If you ask St. Tammany Parish residents what their top concerns are for the parish, you’re likely to hear uncontrolled growth, traffic, and drainage. When Scott Chotin asked the League to spearhead the Citizens Agenda Project in 1998, we heard it time after time. These same concerns are expressed at every Zoning, Planning, and Council meeting. And now you’re telling me we’re the “Growth Parish” for the 21st Century? It had better not be a replay of the past forty years! St. Tammany Parish’s population in 1970 was approximately 63,585; the Louisiana State Census Data Center projects our 2010 population at 246,910; and in 2030, we’re projected to have 459,160 people living here. Many demographers think that St. Tammany is poised to become the largest parish in the state.
These projections are based on demographics, geography, and hard work. St. Tammany is BIG: 854 square miles of land and 270 square miles of water; higher land elevations; and much of our land is located north of I-12. According to recent reports, 63% of St. Tammany Parish is undeveloped land. This percentage is expected to change as some developments are added to the tax rolls, but we’ve got plenty of undeveloped land. We have good schools, a low crime rate, proximity to New Orleans, Jefferson, Baton Rouge, and the Gulf Coast, and new job opportunities.
Last month, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) organized an information-packed workshop attended by approximately 130 people. Poitevent Interests, LLC and The Steeg Law Firm sponsored the event. Presenters included Parish President Kevin Davis; Executive Director Brenda Reine-Bertus with the Economic Development Foundation; Edward Poitevent, Principal with Poitevent Interests, LLC; Rose LeBreton with The Steeg Law Firm; The Honorable Judge Jay C. Zainey, President of St. Andrew’s Village; and Larry Schmidt, the Executive Director for the New Orleans office of the Trust for Public Lands.
Davis discussed the comprehensive rezoning process, road and drainage projects, and something we haven’t heard before: Advanced Planning for Roads and Drainage. Detailed, project-specific drawings for transportation and drainage improvements are in the planning stages based on the new zoning and watershed analysis.
Ms. Reine-Bertus discussed the parish’s past successes in bringing businesses to St. Tammany and the current and future outlook for more growth. Judge Zainey talked about St. Andrew’s Village, the proposed new community for adults with disabilities. Mr. Schmidt discussed St. Tammany’s Green Print.
The bulk of the time was spent learning about the Poitevent Tract development plans. I first met Edward Poitevent at the kick-off meeting for the parish’s comprehensive rezoning project on March 1, 2008. He had an arm-full of architectural drawings with him. When I first approached him, he was friendly and expressed his strong desire for a comprehensive planning strategy. He and I have exchanged emails periodically over the past two years; . He has continued to state his intent and commitment to smart-growth principles. Before the meeting started, he stated that “We don’t want to turn St. Tammany Parish into Jefferson Parish anymore than it already is…we love this area…we spent our summers growing up here…We don’t need to construct a development that is too big for the parcel.” The land has been generally rezoned as single family residential, industrial, and Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND).
The Poitevent land dates back to 1869 and at its largest, encompassed 95,000 acres in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes, and Hancock County, MS.
The company owned and harvested timber and operated a lumber mill first in Pearlington, MS and later in the area that is now old Golden Shores in Mandeville. They entered into long-term timber leases with Weyerhaeuser Company in 1953. The State of Louisiana purchased twenty thousand acres in the 1970’s to create the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area and other tracts were purchased and sold over the years. The Poitevent family now controls some 43,500 acres in central St. Tammany. Put another way, this is about seventy square miles! Most of the land is contained within the boundaries of I-12, and Highways 59, 41, and south of 435. Much of the land is accessed via Hwys 1088, 434, and 36. How this land is developed will be the major factor in determining what St. Tammany looks like in the future.The focus of development will take place south of Highway 36. As Mr. Poitevent quipped, “We’re the big elephant in the parish.”
Poitevent and Rose LeBreton (The Steeg Law Firm) discussed the maze of surveys, deeds, titles, expropriations, donations, purchases, sales, and successions that have been organized and electronically catalogued in an interactive ownership map. Prior to this work, fifty-nine signatures were required for the smallest transaction. Today, only five signatures are required for any transaction. Abstract costs have significantly decreased and more importantly, closings may take place in a reasonable amount of time.
Poitevent assured attendees that many of the areas that are zoned residential will not be built on, but will instead be used for green space, parks, and lakes. “We will not build in the floodplain.” Development will be concentrated in the TNDs. They will be creating new towns that are not heavily urbanized. The University Square/Tamanend development off of Highway 434 preserves around 200 acres of wetlands.
They have already donated or partnered with local governing boards and nonprofit organizations on several St. Tammany projects including a new Wetlands Mitigation Bank, Recreation District 11 donation, Poitevent Park ball fields on Highway 41, land for the Abita Middle School, 360 acres located at the mouth of the Tchefuncte River preserved for conservation, and a partial land donation to St. Andrews Village.
Several conceptual plans designed by Jordan, Jones, & Goulding from Mandeville were shown including one in Abita Springs next to St. Andrews Village. Typical of the plans is the conceptual plan for a development on Honey Bee Road. It contains 747 acres total and is comprised of a town center (65 acres), single-family homes (305 acres), parks (2 + acres), and permanent green space (375 acres). It shows bike paths throughout the development.
It will take decades for these developments to be fully built out. The timber industry and forestry production will be greatly reduced. However, if these conceptual plans move forward, we have a real opportunity to diminish suburban sprawl and support some of the principles outlined in the New Directions 2025 plan such as towns, corridors, and countryside; land conservation; and cluster development. The current residents of this area will experience a lot of change and the transition is not likely to be smooth or without controversy. We have to stay engaged in this process for the long haul and make sure that these developments are the best they can be as if our very future depends on it because it does.