CASE STUDIES

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District:
Community Impact Mitigation Plan for the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal (IHNC) Lock Replacement Project

In October 1999, as construction began on the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal (IHNC) Lock Replacement Project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) commissioned GCR & Associates, Inc. (GCR)to assist in the development and implementation of the Community Impact Mitigation Plan (CIMP) for this project. Essential to the project’s success was active public participation by a community strongly adversarial in its disposition toward the new lock.  In addition, the affected community comprised four distinct neighborhoods with unique racial and cultural identities.  GCR led extensive community outreach programs to educate residents about the project and the associated mitigation plan, as well as to correct misinformation, dispel myths, and encourage collaboration.

GCR led the establishment of a Community-Based Mitigation Committee (CBMC) comprised of representatives from the four neighborhoods. Then, GCR facilitated monthly CBMC meetings to identify community needs, assess those needs, and develop mitigation projects to address them.  Understanding the diverse nature of the committee, the GCR team created an environment that encouraged cooperation and cohesion among committee members.  The GCR team worked with the committee to build consensus and create a CIMP that represented the interests of all four neighborhoods. Once the CIMP was approved and presented to the Corps in 2000, the GCR team continued to meet monthly with the committee to update and implement the plan through 2006.  In 2007 and 2008, GCR prepared a post-Katrina community needs assessment and maintained a working relationship with the CBMC while the Corps completed a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the project.

GCR was responsible for all aspects of this project:  identifying and researching elements of the plan, promoting public participation throughout the planning process, ensuring that all neighborhoods had a voice in the plan, leading the community outreach effort, hosting the project website, serving as a liaison among all involved in developing and implementing the plan, and preparing the initial plan and all subsequent updates.


This mitigation program presented an exceptional opportunity to implement planning solutions for a host of urban problems—job training, public safety, housing, transportation, business and economic development, education, recreation, and community cohesion.  In January 2001, the American Planning Association recognized GCR and the Corps with its Outstanding Non-Military Planning Project Award for the CIMP concept and implementation.