre. Therefore you could have up to
92 units on one city block.
I wanted to compare this density to the current density of my block.
I count the following number of units:
10 (S Scott)+ 3 (Palmyra)+ 6 (Cleveland) + 16 (S Pierce) = 37 units.
So, Multi-Family low density is 2.5 times as dense as what exists.
I also took the square across the street from me for comparison:
16 (S Scott) + 6 (Palmyra)+ 3 (Cleveland) + 21 (S Cortez) = 46 units
MF Low Density is 2 times as dense as what exists.
If we concede then that 42 is the average units per square in Mid-City, and this
land use allows up to 92 units per square , then we would be potentially
increasing number of units by 119%.
According to the 2000 census, there were 5,830 households in Mid-City. A 119%
increase would put us at 12,768 units PLUS the 2 urban villages and High density
Multi Family at Preserve. If Lindy Boggs is estimated for 1500 units and Tulane
is 1000 now plus potentially at least another 500, that would bring us to 15,768
total units.
This is just a back of the envelope calculation - and my block may not be
representative - but it is likely higher than average because we have many
doubles, some multifamily and some singles.
The bottom line? Mid-City could see an increase of ~10,000 units. According to
Goody-Clancy, the total housing demand in New orleans will require an additional
30,000 units by 2030. So, why would we bring 1/3 of those units to Mid-City?
Note this is just Mid-City, not all District 4. If we take this calculation
across all of District 4, we may be slated for more than 1/2 of the total units.
Jennifer
Re: [mcno] No lesson to be learned
What about Victory? Who do they have a warm and fuzzy relationship with when it comes to the Master Plan. After all, they own a lot of land and decided not to move forward w/the commercial plans. Maybe they'll redirect to housing.
Additional high density housing is just what I feared over a year ago when I was so vocal about my opposition to Domain Companies developing The Preserve and Crescent. In addition, I think they also have a 74 unit property on Jeff Davis. Didn't we welcome them w/open arms. Looks like it might come back to bite us. The whole idea of razing the projects was to eliminate high density low income housing. As I mentioned some time ago, now we'll have the projects in a 5 mile radius instead of a 5 block radius. We definitely need a moratorium on any new multifamily development and most specifically high density mixed income housing.
In our neighborhood, we've already started to encourage attendance at the meeting.
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