New urban pattern book for rebuilding Mississippi Gulf Coast houses
Reassembling houses swept away by Katrina using traditional designs for shotgun and creole houses is promoted in a "Pattern Book for Gulf Coast Neigborhoods" being issued by the Mississippi Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, reports the New York Times (free subscription required).
The patterns are based on planning efforts by the Congress for New Urbanism, which advocates a return to traditional ways of building homes, neighborhoods and towns. The organization is working closely with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to sponsor "collaborative meetings, called charettes, to achieve community consensus" on what should be done.
The Pattern Book will be distributed free of charge at Home Depot and other locations. Last month reports were issued containing ideas for the re-building of Gulf Coast communities.
I wonder how well the patterns will jive with building code changes and federal flood insurance requirements that will require reconstruction of flooded homes at dramatically increased elevations. Many Coast citizens reportedly have given up hope either because the damage to their home was not covered by insurance or because the coverage they is insufficient to cover the cost of re-building.
The Gulf Coast Pattern Book, along with all the other Renewal Forum final reports, is now available at http://www.mississippirenewal.com/info/plansReports.html
The Renewal Forum engaged in many, many hours of meetings with FEMA representatives in an effort to understand post-Katrina building and zoning code requirements. The Architecture report has some interesting designs that meet those requirements. And each of the municipal reports addresses the flood zones in different ways.
The Economic Strategies report has recommendations on insurance and funding sources for rebuilding.
Meetings with FEMA reps, casino owners and city/county officials will be continuing this week (Nov 30).