05:09 PM CDT on Thursday, July 6, 2006

Cain Burdeau / Associated Press

Residents starved for direction on whether to rebuild in neighborhoods flooded by Hurricane Katrina should have the guidance they need by the end of the year, a businessman who brokered a new rebuilding plan said Thursday.

New Orleans businessman David Voelker outlined the new deal, called the "Unified New Orleans Neighborhood Plan," at a meeting of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, a governor-appointed panel guiding the state's comeback from last year's devastating hurricanes. Voelker is also an LRA board member.

By December, Voelker said, residents should have a much better idea about the prospects for each area of the city. But he cautioned the plan "will be a work in progress."

The new planning effort was announced Wednesday when Mayor Ray Nagin and City Council members said they had put aside differences and decided to work together on the master plan.

Before this week's developments, residents had become frustrated with city leaders for the lack of progress. Some people have pushed forward on their own, gutting and restoring their homes, while many others have left their places untouched as they await word on the city's master plan.

The new strategy will merge plans from the city's 73 neighborhood districts. Voelker said up to $3.5 million still needs to be raised to complete the planning. About $4.5 million already is available.

A sticking point has been debate over whether every neighborhood -- even the hardest hit and those built in the most vulnerable parts of the city -- will be afforded the resources to rebuild.

Officials with Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration say they want decisions on the rebuilding of individual neighborhoods to be made through the local planning effort, and not be dictated by state leaders. A state-run housing redevelopment program will work with the local effort to determine which areas should be rebuilt.

"We're not trying to cut anybody out of anything, we want everyone in," Blanco said at the LRA meeting, held at Jackson Barracks, a military base that dates to the 1830s and serves as the headquarters of the Louisiana National Guard. The 100-acre base was badly flooded by Katrina.

Blanco said the military base will be rebuilt under a $200 million plan, and that it will serve as a model for the rest of the city. Restored buildings will meet federal flood plain guidelines and be built to resist hurricane winds and flood waters. Also, there are plans to place buildings on the base the public can use, such as a charter school, health clinic, library and media center.

"We're going to try to create vitality," Blanco said. "I think it will spark new life in the areas most devastated by Hurricane Katrina."

The base lies between the St. Bernard Parish town of Arabi and New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. Both areas were devastated by flood waters.

"Let me be clear: the Ninth Ward is coming back," Blanco said.

But, she added, the Ninth Ward will not be same.

"There's going to be a new normal," she said. "It's not going to look like the old normal, but it will be better."

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)