For Immediate Release
NEWS BANNER
Covington development is focus of workshop
By Leslie Ackel
COVINGTON - In what turned out to be a lesson in planning for a new method of urbanization, architect Steve Oubre outlined for about concerned 50 residents the theoretical ideas behind a project that would encompass some 375 acres off Louisiana Highway 1085.
Terra Bella is the name of the new subdivision being planned through a "charrette," or week-long workshop occurring all this week inside the Greater Covington Center. An intense, on the spot design effort will end Friday when final drawings of the project are complete. Covington Mayor Candace Watkins was introduced to the project Monday morning and got a first-hand look at plans for the project that lies within Covington's growth boundaries established through an annexation agreement signed with the parish during former Mayor Keith Villere's term.
Mark and Cheryl Malkemus of Mandeville, principles in the Fairway Development Group, LLC, are readying their plans for the new subdivision through an intense effort of collaboration between parish planners and architects inside the center.
At the first public meeting Monday night, Oubre cited no specifics of Fairway Development Group's plans except to say its development will be classified as a Traditional Neighborhood Development, or TND. The concept of a TND, he said, is to create a sustainable development where sidewalks and gridded streets connect people's access to community centers, eliminating the need to drive."
Right now there are more cars than people in the United States," Oubre said. "A TND preserves the best of what towns used to be with town squares, paths, sidewalks, parks, shops, restaurants and schools, all within walking distances of homes."
Oubre is the architect behind the River Ranch TND in Lafayette, currently under construction. This development breaks the old planning models that have begun the erosion of communities, Oubre said. Mandeville City Planner Louisette Kid said Monday that her department is interested in this type of planning because it incorporates smart growth principles into developments. "We've got to find ways to create positive growth," she said.
This week, planners involved in the proposed development will hold meetings with parish planning and zoning and public works representatives, the Department of Transportation and Development, realtors, builders and interested retail outlet representatives. The final public presentation will take place Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Greater Covington Center.