Gentilly Terrace Neighborhood Planning District 6 Rebuilding Plan Gentilly Terrace Neighborhood, Planning District Six Introduction Table of Contents Approximately 100 days after Hurricane Katrina Basic assumptions also formed the basis for the Acknowledgements Introduction 2 struck, Motion M-05-592 was unanimously neighborhood rebuilding plan: passed by the City Council of New Orleans. This 1. That a flood protection system will be With grateful appreciation the planning team A. Gentilly Terrace Neighborhood motion ensured that community-based, designed to withstand future catastropic would like to thank all the residents of Location & History 3 neighborhood-by-neighborhood planning would loss from a 1 in 100 year storm and that District 6 who participated in this planning Recovery Vision & Goals 4 be central to decisions associated with the this is a commitment by the federal process and without whose participation this Planning Process 5 recovery of the most devastated areas of New government. plan would not be possible. Neighborhood Concerns 7 Orleans. The City Council was adamant that the people most impacted by the storm would play a 2. That stringent building codes will be Project Directory B. Pre-Hurricane Katrina central role in defining the future of their implemented to further limit wind Neighborhood Existing Conditions 9 communities. Overall, 47 of the 73 damage. City of New Orleans Land-Use and Zoning 9 neighborhoods delineated by the City’s Planning C. Ray Nagin, Mayor Pre-Katrina Demographic Profile 10 Commission have had plans prepared as part of 3. That the basic urban structure of the city Income & Household Characteristics 10 this process. is sound and that rebuliding will respect New Orleans City Council: Roadway Hierarchy and Jurisdiction 10 this structure; and Oliver M. Thomas, President Housing, Architecture 12 The City Council charged a team of consultants Historic Preservation 12 Arnie Fielkow, Vice-President overseen by Lambert Advisory & SHEDO with 4. That there is an organized, coherent and Shelley Midura, District A assisting neighborhoods flooded by Hurricane operable hurricane evaluation program. Stacy S. Head, District B C. Hurricane Katrina Katrina in developing revitalization plans that are Neighborhood Impacts 13 James Carter, District C thoughtful and can be implemented, for This section presents the Gentilly Terrace Residential Damage Assessment 13 Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, District D incorporation into a citywide recovery and neighborhood, one of seven within Planning Commercial Damage Assessment 14 Cynthia Willard-Lewis, District E improvement plan to be submitted to the State District 6. This district-wide section of this report Infrastructure Damage Assessment 14 of Louisiana and federal funding agencies. This presents data, information and projects that Damage Assessment 14 Project Management: document is one of forty-two (42) neighborhood impact the entire district. This section discusses Parks & Open Space 14 Lambert Advisory, LLC plans that meet that mandate those projects as well as neighborhood projects Community Facilities 14 Paul Lambert specific to this neighborhood. SHEDO, LLC 2 D. Neighborhood Rebuilding Scenarios 17 Shelia Danzey Neighborhood Re-population 17 City planning Commission: Overall Planning Consultant: E. Neighborhood Recovery Plan 19 Planning District Strategic Initiatives 19 Designations Bermello-Ajamil & Partners, Inc. Plan Elements Alfredo C. Sanchez, AIA, AICP Land Use and Zoning 24 Hewitt-Washington, Inc. Transportation and Public Transit 24 Lonnie Hewitt, AIA Parks, Open Space and Landscape Architecture 24 Neighborhood Planner: Housing and Architecture 24 Historic Preservation 24 Hewitt Architects Lonnie Hewitt, AIA F. Implementation and Funding Strategies 25 Images from left to right: A: Entrance Feature - Mirabeau Gardens B: Neighborhood Home C: Lake Area Middle School City of New Orleans Neighborhoods Rebuilding Plan A. Gentilly Terrace Neighborhood General Location and History Peoples Avenue rail corridor to the east, and Clematis Avenue to the west. This Location subdivision is one of the largest in the Gentilly Terrace neighborhood comprising According to the Greater New Orleans approximately 222 acres. It includes Community Data Center, Gentilly Terrace Capdua Junior High School which has re- sits on a natural ridge created by Bayou opened as well as Saint James Catholic Sauvage, a former flood plain. The New High School which is c Orleans City Planning Commission (CPC) defined boundaries of the Gentilly Terrace urrently housing St. Mary's K-12 school. neighborhood forms the south eastern The majority of its land use is single- and area of Planning District 6. two-family homes with a small amount of 3 commercial activity intermixed throughout The CPC defined boundaries is Filmore the subdivision. Edgewood Park has Avenue to the north, Interstate 610 to the recently become eligible for National south, the Peoples Avenue rail corridor to Register District designation. Residents the east, Elysian Fields Avenue to the want to pursue the public comment west. The southern boundary of the process for eligibility. A portion of the neighborhood was slightly altered in the Gentilly Terrace & Gardens subdivision is a planning process. The neighborhood area National Register District. This commonly referred to as St. Roch Bend is subdivision, located in the northern section including in this report thus, extending the of the Gentilly Terrace neighborhood, is southern most boundary of the the largest in the neighborhood and one of neighborhood planning recovery effort to the largest throughout the entire Planning Florida Avenue. Four neighborhood groups District 6 comprising 381 acres. comprise the refined Gentilly Terrace The subdivision is bounded by Filmore neighborhood: Avenue to the north, Gentilly Boulevard to 1. Edgewood Park, the south, the Peoples Avenue rail corridor 2. Gentilly Terrace & Gardens, to the east, and Elysian Fields Avenue to 3. Lower Gentilly, and the west. The subdivision also includes the 4. St. Roch Bend. historic Gentilly Terrace Creative Arts Elementary School which has not re- Edgewood Park subdivision forms the opened. Brother Martin Catholic High Images from left to right: south eastern area of the Gentilly Terrace School which has re-opened is also located neighborhood. Edgewood Park is generally in the Gentilly Terrace & Gardens A: Gentilly Terrace and Gardens bounded by Gentilly Boulevard to the neighborhood. B: Gentilly Terrace School north, Interstate 10 to the south, the Gentilly Terrace Neighborhood, Planning District Six Lower Gentilly is bounded by Gentilly History Boulevard to the north, Interstate 610 to Planning District 6 Neighborhoods & Neighborhood Associations the south, Clematis Avenue to the east, The Gentilly area originated with the and Elysian Fields Avenue to the west. It emigration of Mathurin Dreux to Louisiana. is approximately 150 acres in size and In 1718, Dreux accompanied Bienville to includes Stuart Bradley Elementary School New Orleans and became a militia officer and Union Playspot. This neighborhood is in the province. Around 1727, after also directly across from the Gentilly leaving office, he was allowed to claim a Boulevard and Elysian Fields commercial large tract of land for his services. Dreux activity that is proposed to become a town recognized the value of high land and he center for Planning District 6. chose a tract along Bayou St. John which 4 included the Gentilly Ridge. The ridge During the neighborhood rebuilding rose from the flat land and extended planning process, a few residents of the across the rear of the city. This was the St. Roch Bend neighborhood joined in the highest region in the city and virtually free community outreach efforts of Planning from the danger of flooding. District 6. Under the CPC planning district boundaries, St. Roch Bend is represented Mathurin was later joined by his brother, by Planning District 7. This neighborhood Pierre and the two operated their home as however is physically constrained by a plantation including various enterprises Interstate 10 and Florida Avenue from such as cutting timber, making bricks and Planning District 7. Residents of this area raising cattle. Upon his death in 1772, the are better served by transportation, estate was divided among his children and commercial activities and community continued to be passed down the Dreux facilities within Planning District 6 and family over two generations. specifically the Gentilly Terrace neighborhood. Shortly after World War I, interest in developing Gentilly heightened. Two The general boundaries of the St. Roch primary factors contributed to its Bend subdivision are Interstate 610 to the development potential including its high north, Florida Avenue to the south, ground made possible by Bayou Sauvage Interstate 10 to the east and Elysian Fields and transportation access via the Avenue to the west. The neighborhood is Pontchartrain Railroad built in 1830, which mixture of single family, two-family and ran along Elysian Fields Avenue from multi-family with a small amount of downtown to Lake Pontchartrain. industrial land uses. It is approximately 108 acres in size. In the early 1900s, the Gentilly Terrace City of New Orleans Neighborhoods Rebuilding Plan Images of the Gentilly Terrace Neighborhood Churches (facing page) Robert M. Conlin High School Gymnasium and Football Field (this page) Company was formed and tasked with • Through the recovery process • Enhance existing neighborhood