St. Tammany News

The West 30’s neighborhood of Covington will get a much-needed boost and assistance from the Northshore Community Foundation. Frank Saxton, NCF director of community development, said a nationwide search for a consulting company to conduct a study on revitalization of the area has already begun.

The Northshore Community Foundation is funding the study, at a cost of up to $150,000 that will seek input from residents and community leaders of the area. The area involved in the study is an 85-block area of Covington. Saxton said the search will focus on firms that have experience with revitalizing similar areas, and the request for qualifications has already begun. The firms responding will be narrowed to a short list that will be requested to provide proposals for conducting the study, including a time line for completion of the plan.

A public interview in early August will select the firm to conduct the study. The study itself will include door-to-door interviews with members of the community to set goals and priorities for the area.

A committee will be selected to decide what should be included in the proposals. Area residents and leaders will do all decision making for the plan, Saxton said.

Although public officials may be involved in the process, they will not be the final decision-makers; the residents themselves will be, he said. After the firm is selected, community interaction will be the key to the plan itself.

The current timeline includes the request for qualifications by the Foundation, which went out April 29.

After a 30-day period, the request for proposals will go out, probably in mid-June; and by August, a public interview will be scheduled to select the firm that will conduct the study. Then the study and plan developing process will begin almost immediately.

Final completion of the plan will take an additional nine months to a year after the consultant is selected. A timeline for completion of the plan will be included in the proposal request.

Similar revitalization in other areas have proven successful in Baton Rouge. Revitalization of the area between LSU and downtown has sparked new housing, both private and public, according to the NCF.

Affordable quality housing has long been a concern of the residents of the area. Details of the plan and what impact it will have on the existing residents will largely be created by the residents, businesses and institutions in the area.

Last summer, the city completed renovations and opened the public swimming pool at the Rev. Atkins Park, operated by the Covington Recreation Department.

Other complaints of the area in the past have ranged from a lack of sidewalks to a lack of housing and the purchase of many area buildings for commercial purposes.

The Covington City Council passed a resolution in April supporting the efforts of the NCF’s facilitation of creating the plan calling the plan a “roadmap for revitalization, a tool for seeking grants and other helpful funding for the neighborhood and a vision for coordinating all of the positive efforts now under way.”