St. Tammany Parish Government, La
Modernized Unified Development Code (UDC) Rewrite
From 2022 to 2024, Desire Line supported St. Tammany Parish’s successful engagement with the public and stakeholders in an iterative, honest, and transparent co-development process that resulted in a locally responsive Unified Development Code (UDC) that reflects community values.
The UDC was unanimously approved on December 18, 2023, via Ordinance No. 23-5339 and became effective August 2, 2024. As a part of this multi-year effort, the Parish built public trust in a comprehensive code writing process by not overwhelming reviewers, managing a deliberate and predictable timeline, and incorporating trainings specific to the UDC and on land management principals more broadly.
The result was a more inclusive and accessible process where all views were incorporated into the Code in a balanced, reasonable, and predictable manner. Public trust built throughout the process enabled the adoption of Major Subdivision Incentives, which allow increases in density tied directly to measurable and desired community benefits (i.e., increased housing choice options, sidewalks, connectivity, public spaces, street trees, and more).
Incentives created support for a new, more balanced and predictable relationship between developers and the community aimed at reducing tension and promoting a more sustainable built environment. While Desire Line support was critical to managing the challenges of politics and planning in Louisiana, strong Parish leadership and stakeholders working together was key to successfully advancing and transforming these local land management processes.
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In collaboration with St. Tammany Parish Government, Villavaso & Associates, and Fairway Consulting and Engineering, LLC (Prime), Desire Line led the update of St. Tammany Parish’s land development ordinances into a modernized Unified Development Code that is more navigable, more intuitive, and easier to make both development applications and administrative decisions; builds trust through increased transparency (comparing apples to apples) within a more predictable and trusted code foundation; and supports local leadership’s focus on important, difficult decision-making in a logical and defensible manner. Post-adoption, Desire Line was retained to support housekeeping amendments, updated application development, and training to support UDC implementation.