An ordinance being introduced to the council on Tuesday asks the city to set aside funds for a comprehensive Downtown-Urban Core Redevelopment Plan.
The plan would be handled through the Downtown Development Authority and the cost would be about a million dollars, said CEO Kevin Blanchard. Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux and Thomas Hooks are introducing an ordinance that would provide $500,000 for the plan, with the bulk of the funding coming from the Downtown capital budget. The remainder of the funding would come through downtown鈥檚 taxing district, with $50,000 coming from the DDA.
The redevelopment plan prioritizes several things: putting underutilized spaces back into commerce, parking, parks in the downtown area and transportation and mobility. The goal is to help upgrade properties downtown and create new developments that have long been hindered by infrastructure bottlenecks, such as sewage capacity.
"We would start putting the plan together and then go out to some of these individual private sites and say this is what we would be able to do on the public side to get a project moving on this lot," Blanchard said.
The plan will look at around a dozen sites, some of which include underused parking lots, Blanchard said, and figure out why these sites have yet to be developed. The plan will also look at where in the downtown area parking is needed or not, and how to better use existing parking facilities.
Another focus is on expanding Festival International鈥檚 footprint downtown. The free festival brings hundreds of thousands to the downtown area, and the need for extra stage space is growing. Lastly, it will look at how to better connect downtown with nearby hotspots, such as the University of 抖阴h at Lafayette campus and the Oil Center.
The ordinance was scheduled to be introduced Tuesday and could be considered for adoption at a future council meeting.