...is the theme for this years Annual Planning Conference. The venue will be the Courtyard Mariott Hotel in Houma, Louisiana. We would like to thank our friend Mr. Jim Parker of Lafayette Consolidated Government for designing this year's logo.
We have an exciting lineup for this year's conference. Nineteen topical sessions are offered, plus Planning Commissioner Training and AICP test prep. Guest speakers include Jeff Carney, Director of LSU's Coastal Sustainability Studio; Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove; and Congressman Garrett Graves serving on the House Transportation Committee.
Three-day registration is again well under $100 per day including lunches. Discounts are offered for APA members, for planning commissioners, and for full time students. Early-bird discounts end February 11th. Mobile workshops, Bayou Bash, lodging and Thursday evening dinner are in addition to conference registration. No refunds after February 18th. We encourage you to first read through the information on this website and print the downloadable form for a worksheet, then register online through planning.org's event portal.
An in-depth GIS training and three mobile workshops are offered during the 2016 State Planning Conference. The GIS workshop on Monday-Tuesday precedes our conference. Wednesday offers highlights of implementation of the Terrebonne Parish Comprehensive Plan. Thursday afternoon you must choose to go "Up da Bayou" or "Down da Bayou" (Bayou Terrebonne) to see developments, industry, and physical changes of great impact to Terrebonne Parish. Click "Mobile Workshops" for details.
Please consider becoming an organizational, corporate, or individual sponsor of APA Louisiana's 2016 Annual State Planning Conference. Exhibit your services, products, and capabilities; or showcase your work on a table-top display in the hallways on the ground floor of the Courtyard Mariott in Houma, guaranteeing you repeated daily exposure to all attendees. Sponsors will have their logo and/or name displayed prominently according to sponsorship level. For more information and to download a sponsorship or exhibitor packet click the "Sponsorship Opportunities" button.
Images from the conference are being collected, categorized, and optimized for web display. Click below to view this year's conference photos in a Google gallery.
Louisiana Geographic Information Center (LAGIC) - Offered by NOAA's Office for Coastal Management, this two-day instructor-led course offers a combination of lectures and hands-on exercises to give students a better understanding of coastal inundation issues and mapping methods using a geographic information system (GIS).
This two-day instructor-led course offers a combination of lectures and hands-on exercises to give students a better understanding of coastal inundation issues and mapping methods using a geographic information system (GIS). The course is designed for certified floodplain managers and county, state, and municipal officials, including planners, emergency managers, and coastal resource managers. Lecture topics include the different types of coastal inundation, the applications and limitations of various types of inundation products, elevation data sets and datums, and the spatial methods used to map flood areas in coastal environments. In hands-on GIS exercises, students connect to Web map services, access elevation data, convert between vertical datums, create and manage digital elevation models, map inundation model output, develop inundation zones, and map sea level rise using modeled tidal surfaces.
This training also offers 16 hours of continuing education credits for the GIS Professional (GISP), American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) professional certifications.
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
Overview of Terrebonne Parish Comprehensive Plan & Terrebonne Parish-Implementation For The Future | Join Chris Pulaski, Terrebonne Parish Planning and Zoning Director, and other officials for a tour of the Houma-Terrebonne region highlighting the implementation of the Vision 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan, recipient of the 2015 APA LA Award for Excellence in a Plan. See and hear about the Parish’s strategies, successes and works in progress. 2.25 CMs
No need to paddle up the bayou! Join us for a mobile tour from Houma up the bayou to Thibodaux and back to the conference hotel along some of the major growth corridors in both Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes. As residents and business look for higher ground in which to invest and build, many former agricultural and rural uses make way for increased development. US Hwy 90 has been designated as the future I-49 corridor which also serves to attract big business and transportation opportunities. See how communities like Houma and Thibodaux have addressed these concerns and anticipated future growth. 2.75 CMs
Stops along the tour will include:
We goin down da bayou! This mobile workshop will take attendees from the conference hotel, through downtown Houma, past Chauvin along LA Highway 56, across the inland marsh near Cocodrie and back thru Dulac along LA Hwy 57. Communities along these highways indeed do live on the edge – the water’s edge, among the numerous bayous and small inlets of the Gulf of Mexico. Balancing economic development and survival with issues of flooding and salt water intrusion has been a way of life for these communities for generations. Along Hwy 56, the sights and stops relate to structural stormwater protection and coastal restoration, while along Hwy 57, the attention is concentrated on non-structural protection projects. Inter-twined with all this is the need for improved infrastructure and continued economic growth.2.75 CMs
Stops along the tour will include:
Online Registration is provided via APA's www.planning.org events registration portal.
Online Registration is a multi-step process which requires your login credentials for planning.org. If you are not a member and do not have a username and password, you may create a non-member account by clicking "My APA". Once logged in, you will proceed through several screens:
A printer-friendly PDF version of the conference program is being finalized. Please be aware that processing paper registrations creates additional work for our volunteers. We urge you to take advantage of online registration where possible.
Category | "Early Bird" by Feb. 11th |
After Feb. 11th |
APA / APA LA Member | $225 | $275 |
Non-Member | $275 | $325 |
Planning Commissioner Conference + Training |
$175 | $225 |
Planning Commissioner Training (Friday) Only |
$75 | $100 |
Student (full time) | $75 | $100 |
Special event and mobile workshop fees are in addition to above. See Mobile Workshops for descriptions of these options, and read through Sessions & Speakers for a description of special events (meals).
Hotel reservations can be made directly with:
Courtyard by Marriott - Houma
142 Library Boulevard, Houma, Louisiana 70360
(985) 223-8996 or www.marriott.com
by midnight Thursday, February 23, 206 for blocked room pricing. Mention group code "APAN".
Room | Rate |
Standard Room | $119/night (plus tax) |
Executive Suite | $119/night (plus tax) |
Time |
Event/Activity |
All day |
Coastal Inundation Mapping GIS Workshop offered by NOAA details on Mobile Workshops page 16 CM |
Time |
Event/Activity |
10:00-5:00 |
Registration |
11:00- 12:00 |
Chapter Business Meeting |
12:00-1:15 |
Lunch Lydia Jemison, Conference Welcome Jeff Carney “Battle of the Boot” |
|
|
1:30-4:00 |
Mobile Workshop |
|
"Around da Bayou" - Overview of Vision 2030 Terrebonne Parish Comprehensive Plan 2.25 CM |
|
|
1:30-2:45
|
A Communicating Environmental Change 1.25 CM B Planning For Health in the Diabetes Belt 1.25 CM |
3:00-4:15 |
A Port Planning: Managing the Water’s Edge 1.25 CM B Managing Stormwater in New Orleans 1.25 CM |
5:30-8:00 |
Bayou Bash Ticketed Event (Dinner) Networking and meet-up |
Time |
Event/Activity |
7:00-5:00 |
Registration |
|
|
7:30-8:30 |
Breakfast with Gordy Gordon Dove, Terrebonne Parish President General Announcements |
8:45-10:15 |
A Who Are You Calling Arbitrary? [1.5 CM law] |
9:00-10:15 |
A Damned If We Hadn’t 1.25 CM B Edging Ahead in Suburbia: Jefferson Parish Bicycle Master Plan 1.25 CM |
10:30-11:45 |
A South Central Multi-Modal Extravaganza 1.25 CM B Do The Best Laid Recovery Plans Often Go Astray? 1.25 CM C Street Smart Neighborhoods 1.25 CM |
12:00-1:30 |
Awards Luncheon |
1:45-5:00 |
Mobile Workshops 2.75 CMs each A Down da Bayou: Travel through downtown Houma, past Chauvin along LA Highway 56, across the inland marsh near Cocodrie and back thru Dulac along LA Hwy 57. B Up da Bayou: Travel to Thibodaux and back along some of the major growth corridors in both Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes. |
|
|
1:45-3:00 |
A Blurring the Curb Lines 1.25 CM B Planning on the Edge of Professions 1.25 CM |
3:15-4:30 |
A Edge of the Road: Moving Walking and Biking off the Margins 1.25 CM B Redirecting Markets to Realize Community Visions 1.25 CM |
5:15-6:15 |
Conference Reception |
6:30- |
Dinner on Your Own |
Time |
Event/Activity |
7:00-9:00 |
Registration |
7:30-8:30 |
Continental Breakfast |
|
|
8:30-10:00 |
A Ethics on the Edge [1.5 CM ethics] |
8:45-10:00 |
A Strategies-Funding Infrastructure Reconstruction 1.25 CM B MMLOS: How Many Bike Lanes Are Enough? 1.25 CM |
10:15-11:30 |
A Interstates and Fault Lines: I-49 (south through Lafayette) 1.25 CM B Vacant Land: Empowering Stakeholders, Creating Opportunities 1.25 CM |
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|
11:45-1:15 |
Lunch Congressman Garrett Graves, House Transportation Committee Closing Conference Remarks Intro of 2017 Conference |
1:30-5:30 |
A Planning Commissioner Training B AICP Test Prep |
Our mission is to promote the practice of community and regional planning in Louisiana by enhancing the effectiveness of planners in impacting public policy.
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Engineers | Regional Governments and Agencies |
Transportation Planners/Engineers | Water Management Agencies |
Environmental Planners/Engineers | Land Development Attorneys |
Architects/Landscape Architects | Many other regulatory agencies statewide |
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