The Uptown Triangle Neighborhood Association applauds Councilmember-at-Large Oliver Thomas’ support for a one-word text change to the New Orleans Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (CZO) dealing with Residential Planned Communities and small City squares or blocks."

A Residential Planned Community (RPC) is a special zoning category used to “encourage large-scale developments.” An RPC is a “zoning wildcard” -- because of its large size it is allowed to change the traditional neighborhood zoning.

According to CZO Section 10.7.4, anyone owning “one acre, or ½ of a City square, whichever is the lesser,” can request a large-scale RPC and change the zoning in a residential neighborhood.

New Orleans has many small, non-standard squares scattered throughout the City, such as Square 135 on Claiborne at Calhoun (see above), which is only 5% as large as a standard City square or block.

Currently, the owner of such a miniature City square can ask to build an RPC on one-half of this tiny City block, change the underlying zoning of the parcel, and damage the fabric of a stable neighborhood.

Building an RPC on such a small, non-standard City square does not qualify as a “large-scale development” and is not what the CZO intended.

Therefore, we support Zoning Docket 106-04, which requests the minimum area of an RPC be changed to “one acre, or 1/2 of a City square, whichever is the greater.”

Please to our City Council and City Planning Commission supporting Zoning Docket 106-04.

Thank you.

Sheldon Hersh, MD
Uptown Triangle Neighborhood Association
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