At this week’s Louisiana Smart Growth Summit, hosted by the Center for Planning Excellence at the Shaw Center downtown, planning and development took center stage during three days of panel discussions and presentations by local and out-of-state officials.
During his keynote opening address on Monday evening, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton said smart growth is not achieved by annexing suburbs into the city, but by revitalizing the inner city. When Daily Report asked Wharton to compare Memphis’ history of annexations to Baton Rouge’s current rift with those behind an effort to incorporate a new city of St. George from unincorporated portions of the parish, Wharton advised both parties to tread lightly.
During a separate panel discussion, the issues of annexation and incorporation centered on the ongoing effort to incorporate a new city of St. George from unincorporated parts of East Baton Rouge Parish. Ken Murchison, a professor at LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center, said the situation has brought to light some of the serious problems with the state’s statutes dealing with both annexation and incorporation.
And during yet another panel discussion, Planning Director Frank Duke said new design guidelines being drafted for Baton Rouge should ideally include height restrictions for new downtown buildings. Duke says one of the biggest problems with the city’s existing zoning code is that it allows for unlimited building heights downtown.
At a summit event focusing on a proposed Baton Rouge Medical District, Matthew Enstice, president and CEO of Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, said Baton Rouge has ‘all the bones in place’ to create a successful medical district. By “creating an ecosystem around entrepreneurship” and working to establish a medical district in Buffalo, New York, Enstice said the community has seen a number of economic and health benefits.
Also this week, former Parish Attorney Mary Roper filed lawsuits against five Metro Council members, accusing each of failing to comply with a public records request she made of all 12 council members last August. The council members told Daily Report the suits are merely a distraction, but not much of a concern.
And LSU area coffee lovers rejoiced when news broke this week that Highland Coffees owner Clarke Cadzow and the coffee shop’s landlord, Hank Saurage, have reached an agreement on a new lease that will allow the popular coffee shop to remain open at its location on West Chimes Street just outside the LSU North Gates. —Steve Sanoski Read the complete Daily Report Week in Review.
