11-6-2024: Re: Zoning Docket 83/24 500 Piety Street

November 6, 2024 

New Orleans City Council 
1300 Perdido Street 
New Orleans, LA 

Re: Zoning Docket 83/24 500 Piety Street 

Dear City Councilmembers: 

Louisiana Landmarks Society fully supports the staff report, the City Planning Commission decision, and Bywater neighborhood residents in opposing the requested zoning variances for 500 Piety Street. 

The height variance, even at 4 feet over the maximum, undermines the carefully discussed and agreed-upon limits established in the Riverfront Design Overlay. This overlay is the result of neighborhood discussions with the previous District C Councilmember, a City Planning study and a Council vote. 

The setback for the upper floors of buildings in the overlay is required to allow light and air into the Bywater neighborhood, reduce the visual impact and over-massing of the buildings, and make them compatible with two nearby historic buildings: the Rice Mill Lofts and Turn Services. 

This is the first of many buildings to come on the riverside of Chartres Street. Abandoning the design standards on the first building will undermine the overlay by providing a precedent for ignoring it, making all the time and effort invested in establishing the Riverfront Design Overlay futile. 

The requests for these variances do not meet six of the nine criteria for approval – the basis for these decisions. We should not ignore the advice of our city experts and our own rules. We ask that you support the staff, the City Planning Commission, and residents in denying these variances. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

Respectfully, 

 Sandra Stokes 
Chair of Advocacy 
Louisiana Landmarks Society