Hollygrove Greenline Project VISIONING DOCUMENT
A Project of
THE HOLLYGROVE NEIGHBORHOOD A Collaboration with
THE TULANE CITY CENTER and
THE NEW ORLEANS FOOD AND FARM NETWORK CARROLLTON-HOLLYGROVE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION HOLLYGROVE GROWERS’ MARKET AND FARM HOLLYGROVE NEIGHBORS ASSOCIATION NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AARP 1
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
Vision
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Overview
8
History
14 Neighborhood Analysis 18 Site Strategies 24 Next Steps 28 Acknowledgements
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HGM&F 17th Street/Monticello Canal 4
Earhart Boulevard
Airline Drive
Carrollton Boosters playing fields and Cuccia-Byrnes playground complex
S. Carrollton Avenue
HOLLYGROVE Five years after Hurricane Katrina most of the flooded neighborhoods have made significant progress in re-building damaged homes, public services and infrastructure. Yet much work reamins to be done throughout the city and some areas have received little public investment. The Hollygrove neighborhood is located below sea level in the uptown Carrollton district. Though most homeowners have repaired their homes, many houses remain blighted, and this quiet neighborhood has no schools and little access to social services. However, an active group of residents and non-profit organizations are working to establish a vision for an economically and socially vibrant future for Hollygrove. One part of this larger effort involves establishing a community dialogue on the possible uses for a publically-owned right of way that bisects the community. Carrollton-Hollygrove Community Development Corporation (CHCDC), The Hollygrove Neighbors Association (HNA), AARP and the New Orleans Food and Farm Network (FFN) have partnered with the Tulane City Center in the envisioning of the Hollygrove Greenline Project. Formerly a passenger rail right-of-way, the Hollygrove Greenline is a linear band of visually vacant land that extends from the neighborhood’s western boundary at the Monticello Canal to its eastern boundary near Carrollton Avenue. Through this document, the Tulane City Center seeks to facilitate this process by providing information on the history of the neighborhood, by documenting aspects of the present community and by proposing possible scenarios for transforming this land into a neighborhood amenity. The goal is for this initiative to serve as a catalyst for a broader revitalization of Hollygrove as a livable community. The Tulane City Center has already had great success working within the Hollygrove neighborhood. Working with the CHCDC and the NOFFN, the City Center helped envision, plan and construct the Hollygrove Growers Market & Farm (HGM&F), a storefront retail center and urban farm in Hollygrove offering locally grown, affordable, fresh produce as well as ‘green jobs’ and certification programs in urban agriculture. A major component of the CHCDC’s revitalization and recovery work involves promoting sustainable living and healthy lifestyles through support of local growers. This also makes fresh regional and local produce accessible for neighborhood residents. The community food center will be a centerpiece for FFN’s food security recovery planning and will create a gateway into the Carrollton-Hollygrove neighborhood to spread agricultural education citywide. The Hollygrove Greenline Project hopes to carry on the momentum and success of the HGM&F. The Greenline Project considers the input and involvement of the residents of Hollygrove to be at the forefront of the design and advocacy process and aspires to be an outlet for the energy of the community as it work to improve Hollygrove’s physical landscape. 5
OVERVIEW
This proposal seeks to make a neighborhood amenity out of a derelict infrastructural corridor. Located in a low lying district of New Orleans between Carrollton Avenue and the Jefferson Parish line, the Hollygrove neighborhood was crossed by major urban infrastructure long before any residential building occurred there. The Hollygrove Greenline initiative seeks to show how a 50 foot wide swath of land above an underground canal could create a series of places for neighborhood activities and for urban farming. The project layers green infrastructure strategies over conventional engineering practices in a way that aims to support neighborhood enhancement and economic development. The study began with research and documentation of the area’s historical, physical and social contexts. This analysis has stimulated the development of some initial proposals for the corridor. The band of vacant land that constitutes the Greenline cuts diagonally across the street grid of the neighborhood, and several different types of open space are created. Preliminary design strategies have focused on the development of these spaces as essential neighborhood infrastructure in the form of public park space, stormwater management systems, community gardens and urban farms. Through continued engagement with neighborhood stakeholders, the Greenline project hopes to transform this inaccessible yet public land into active and healthy community spaces. 6
PROJECT
While the idea of developing new uses the Greenline site has been discussed in the Hollygrove neighborhood for some time, this collaborative project between the Tulane City Center and its Hollygrove partners is in its first phases of community outreach and project education.
LOCATION
The project site is defined by 12 parcels of empty, city-owned land that make up the former route of the Illinois Central Railroad Company’s passenger rail line through the heart of Hollygrove. The site extends from the neighborhood’s western boundary at the Monticello Canal to its eastern boundary at Carrollton Avenue. All of the 12 empty parcels are approximately 45 feet wide and range in length from 65 feet to 350 feet. In total they represent approximately 3 acres of vacant space. A 20’ x 10’ underground canal runs directly underneath the westernmost 10 of these parcels, which are accordingly maintained by the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board. An additional 2 parcels of the former railroad line closest to Carrollton Avenue are leased and occupied by a long-term storage facility and its parking lot.
PARTNERS
Project partners include the Carrollton-Hollygrove Community Development Corporation, New Orleans Food and Farm Network, Tulane City Center, Trinity Christian Community, Hollygrove Market and Farm, Hollygrove Neighbors Assoc., National Endowment for the Arts, and AARP.
SHORT TERM GOALS:
-Community outreach and educational campaign to raise awareness and support for project -Advocacy with the City of New Orleans and the Sewerage and Water Board -Research and Partnerships to pursue land acquisition and legal use of city-owned land
LONG TERM GOALS:
-Re-activate unused infrastructural space within the Hollygrove neighborhood -Develop community-based programmatic plan -Provide healthy, safe, enjoyable public outdoor spaces -Create new neighborhood nodes that boost local economic and environmental goals. 7
HISTORY
1883 Robinson Map of the district shows a road network fully surveyed for occupied development. This part of town would not be drained for another 50 years.
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Levee constructed along
NEIGHBORHOOD
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Louisville, New Orleans + Texas R.R. Converted to Illinois Central Inbound route.
1892
1883 1884
1858
New Orleans, Jackson + Great Northern R.R Lines Completed Along current Greenline Site.
Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad Completes line from Memphis to New Orleans
- 1896
1853
New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain R.R. Track constructed along present day Monticello Street
1874
Carrollton annexed by New Orleans New Orleans, Jackson + Great Northern R.R. Purchased by Illinois Central R.R. becoming the city’s 7th District.
- 1867
1853 RAILROAD
A detail from the 1878 Hardee Map portrays the newly incorporated Carrollton district as a Cypress swamp through which the Illinois Central Railroad line passed. The recently completed Dublin Avenue Draining Machine is also shown.
The Hollygrove neighborhood was originally part of the McCarty Plantation, which was incorporated as the Town of Carrollton by the Louisiana Legislature in 1845. Construction of the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, which followed the current day streetcar line, increased settlement of Carrollton and in 1859 the town officially became a city. From 1858 to 1871 a series of drainage improvements, including construction of Upperline Trail Race Canal (the current day Monticello Canal) and the Dublin St. drainage machine, laid the groundwork for later drainage infrastructure that ultimately permitted settlement of the Hollygrove neighborhood. In 1874 the City of Carrollton was annexed by the City of New Orleans. The citywide adoption of the 1895 Drainage Plan inaugurated the modern drainage system that is in use to this day. The area occupied by the present day Hollygrove neighborhood remained sparsely developed before the period of modern drainage. Rapid settlement of Hollygrove occurred in the 1920’s and 1930’s and by1965 the area had become a fully-occupied medium density residential community.
Paul E. Dunbar School Built
Illinois Central R.R. terminates service through Hollygrove
1955
1929
1947
Robinson Clinic Built
WORLD WAR II
HURRICANE KATRINA 2003
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1945
37
1921
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Hollygrove Timeline illustrates three major histories of the neighborhood’s development. Railroad, water infrastructure and 9 neighborhood histories paint a telling picture of not only the community but also the development of the Greenline site over time. All canals covered with Culvert Installed along Illinois exception of Upperline Canal Dublin St. Canal Reworked
HISTORY (CONTINUED) Construction of the New Orleans Jackson and Great Northern Railroad, which ultimately became the Illinois Central Railroad, directly correlates to the settlement of the City of Carrollton. In 1852 the right of way through Carrollton was granted to N.O. & G.N.R.R. and construction of the railroad to Canton and Jackson Mississippi was completed in 1858. An embankment was constructed through Carrollton to elevate the right of way above the swamp, a condition that proved to be a physical barrier within the neighborhood once housing development commenced in the 20th Century. By 1859 N.O. & G.N.R.R connected New Orleans through a system of lines to cities across the United States and preserved New Orleans status as the primary U.S. port on the Gulf Coast. Due to financial difficulties with the N.O. & G.N.R.R after the Civil War, the Illinois Central Railroad purchased the line in 1883. The I.C.R.R. purchased a second route through Carrollton that followed the alignment of present day Earhart Blvd. Until the I.C.R.R. terminated it’s service in the 1950’s, the railroad was the primary factor influencing the residential settlement and commercial development patterns in Hollygrove. In the 1960’s the I.C.R.R sold the right-of-way through Carrollton to the City of New Orleans and the railroad tracks were removed from the embankment. The embankment existed as a dormant physical barrier in the neighborhood until the Army Corps of Engineers excavated the site and installed the underground canal from 2001 to 2003.
FORMER CONDITION (1852-2001): ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD CO. CORRIDOR* *While the Illinois Central Railroad Company discontinued use of the corridor in 1955, the site existed as an unused raised berm that cut through the neighborhood’s backyards and streets until 2001.
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EXISTING CONDITION
From 2001-2003, the Sewerage and Water Board constructed the 20’ x 10’ underground canal that now exists under 3/4 of the length of the former railroad corridor. 11
MEMORIES OF THE RAILROAD “We used to tell the time of day by the sounds of the trains. Twice a day, the engine, and the whistle, would let us know the time.” “The first night I lived in my home in Hollygrove I was startled out of bed when the horn from the train blew.”
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“In the good old days my sisters and I used to play on the railroad embankment.” “Anybody taking the train to New Orleans had to pass through this neighborhood.”
“People used to wave at you in your backyard from the train, and we would wave back.” “Black folks from Hollygrove had to sit in the cars called ‘Smokin’ Marys,’ right behind the locomotive coal engine.”
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NEIGHBORHOOD ANALYSIS Research and analysis of the neighborhood context of the Greenline site includes mapping of current crime, transporation, community amenities (churches) and stormwater infrastructure data.
Crime Data Homocide Aggrevated Battery Aggrevated Battery by Shooting Unsafe Corners (scale proportional to level of concern/safety)
Crime Data CRIME DATA
Homocide Homocide Aggrevated Battery Aggrevated Battery
Aggrevated Battery by Shooting Aggrevated Battery by Shooting Unsafe Corners
Unsafe Corners (scale proportional tooflevel of resident concern/safety) (scale proportional to level concern/safety)
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Sewerage & Water Board
Public Storage, Inc.
Oleander St. Pumping Station
Pritchard St. Pumping Station
EXISTING LAND USE City of New Orleans
STORMWATER INFRASTRUCTURE
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SITE ANALYSIS
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SA
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HO LLY GRO
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Vacant structure
D TLE
FIG
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Occupied structure
LIV E
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MONTICE
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HA MIL TON
Map information includes land ownership, structure occupancy status and a detailed footprint of the major underground stormwater infrastructure.
Land Ownership
Tabulated below are the 13 Greenline properties, each listed with its known ownership, address, land value and speculated sale price. The City of New Orleans owns 12 of the 13 plots, 10 of which are allocated for use by the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board.
Ear
har tB
lvd
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Greenline Property A B C D E F G H I J K L M
Owner City of New Orleans City of New Orleans City of New Orleans City of New Orleans City of New Orleans City of New Orleans Friendship Baptist Church City of New Orleans City of New Orleans City of New Orleans City of New Orleans City of New Orleans City of New Orleans
Address 3304 Joliet St 3324 Leonidas St 3304 Monroe St 3237 Ealge St 3240 Eagle St 3204 Gen. Ogden St 3125 Hollygrove St 3124 Hollygrove St 3100 Hamilton 9100 Colapissa St 9207 Fig St
Land Value $1,900 $ 3,800 $ 1,900 $ 1,300 $ 3,800
Sale Price $170,000 $ 170,000 $ 170,000 $ 170,000 $ 170,000
$ 13,000
$ 94,800
$ 1,300 $ 1,500 $ 3,800
$ 170,000 $ 170,000 $ 170,000
9337 Pritchard Pl
$ 3,800
$ 170,000
MO NR O E
DE N . O G
L FOR
SHE
DER
EAG LE
AN
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M
JOL IET
K
NID AS
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J
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GEN
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Underground Canal
A 20’ x 10’ underground canal runs directly underneath the western most 10 parcels of the Greenline site. This subgrade stormwater infrastructure is managed and maintained by the Sewerage and Water Board.
0’
200’
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SITE STRATEGIES: Neighborhood Vision The following images depict just a few of the many ideas that are being generated in Hollygrove about how the community will use the Greenline as a neighborhood amenity.
Urban Farming/ Community Gardens
The Hollygrove Greenline represents approximately 3 acres of open space within the neighborhood. Working in conjunction with the Hollygrove Market and Farm, various scales of urban farms can be established for crop production and urban agriculture training programs.
Public Parks/Playgrounds The Hollygrove Greenline exists as a linear open space that is divided into 13 empty lots of various shapes and sizes. Accordingly, these different sites provide the opportunity for a variety of types of public space: pocket parks, playgrounds, walking parks, play fields and much more.
Stormwater Management The Hollygrove neighborhood is situated at the confluence of multiple municipal stormwater drainage channels, both above and below ground. Hollygrove is in need of additional layers of storm water management due to the overloading of these systems and the localized rain water flooding that occurs within the neighborhood. The Greenline site--running through the whole of the communiy--represents an opportunity to explore alternative water management strategies to help mitigate this storm water 18
SITE STRATEGIES: Design Scenario LEFT Sectional perspective illustrating the transformation of the site into activated, productive space. BELOW The vision of this project is to build upon initiatives that currently operating in the community. The Hollgrove Growers Market and Farm is an ideal example of collaborative success for a project of this scale, relying on community involvement while providing great value back to the community
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SITE STRATEGIES: Site + Program A study area incorporating 5 of the 12 vacant parcels was established to better investigate potential architectural and landscape strategies on the distinct plots that make up the larger site. The study area (5 parcels of the site bounded by Hollygrove St. to the west and Leonidas St. to the east) provided an opportunity to layer several types of program within a confined area, with considerations for proximity to existing community amenities. Public park space, playgrounds, urban farms and community gardens, built structures, and stormwater management represent only 5 of many more potential programs. Additional program considerations will be made by the Hollygrove community as intensive outreach and engagement continues.
Public Park
Pa lm
Playground
Stormwater Management 20
Av e.
Study Stud S St tud tud udy udy dy A Are Ar Area rea ea ea
Urban Farm
Earh art B lvd.
Av e.
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Hollygro ygrove ygro ove Ma Market Mar arkket ett an Farm and an
Ca rro llt on
Built Structure
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SITE STRATEGIES: Phasing The construction of the 5-block study area can be blocked out into 3 basic phases: the smallest “corner” lots developed first; the urban farm/community garden developed second; and finally, the playground and built structure developed and constructed third.
Phase 0
Existing Condition
0’
Phase 1
Pocket Parks
Phase 2
Urban Farm/ Community Gardens
Phase 3
Playground/ Built Structure
100’
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SITE STRATEGIES: Study Area
Site plan detailing hypothetical proposal of programmatic strategies within the “study area� and their configuration over a five block span of the larger Greenline site.
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Pocket Park
Playground Stormwater Park
Urban Farm/Community Garden Stormwater
Pocket Park
0’
Built Structure Stormwater Park
100’
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MOVING FORWARD: Community Outreach and Advocacy The Greenline Project’s design process is driven by open discourse with Hollygrove residents and collaboration with neighborhood organizations. Direct engagement with the community develops a sense of neighborhood ownership over the project and insures that it will be valued asset within Hollygrove. In addition, the ultimate “sustainability” of a public project such as the Greenline is dependent upon full input, endorsement and “buy-in” by the community, who ultimately will be the project’s primary caretakers and benefactors.
Photograph of the initial project meeting for the Hollygrove Greenline project, January, 2010. The meeting was attending by the Tulane City Center, Hollygrove Growers Market and Farm, New Orleans Food and Farm Network, and the Carrollton-Hollygrove CDC.
Photograph of the kick-off Design Workshop for the Hollygrove Greenline, working wiht AARP’s Hollygrove Livable Communities Project at the Hollygrove M & F, June, 2010. The Livable Communities Project engages and builds capacity within the residents of the Hollygrove neighborhood.
Community Pamphlet and Survey
The Stakeholder Pamphlet introduces Hollygrove residents to the details of the Greenline project and encourages involvement in the design process. Included in the pamphlet is a survey asking residents about their history with the Greenline site, as well as their uses and opinions of public space in and around the Hollygrove neighborhood. 24
Cover
Pamphlet information
“Community Engagement Map” The Community Engagement map is a tool that traces the Greenline project team’s outreach with Hollygrove residents. The map exists as a living document that will evolve as the neighborhood engagement process progresses.
Pamphlet and survey
Each of the city-owned plots has a specific land value and sale price.
Fill out survey
Push pins, string, notes and text document the progress of neighborhood engagement throughout Hollygrove
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MOVING FORWARD: Community Outreach and Advocacy In June 2010, the Hollygrove Greenline project team begin intensive engagement with Hollygrove residents. With the understanding that resident-directed visioning and brainstorming was an essential phase of project development, the Greenline project team worked with the AARP Hollygrove Livable Communities Project, Hollygrove Neighbors Association, as well as over fifty residents living adjacent to the Greenline. The goal of this phase of work is to develop a series of questions, concerns, and visions for the Greenline sites. This will lead to additional engagement with city agencies, neighborhood organizations and other relevant project partners to develop an initial design proposal and implementation strategy.
Photographs of the kick-off Design Workshop for the Hollygrove Greenline, working wiht AARP’s Hollygrove Livable Communities Project at the Hollygrove M & F, June, 2010. Each of four discrete subject matter project teams developed their own initial vision for the Greenline, and then presented their proposals to the larger group.
Initial visioning proposals from the four AARP Livable Communities Project teams: Economic Development, Resident Engagement & Public Safety, Health & Caregiving, and Mobility & Transportation. The visioning proposals from the June 2, 2010 meeting represented an array of programmatic ideas, as well as a number of different approaches to dealing with the Greenline sites individually and as a network of “community spaces.” 26
Reverand Earl Williams of Trinity Christian Communities presenting the history of the Hollygrove Greenline Project to a group of residents who live adjacent to the Greenline sites. Residents expressed concerns towards issues of public safety and the Greenline’s relationship to adjacent abandoned properties.
Greenline project team member Michael Cohen with Hollygrove residents and AARP staff on a July 2010 site visit that spanned the entire 3/4 miles of the Greenline. The group discussed issues of accessibility, ownership and flexibility of land use as ways to garner neighborhood engagement and support for the project as it moves forward.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PROJECT PARTNERS
Paul Baricos Director Carrollton Hollygrove Community Development Corporation (CHCDC) Paul.Baricos@gmail.com Alicia Vance New Orleans Food and Farm Network (NOFFN) alicia@noffn.org
PROJECT TEAM
Lead Designer: Professor Judith Kinnard, Tulane School of Architecture Project Team: Emilie Taylor, Tulane City Center Dan Etheridge, Tulane City Center Zachary Gong, Tulane City Center Michael Cohen, Tulane City Center Ian O’Cain, Tulane City Center Intern Joe Sherman, Hollygrove Resident Pam Mercadel, Hollygrove Neighbors Association Jason Tudor, AARP Hollygrove Livable Communitie Project Evelyn Turner, Trinity Christian Communities *The Tulane City Center would like to give a special thanks to the entire Hollygrove community for its contributions to this publication.
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