General
Commercial Development
This part of the report consists of a qualitative evaluation of the existing retail, restaurant, and entertainment uses in Downtown Baton Rouge, and proposes a supportable retail strategy for the future.
The findings of this report identify the Downtown as presently economically underdeveloped and, with proper management and leasing efforts, capable of supporting an additional 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant establishments, capturing an additional $54 million in annual revenue. It is recommended that the commercial growth primarily occupy Third Street between Main and North Boulevard. Additional service retail and a Public Market are recommended at Main Street between River Road and Seventh Street. The commercial growth is recommended to occupy new infill buildings and existing buildings that are presently vacant or underutilized.
Also detailed in this report are a variety of visual and practical merchandising steps for the central business district to pursue. Recommendations include improvements to streetscape, lighting, parking, signage, traffic and tenant mix. These recommendations recognize that any downtown expansion or renovation must be designed to reinforce Baton Rouge’s unique historical and architectural characteristics.
Transportation
Transportation improvements will play a significant role in Downtown Baton Rouge reemergence as an entertainment and business destination, bordered by neighborhoods of increasing value.
The transportation improvements all represent a rebalancing of priorities. Currently, a single objective, traffic flow, dominates traffic patterns, at the expense of the downtown’s commercial and residential viability. Plan Baton Rouge’s improvements place a higher value on the livability of the streets for all users, and a correspondingly lower value on the single goal of moving as much traffic as rapidly as possible. In most cases, dramatic improvements in pedestrian viability will result from only the slightest increases in automotive travel times.
Infill Housing
This section of the Plan deals with the issues of affordable infill housing and the recommended use of liner buildings. A series of building types is provided to be used in appropriate locations for infill housing in Downtown Baton Rouge.
Codes
The current zoning code is inappropriate for Downtown Baton Rouge.
It imposes setback, yard, and parking requirements derived from suburban practice that make it difficult to build new structures that are compatible with existing buildings, particularly in Beauregard Town and Spanish Town. It also imposes often unreasonable, expensive, and incompatible requirements on new residential development within the rest of Downtown.
There is a need for a new Zoning Ordinance that enables new construction in Beauregard and Spanish Towns to be in character with the existing neighborhood and establishes requirements for the rest of the downtown that are consistent with efficient, predictable and profitable redevelopment.
A generalized ordinance is provided as “The New Code”. It must be redrafted in legally binding language and submitted to the City Planning Commission and the Metro Council for approval of a Special Zoning District. The Code Development subcommittee will carry out the recommendations of the Codes In General section by drafting a legally binding document in collaboration with the Planning Commission.
Streetscape
This report consists of recommendations to provide pedestrian amenities in the districts, corridors, and neighborhoods of Downtown Baton Rouge. The recommendations are based upon the principles of New Urbanism and the findings of a street-by-street analysis of the existing conditions of the Downtown streetscape. The findings of the street-by-street analysis are documented in the Transportation Section and the Streetscape Pattern Book. The recommendations for a pedestrian-oriented streetscape address the issues of pedestrian scale; district, corridor, and neighborhood identity; and wayfinding.
As these proposals are implemented Downtown Baton Rouge will resume its traditional role as the vital center of the Parish and the active Capitol of Louisiana. Third Street, once again, will be a thriving retail destination. Residents will be coming Downtown to go to the movies and to purchase local produce at the public market. Tourists will be lodged in downtown hotels. The expanded State Capitol District will bring thousands of additional people Downtown. Together with the residents of Spanish Town, Beauregard Town, and affordable new rehabilitated downtown housing, they will restore a lively pedestrian environment morning, noon and night.