NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans will hold its first Lincoln Beach Redevelopment Master Plan meeting on Jan. 23, officials announced Thursday.
City officials said the first public meeting will allow the community to be apart of the current Lincoln Beach Redevelopment process. The focus of the meeting is to create project goals and guiding principles that "will be defined during the initial set of interviews, inventory and analysis mapping". It will also clarify the Master Planning Process, city officials said.
The meeting comes after the city kicked off Master Planning efforts back in November last year. Mayor LaToya Cantrell and New Orleans city officials selected Sasaki Associates, Inc. as the planning firm over four other planning firms for the 'Master Plan Request for Qualifications' bid.
Since the site closed nearly 60 years ago, structures and facilities have significantly deteriorated due to a lack of maintenance and the impacts of hurricanes during that time span.
In an effort to expedite redevelopment, Cantrell's administration, which began funding efforts in 2020, secured $24.6 million earlier last year from 2021 bonds ($6.1 million), reimbursed grant funds ($13.6 million), Restore Act funds ($4.3 million) and State Capital Outlay ($500,000).
Residents in the New Orleans East community have advocated for several revitalizing projects, and the community's persistence to re-open Lincoln Beach caught the city's attention. In response, the city has "dedicated resources to begin the engineering and master planning processes."
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, 8181 Lake Forest Blvd. There will be two sessions that residents can attend, one in the morning at 8:30 a.m. and the other in the evening at 6 p.m.
The same information will be covered at each session. To attend the meeting, residents must register at LincolnBeach.NOLA.gov.
The City reminds residents that Lincoln Beach is currently closed to the public due to the presence of alligators, venomous snakes and poisonous flora. Gathering at the beach is prohibited.
For more information, please call (504) 905-2892 or email LincolnBeach@nola.gov.
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