In 2007, St. Charles Parish decided to take action to update their 1980 comprehensive plan that focused on growth management—no longer an issue in the parish. A suburb of New Orleans that occupies land on both sides of the Mississippi River, St. Charles found itself urbanizing in spite of slow growth, and due to natural and industrial conditions, little land in the parish was available for expansion.

APPROACH

St. Charles was awarded a grant by CPEX in 2008 to execute a comprehensive planning process to determine how to optimize their limited amount of developable land, to diversify their economic assets, and to retain the residents they currently had.

PLANNING

Through a fair selection process facilitated by CPEX, St. Charles Parish hired Wallace, Roberts, and Todd as the lead consultants for their comprehensive plan. Through a series of public input meetings, stakeholder interviews, and a process of plan drafting and refinement based on community input, the parish approve the updated comprehensive plan and accompanying implementation plan in 2011.

OUTCOMES

St. Charles Parish has implemented projects based on their comprehensive plan since 2011. Notable results from the planning process include the Paul Maillard Corridor Revitalization Plan and introduction of a new farmer's market.