The New Orleans City Planning Commission on Tuesday endorsed the latest iteration of the city's running, five-year plan for construction projects. The price tag to complete everything in the plan more than doubled for 2014-18 with the addition of the idea of building a new terminal at Louis Armstrong International Airport taking up an estimated $706 million of the...
The New Orleans City Planning Commission on Tuesday endorsed the latest iteration of the city's running, five-year plan for construction projects. The price tag to complete everything in the plan more than doubled for 2014-18 with the addition of the idea of building a new terminal at Louis Armstrong International Airport taking up an estimated $706 million of the plan.
The airport contributed most of the overall plan's almost $1.1 billion in projects, which also include street improvements and upgrades to public safety facilities, parks and recreational amenities, libraries, museums and other public properties.
Paying for all of it is another matter. The plan identifies Federal Emergency Management Agency money in the case of street repairs, financing through the New Orleans Aviation Board for the terminal construction, state money, local revenue streams and bond-issuing as financial sources for various projects, but a presentation prepared by city officials explaining the plan also says, "Additional sources of funding will need to be identified to meet capital needs in the future."
Or, as Planning Commissioner Kyle Wedberg said on Tuesday, "There is more need than there is resources at this time."
The plan next goes to Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who in turn makes recommendations based on it to the City Council. The City Council uses the plan to inform its adoption of a capital projects spending plan for 2014, which it must do by Dec. 1. So the most tangible significance of the ongoing plan is to contribute to items in the budget for the upcoming year, with its approval by the commission falling short of signifying that financing is secured for all the projects and they are guaranteed for completion. Next year's plan likely will include adjustments to the rolling to-do list.
The commission held a public hearing on the plan on Sept. 10 and again on Tuesday before approving it.
Two people from the public spoke on the plan Tuesday, including Nick Kindel, project coordinator for the civic group Committee for a Better New Orleans, who called for more promotion and public input on the plan.
"We're talking about how the community is going to spend $1 billion over the next five years," Kindel said. "The planning commission really does need to be more proactive in engaging people."
Planning Commission Chairwoman Kelly Brown responded that commission meetings are open for anyone to attend and make comments.
The commission gathered written comments from several people urging it to include the recently unveiled Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan, outlining a new strategy for handling rainwater and drainage, into the Capital Improvement Plan.
"Failure to require all projects to follow the GNO Urban Water Plan guidelines and principles will undermine our economy just as it undermines our roads, sewer and water infrastructure, businesses and homes," wrote Stephen Picou and Grasshopper Mendoza.
