Work to develop a master plan to reinvigorate the Plank Road corridor is underway, with the planning team expecting to complete the plan in the fall and release it to the public in November.
Asakura Robinson principal Matthew Rufo, of the planning consultant team, at a project committee meeting today discussed potential plan funding options and strategies for its implementation. The goal is to grow commerce and access to jobs, build neighborhood institutions and strengthen the area’s infrastructure.
Rufo says implementing support for African American entrepreneurs and reducing “the digital divide” not only helps increase jobs, educational access and workforce training but are also two ways to help sustain and grow Plank Road commerce. He also points to grocery stores as an option to help build commerce. One project in New Orleans, he says, transformed an old school into a grocery store and was funded mostly through grants.
Other options to promote commerce include promoting co-working spaces and one-story commercial spaces—like on Government Street—designed with pedestrians in mind.
Rufo suggests using TIFs to finance much of the redevelopment, suggesting rising property tax values and higher sales taxes associated with the construction of a rapid transit route could be reinvested into the area.
The committee meetings were hosted by Build Baton Rouge, formerly known as the Redevelopment Authority of East Baton Rouge Parish, which is spearheading the project. The Plank Road Master Plan will be unveiled Nov. 5 at Southern University.
