Phase two of Plan Baton Rouge, downtown’s master plan, is nearly ready for public consumption. The full plan is with the printer and will be released in the next few weeks, but the Downtown Development District has announced some of the pieces it will be working on. Those include:
—Helping to create a low-interest loan fund for housing and retail and entertainment businesses.
—Improvements to River Road in front of the Louisiana Art and Science Museum.
—Extending the levee top promenade to River Park, the large multi-use development planned for the riverfront.
—River Road crossings at Florida and North streets.
—Coordinating parking management, including shared use of state parking garages and creating maintenance standards for surface lots.
—Initiating an entertainment anchor on Lafayette Street.
Also at today’s DDD meeting, the commission unanimously endorsed the charter school concept proposed for downtown. Helix Network would like to open two charter schools with a total of 250 students the first year. The schools would be based out of the Shaw Center, but incorporate other aspects of downtown. Helix is meeting with the East Baton Rouge charter committee today; Helix will make a presentation to the full school board later this month, which the board will consider at its December meeting. If the local board rejects the application, Helix can still request a state charter from the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.—David Jacobs
