New Orleans could make it easier to build new homes on small lots in the struggling Lower 9th Ward.
"The New Orleans City Council wants to ease zoning rules in the Lower 9th Ward in an effort to spur more home building in a neighborhood that has long suffered from a lack of investment and economic development," reports Jessica Williams.
The City Planning Commission has thus been tasked to craft new zoning regulations that would "allow construction of single-family homes and two-family homes on 30-foot-wide lots." Parcels of that size are too small for construction under the city's current zoning code, but they can be found in abundance in the Lower 9th Ward.
The changes are considered an incentive to attract new investment to the Lower 9th Ward, where the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the shortcomings of the relief efforts that followed are still deeply apparent, according to Williams.
The potential for changes to the zoning code in the Lower 9th Ward is the latest in a flurry of housing-related planning activity in New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward in 2018. The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority announced a new development subsidy program for the Lower 9th Ward in October. In citywide efforts, the City Planning Commission released a report charting a path for the city toward "potentially mandatory" inclusionary zoning and the city spent much of the year tweaking its short-term rental regulations.
Read the full story: New Orleans officials seek to ease building rules in Lower 9th Ward
Allowing, and Permitting, Rooming Houses Could Solve Multiple Problems at Once
Abuses by landlords and poor living conditions are common in illegal rooming houses around Toronto. Activists want to make them easier to build, and regulate, to add affordable housing options for low-income residents.
Gas Stations, Other Car-Centric Uses Banned From Transit-Oriented Areas in Sacramento
The city of Sacramento has implemented one of the most aggressively transit-oriented land use regulation schemes in the country.
Everett's New Downtown Plan
Digging into the city of Everett's recent overhaul of its zoning and development regulations in Downtown and adjacent neighborhoods.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion
Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority