Citizens have their final opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns about a draft proposal of City Planning Commission (CPC)’s Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (CZO) as the city agency seeks another round of public input into its effort to implement the first new CZO since the 1970s. Remaining meetings, each scheduled from 6 p.m.-8 p.m., will be held:

• Thursday, October 10: Andrew H. Wilson Charter School (3617 Gen. Pershing St.)
• Monday, October 14: Dryades YMCA (2200 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.)
• Wednesday, October 16: KIPP Leadership Academy (3200 St. Claude Ave.)
• Thursday, October 17: Treme Community Center (900 N. Villere St.)

 

After considering this last round of public input—the CPC first released a proposed CZO in 2011 and has been tweaking its maps, ordinances and administrative processes leading up to this latest draft—the city agency will vote on its final approved CZO, with the ultimate aim to fold it into the city’s Master Plan. According to the CDC, the CZO “is the law that governs land use throughout the City of New Orleans” while the Master Plan “provides the foundation and direction for all other regulations that follow.”

 

 

The administration of the proposed ordinance is “consistent, predictable and understandable,’ according to the CPC, and this factor is a highlight of the proposed comprehensive zoning change. Many in the community contend that these attributes are a far cry from the controversial patchwork enforcement of existing city noise ordinances. Inconsistent enforcement has  resulted in shuttered live-music venues and cancelled street parades over the past two years.

Dividing the city into districts such as “industrial,” “historic urban core” and “art-nonresidential,” the proposed zoning revamp would set standards by neighborhood for a variety of quality-of-life concerns. Of particular interest in regard to the controversy surrounding the live-music permitting process in the city—and in particularly Councilwoman Kristen Gisleson Palmer’s District 3 downtown—the proposed CZO includes the “AC-1 Arts and Cultural Diversity Overlay District (Frenchman [sic.], Rampart, St. Claude)” which is “intended to accommodate a limited number of live entertainment uses, but with additional permissions to sustain established and promote new arts and cultural uses, including a limited number of small-scale live entertainment venues in neighborhood business or mixed-use areas compatible with the character of nearby residential neighborhoods.”

Is this good news for music in New Orleans? Only your input can create changes where you think they should be made.

The proposed CZO is available for review online (Note: the Planning and Zoning Lookup Tool is handy for seeing where you or your favorite spot, land) and at local library branches. Can’t make one of the meetings? Send your thoughts to [email protected].