Vision 3030: Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana Comprehensive Plan
The Louisiana Office of Community Development - Disaster Recovery Unit (OCD-DRU) awarded funding to 30 communities in Louisiana affected by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, to develop plans that address resiliency issues and local needs. These plans are the pilot projects around which much of the Louisiana Resiliency Assistance Program is based.
Terrebonne Parish, located on the southeastern coast of Louisiana, has updated its Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP) as of 2012. The previous iteration of Terrebonne's CMP, released in 2004, was rendered obsolete as several hurricanes devastated the parish and caused dramatic shifts in population distribution and demographics. The updated plan adjusts suggestions in the chapters held over from the 2004 plan to reflect current settlement trends and environmental concerns. In addition, the 2012 plan adds 3 new sections to help the parish better address their environmental, social, and infrastructure concerns.
Terrebonne has identified 8 specific natural disasters that can significantly impact its communities, including flooding, subsidence, coastal erosion, sea level rise, wind events (tornadoes, hurricanes), and storm surge. Currently, 90% of land in Terrebonne Parish is classified as environmentally sensitive, and the parish continually experiences significant land loss due to erosion and subsidence. As a result, future development options are limited. The CMP presents estimates that Terrebonne could run out of developable land by 2154 if current trends continue. The plan acknowledges that settlement patterns will become more restricted due to coastal land loss and result in higher densities inland, while several options are proposed to ensure that communities will not lose their identity, but "thrive" in a changing landscape.
In developing the CMP, 'Vision Statements' were created from extensive local participation for both Terrebonne and Downtown Houma - which was to be included in the Plan Update with a focused "Downtown Plan." The visions were then distilled into a handful of guiding principles or overarching goals. Each goal is supported by policies, objectives, and strategies or actions which, if attained, is expected to result in achievement of the goals, and ultimately of the visions expressed for the parish by the citizens of the parish. These are described in considerable detail in the report's Action Plan (Ch. 12). In a modified format, Chapter 12 can also serve as an Executive Summary of the updated CMP.
Publication Date: February 2013
Related Organizations:
- Louisiana Office of Community Development - Disaster Recovery Unit (OCD-DRU)
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- Plans (other)
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