EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Overview

Hurricane Laura made landfall in Cameron Parish, Louisiana on August 27, 2020 as a Category 4 hurricane. With sustained wind speeds of 150 miles per hour, it tied as the strongest hurricane on record to hit Louisiana. The storm caused over $19 billion in damage in the state of Louisiana according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Calcasieu and Cameron parishes experienced up to nine feet of storm surge and extreme winds, which caused catastrophic damage to utilities, residential and commercial buildings and roofs, mature trees, and critical facilities.

While the region was struggling to recover from Hurricane Laura, Hurricane Delta made landfall in Cameron Parish on October 9, just nine miles east of where Hurricane Laura hit only six weeks earlier. The region was already in a state of emergency, with the majority of people displaced and thousands of homes with tarped roofs. Tarps and debris from Laura were blown away and even more homes were destroyed by rainfall and flooding.

In February 2021, Calcasieu and Cameron parishes were impacted by the uncharacteristic winter storms that affected numerous Southern states. SWLA experienced frozen power lines, burst water pipes, and iced roads. This caused leaks in the water distribution system, resulting in low or no water pressure for a week in the City of Lake Charles, which impacted critical facilities and residents. The problem was exacerbated due to the significant number of vacant homes and buildings.

On May 17, 2021, severe storms and tornadoes caused flash flooding with more than 12 inches of rainfall impacting Calcasieu Parish. Quickly rising waters enveloped cars and made roads and neighborhoods unsafe. Over half the roads in the parish were under some water. The storm marked the third most rainfall in a single day in Lake Charles’s history and more rain fell than during either Hurricane Laura or Delta.

Together, these disasters devastated the region and traumatized the residents and business owners of Southwest Louisiana. They placed an urgent emphasis on the need to rebuild more resiliently to bolster the region against future storms.

Recognizing the pressing need to build a resilient future for his hometown region, Moss Bluff native and co-founder of Yahoo!, David Filo and his wife Angela, made a generous donation of $2.5 million to the Community Foundation Southwest Louisiana. The Foundation engaged stakeholders to determine the path forward — a master plan for Calcasieu and Cameron parishes. This led to a national request for proposal to vet world-class planning firms for this once in a generation opportunity. Urban Design

Associates and its Louisiana-based team was eventually selected from the five firms that submitted proposals.

The Just Imagine SWLA process launched publicly in October 2021, a little over one year after Hurricane Laura. Despite being in the middle of personal crises and stressful situations, over 2,500 people across Calcasieu and Cameron parishes gave generously and passionately of their time and ideas to drive a collective vision for the future of the region. What resulted was a strong consensus about the types of projects that will catalyze positive change in quality of life, housing, infrastructure, and the economy. Political leadership, the parishes and municipalities, large employers and other economic engines, non-profits, and residents are united and committed to implementing the recommendations laid out in this master plan.

Engagement Process

Process Overview

Resident, community, and local leadership input formed the foundation on which the 50-Year Resilience Master Plan recommendations stand. A 10-month community engagement process was laid out in three steps:

• Step 1 — Understanding

• Step 2 — Testing

• Step 3 — Feasibility & Deciding

Opportunities for Engagement

During each step of the process, there were in-person, online, text, and small group opportunities for engagement and participation. Each round of in-person meetings were held in three locations to make it easier for residents to participate — one meeting in Lake Charles, one meeting in West Calcasieu Parish, and one meeting in Cameron Parish. Detailed summaries of the input during each step were shared with the community to confirm priorities.

Project Timeline

2,500+

7,320+ people participated comments and ideas were received

Guiding Groups

In-Person Public Meetings

Types of Engagement

Online Idea Wall

Online Interactive Map

Surveys (Including Youth Surveys)

Hello Lamp Post

Ambassador Meetings

Regional Context And Impact

Geography and Regional Context

The geographical focus for Just Imagine SWLA is Calcasieu and Cameron parishes. The Lake Charles MSA is contiguous with the boundaries of Calcasieu and Cameron parishes, which is important demographically. The population of the two parishes was 222,402 in 2020 and estimated at 210,362 in 2021. The Lake Charles MSA had the largest percentage drop in population due to migration in the country during this time period.

Calcasieu and Cameron parishes were the most heavily impacted by the 2020 and 2021 disasters. However, the Just Imagine SWLA projects and recommendations are intended to be broadly applicable to all five parishes in Southwest Louisiana, including Allen, Beauregard, and Jefferson Davis parishes.

Economic Development Context

Southwest Louisiana is home to large liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemical industries. These employers attract skilled process engineers and drive the regional economy, especially during the construction of new plants and facilities. However, a troubling trend has emerged that affects both the large industries as well as smaller contributors to the regional economy. Concerns about the resilience of the region’s infrastructure, the aesthetics of the major commercial corridors, and the quality of life options for families and individuals have made it difficult to attract and retain employees and residents. Until this process, residents have felt resigned to accept the current conditions or may not have had an opportunity to broadly impact the decisions about investments that could improve quality of life. What the region looks like impacts who chooses to invest; the types of jobs available impacts how stable the region is during downturns; the options for entertainment, dining, shopping, and recreation impact whether families choose to move or stay; and the availability of housing determines who can afford to live in SWLA.

Capitalizing on Regional Projects — Bayou Greenbelt

Bayou Greenbelt is a community-led project supported by the Community Foundation SWLA and the National Park Service. The future greenway and blueway will include a 23-mile water loop around Lake Charles that will expand public recreational access and enhance hidden natural features that are not currently accessible. The project will build trails on public land adjacent to waterways for walking, running, biking, and paddling. Bayou Greenbelt will have a measurable impact on the quality of life in Calcasieu Parish and the region.

Five of the 10 catalytic projects connect to the Bayou Greenbelt, capitalizing on economic development and quality of life enhancements:

Vision And Goals

The priorities emerged from the Strengths, Weaknesses, and Visions exercise in Step 1: Understanding. This included input gathered across both Calcasieu and Cameron parishes from in-person, online, and text engagement.

The Just Imagine: 50-Year Resilience Master Plan intentionally aligned the plan topics with five of the six Recovery Support Functions (RSFs) in the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Hurricanes Laura and Delta Long-Term Community Recovery Plan. The five plan topics in the 50-Year Resilience Master Plan are:

1. Community Planning

2. Housing

3. Economic Development

4. Infrastructure

5. Natural and Cultural Resources

Within each topic area, the Advisory Committee and Guiding Groups developed and affirmed a set of goals to direct the selection of catalytic projects and the plan recommendations in the following chapters of this master plan.

The community reviewed and confirmed these vision statements and specific goals throughout the process, affirming their relevance as the overarching framework of the master plan. The goals serve as the benchmarks for assuring projects and policies achieve the community’s visions.