Lafayette/Lafayette Parish, Louisiana

Consolidated Areawide Subdivision Regulations 
   

For the Lafayette Areawide Planning Commission, Duncan Associates prepared new Consolidated Areawide Subdivision Regulations to replace the separate sets of regulations then serving the City of Lafayette and Lafayette Parish. The project started with a review of existing City and Parish ordinances to ascertain their compliance with State statutes; an examination of project files to follow proposals through the application review process; and meetings with public officials to receive input from those who deal with the development process on a daily basis. City and Parish ordinances

were then compared in an effort to identify similarities and differences. Surveys were conducted of public officials, developers, engineers and others involved in the development of land in the City and Parish. Major issues included the need for a comprehensive plan on which to base the new subdivision regulations, recognition of differences between rural and urban or urbanizing areas; where and when sidewalks should be required; the platting of already developed lots; more consistent enforcement among jurisdictions; variable levels of review based upon development impact; subdivision improvements and enforcement; and the concurrent review of site plans in the subdivision process. The transition from separate subdivision reviews by the Parish and City to a consolidated review process was not entirely smooth. The City and Parish then had different styles of government (since consolidated), each generally characteristic of the form of government and the constituencies which they served. The new ordinance won an award from the Louisiana Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Period:    October 1988 - March 1991            Contact:   Roger Hedrick
Team:      Duncan Associates                                         former Executive Director
               Pecot & Company Architects                           252.972.1100