SUSTAINABLE
COASTAL COMMUNITIES
Louisiana’s
primarily rural coastal communities must balance the divergent
needs of economic growth and public infrastructure with the challenges
of changing natural and cultural resources and unpredictable natural
and man-made coastal hazards. Louisiana Sea Grant encourages applied
research and outreach to assist community leaders in coping with
these needs and challenges.
Review
of Land Use Planning In Coastal Louisiana
Wilkins, J., LSU – Office of Sea Grant
Development
Experience from recent hurricanes has underscored the point that
any responsible course of action along the Louisiana coast, whether
it is comprehensive coastal restoration or a strategic retreat,
must recognize the need for land use planning and development
control. The degree to which that control is possible and practiced,
and its relationship to implementing coastal restoration activities
and community protection, is crucial. Louisiana State University
can assist parishes in developing the expertise and planning tools
to facilitate strategies for siting or de-commissioning infrastructure,
planning for coastal change and educating the public about risk
management. The project’s objectives include assessing the
current state of land use planning authority and practice as it
pertains to the ability of the state and local governments to
respond to coastal crises, and to provide coastal parish and state
land use planners with information on legal and policy tools that
will allow them to use available powers to achieve public safety
goals and to optimize the effectiveness and value of coastal restoration
projects. Where sufficient powers are lacking, the principal investigators
will identify these gaps and provide information to land use planners
allowing them to promote land use planning as a necessary element
in addressing land loss issues. Additional objectives include
providing lawmakers with information on land use planning that
will assist them in enacting legislation necessary to respond
to the requests and needs of land use planners for greater powers
with which to address coastal land loss issues.
