Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden has announced the next phase of “FUTUREBR”, East Baton Rouge Parish’s Comprehensive Master Plan, gets underway next week with the first of 14 Open Houses that will be held throughout the parish for citizens to provide feedback and get updates from members of the planning team and two partners in the process.

The first FUTUREBR open house meeting will be held Wednesday, April 7th at the BREC Headquarters building at 6201 Florida Boulevard.

The Office of Community Development and East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority will also participate in the open houses to provide information on their programs and community improvement efforts currently underway.  Both offices are working directly with the Mayor and the City-Parish Planning Commission to dovetail their efforts into the FUTUREBR master plan.

“We are all working together to make sure the results are a great plan for the future of our city and parish,” Mayor Holden said.  “If you want to help determine what Baton Rouge will look like in 30 years, this is where the conversation starts.”

Held in a coffee house format, citizens are invited to a FUTUREBR open house to talk one-on-one with the planning team beginning April 7th and continuing until October 21st.   Fregonese Associates, lead national planners on the project, will provide information at the April 7th open house on the results of three parishwide workshops that were held earlier this month.

“The FUTUREBR coffee house meetings will move throughout the parish to give citizens an opportunity to drop in after work and learn more about how the plan is developing,” said Mayor Holden.

“At these meetings, you will be able to get information from the Mayor’s Office, the City-Parish Planning Commission, the Redevelopment Authority and the Office of Community Development in one place,” he said.

East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority President and CEO Walter Monsour said the idea to bring the efforts of his office together with the FUTUREBR process will yield results that can be more easily implemented.  “Our community improvement plans target five critical districts in the parish,” Monsour said.  “By working together, we are speeding up the process of moving from planning to implementation of real projects that will help revitalize these areas.”

Lead planner John Fregonese said, “This is a great opportunity for citizens to give us their input on how they want East Baton Rouge Parish to look and feel in the future.   At this first meeting, attendees will review results from the workshops, discuss future scenarios for the city-parish’s growth and give their input about emerging ideas that have come out of all the community input we have had so far.”

A complete schedule of the open house meetings is attached.

=====================================================================================

FUTUREBR is a year-long process to update the East Baton Rouge Parish Land Use and Development Plan.  It is a community-wide planning project being conducted by the City-Parish Planning Commission and the Mayor-President that will examine current development and economic trends through an inclusive citizen engagement process.

Fregonese Associates is an award-winning urban and regional planning firm based in Portland, Oregon.  They have worked on plans in cities across the country including Chicago, Dallas, Tulsa and Denver. In Louisiana, Fregonese Associates was involved with the Louisiana Speaks project and has been selected to lead a team to develop a best practices manual for Louisiana coastal communities.

Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden will highlight Baton Rouge’s continuing recovery from hurricanes and other issues critical to the city and parish when he meets with the President this week and provides input on the First Lady’s national address on childhood obesity and healthy lifestyles.

This evening, he will participate in a White House meeting with the administration to discuss ways East Baton Rouge Parish can get assistance in dealing with continuing problems that resulted from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustav.  On Thursday, he will join other Mayors in meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss other problems facing cities.

Mayor Holden was also one of five Mayors invited to participate in a teleconference briefing with First Lady Michelle Obama and her staff in preparation for her address to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting on Wednesday.  Mrs. Obama plans to discuss initiatives to combat obesity, which is her key platform issue, and Mayor Holden was able to talk about the Baton Rouge Healthy City Task Force and the work it has done to improve quality of life for citizens in East Baton Rouge Parish.

“This is a tremendous honor for Baton Rouge to be a part of these dialogues at the highest level of our government,” Mayor Holden said.  “I’m  very grateful to have this opportunity to showcase our city and parish to the rest of the nation.”

On Friday, Mayor Holden and Baton Rouge Area Chamber President Adam Knapp will meet with the Ambassador from France to the United States, Pierre Vimont, to continue discussions on the French and Louisiana Accord, and joint efforts in education, ecomonic development and cultural and art exchange programs between Baton Rouge and France.

“We are continuing to build relationships that bring economic and cultural exchanges to Baton Rouge and enhance our reputation as a major city for investment,” Holden said.  “This is a great week for Baton Rouge’s needs and priorities to be heard, and I’m very appreciative of these tremendous opportunities to represent our city and parish.”

HGTV’s hit TV series, House Hunters, is coming to Baton Rouge/New Orleans and surrounding areas, and we’re looking for homebuyers and real estate agents who want to appear on the show!

House Hunters follows buyers and their agents on the hunt as they find just the right house for them—and every story is different. If you’re an energetic and outgoing homebuyer currently working with a real estate agent, we’d love to hear from you.

We are currently looking for homebuyers who are:

• Closing within the next 1-2 months, this includes buyers who are actively bidding on a home or newly under contract
• Fun, enthusiastic, and have a great story to tell
• Purchasing within a 90 minute drive of downtown New Orleans

House Hunters airs weeknights at 9/8c on HGTV and is produced by High Noon Entertainment.  To learn more about the show visit HGTV.com/HouseHunters

To apply contact Lexy Kohake, Associate Producer at

(303)712-3207 or LKohake@highnoontv.com