SCOTLANDVILLE, La. (BRPROUD) – With a mission to hear the concerns of the community, the City Planning Commission invited Scotlandville residents to a public workshop.
The workshop that took place inside the Scotlandville Branch Library is one of six workshop events for the FUTUREBR five-year comprehensive plan.
“We’re currently in the process of updating the comprehensive land use and development plan for East Baton Rouge Parish. It’s the second five year update of FUTUREBR,” said Assistant Planning Director of the City of Baton Rouge Gilles Morin.
“There are nine elements ranging from environment in conservation, parks and recreation, community design and neighborhood transportation, drainage, housing, infrastructure. But it’s a lot,” Morin added.
He said the reasoning behind the workshops has been to interact with members of the public and see if they agree with the proposed changes that have been established by the City Planning Commission.
“Those changes were kind of based on our experience for the last five years of changes through development patterns, reactions to transportation,” he said. “We want to make sure that this is a plan, the people’s plan, so we want to make sure we’re getting their input.”
Morin said so far they’ve heard concerns rooting in the interest of electric vehicle infrastructure, protection from flooding, and especially concerns of areas that haven’t been getting the attention that they feel they need, he said.
Angela D. White falls in the category of a resident wanting to raise their voice, which is why she attended the Scotlandville workshop.
White resides in the Southern Heights neighborhood and said the community of North Baton Rouge lacks accessibility of basic needs.
“I know everyone says a grocery store but there’s so many other types of businesses that aren’t necessarily accessible in North Baton Rouge,” White said.
These businesses include mailing centers with P.O. Boxes, bakeries and sit in restaurants, according to White.
“We’re constantly beyond the grocery store, going outside of our neighborhood for basic services,” she said.
White considers attending the workshop a very important thing and encourages the public to attend the next workshop.
“Always better to get your opinions on the front and then fighting a proposed solution on the back,” she said.
Morin said the community has one more workshop to let their voices be heard, especially before the commission gets to work in the fall before presenting the final updated plan to the Metro Council for adoption.
For more on the five year updated FUTUREBR plan, click here.
Besides attending the workshops in-person, community members can also state their voices online by filling a short survey at brla.gov/ futurebr/survey.
