Work on a $1.2 million plan on how to address Lafayette Parish's future growth is expected to begin early next year and take 18 months to complete.
A comprehensive plan almost two decades in the making to address land use, transportation, recreation and other critical growth in Lafayette Parish is one step closer to fruition.
City-Parish President Joey Durel announced in a press release that he has signed the contract with Wallace, Roberts & Todd of Philadelphia, the firm selected out of four finalists earlier this year to draft the master plan - known locally as Lafayette in a Century.
LINC has been developed over the past 20 years by numerous LCG planners and other volunteers, shifting its focus in more recent years to factors like the smart growth concept of mixing both residential and commercial properties along sidewalk-lined streets with a healthy balance of green space.
"We have completed another important step in this process for Lafayette. Now the hard work for all of us begins," he says. "I look forward to working with all of Lafayette to help develop our Comprehensive Plan, and I hope all residents understand that we need everyone to participate to develop a successful plan that represents all of Lafayette."
Durel says in the release that the $1.2 million project, slated to begin next year and take 18 months to complete, "provides a guide for the future growth and development and redevelopment of a community."
"I look forward to what the development of this plan means for the growth of our parish," City-Parish Councilman Don Bertrand says in a prepared statement. "Lafayette has such positive momentum, and this planning process will help us set goals as a community and help us reach them. I ask each resident of our community to plan on attending a public meeting, completing a survey, or participating in some way. It is the best way to ensure that the plan is a representation of our community."