§ 5-402. Functions.

The City Planning Commission shall:

(1)

Prepare, adopt, amend, and recommend to the Council a twenty year Master Plan for the physical development of the City consistent with the requirements of Section 5-404. The Master Plan shall consist of a statement of development goals, objectives, and policies for the physical growth and development of the City, and shall include maps and a text setting forth principles, standards, and proposals. The Master Plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following elements: Vision, Goals, and Policy; Land Use; Transportation; Housing; Community Facilities and Infrastructure; and Historic Preservation. The elements are to be interrelated with each other and shall provide the overall guidance for city policy and priorities. The Land Use element shall consist of text setting forth land use issues and policies, and a Future Land Use Map setting forth categories of allowable uses and density, for the City. The entire area of the City shall be addressed within the Master Plan, as well as those land areas outside of the Parish of Orleans under the control or ownership of the City.

(2)

Prepare, adopt, amend and modify regulations governing the subdivision of land, including platting and replatting, which regulations shall provide for the proper arrangement of streets and public utilities; open spaces for light, air and recreational areas; space for vehicular parking; the sizes and shapes of lots in order to avoid congestions of population and to provide for the amenities of human habitation; and the manner and extent to which streets shall be paved and public utilities installed in such subdivisions, consistent with the provisions of this Charter.

(3)

Prepare and recommend to the Council, all to be consistent with the Master Plan:

(a)

Plats, together with revisions and amendments thereof, showing the exact location of lines of recommended new, extended, widened, or narrowed streets, and the estimated time within which the land needed for future street development as shown on the plat.

(b)

The Official Map of the City and amendments thereto, upon which shall be shown all existing and established streets, recommended street lines, all streets or street lines located on final or recorded plats of subdivisions, and the location of existing or planned parks and other open spaces. Street locations on final or recorded plats of subdivisions shall constitute amendments to the Official Map and shall be placed thereon.

(c)

A zoning ordinance and revisions and amendments thereof for the purpose of promoting the public health, safety, aesthetics, and general welfare of the City, and implementing the Master Plan, which ordinance may contain regulations with respect to the location, height, bulk, size of buildings and other structures; the size of yards, courts, and other open spaces; the density of population; and the use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, business, residence, or other purposes. The zoning ordinance shall include an official Zoning Map, and the ordinance and the map may be periodically amended by the City Council provided any amendments are consistent with the Master Plan in accordance with Section 5-404(3). The text, diagrams and maps in the Land Use Element of the Master Plan that address the location and extent of future land uses, and the zoning ordinance that implements those provisions, may also address urban form and design. They may differentiate neighborhoods, districts, and corridors, provide for a mixture of land uses and building types within each, and provide specific measures for regulating relationships between buildings, and between buildings and outdoor public areas, including streets, sidewalks, and other rights-of-way.

(d)

Plans for the clearance of slum areas, public housing developments, and the rehabilitation or redevelopment of blighted areas.

(e)

Plans for the replanning, improvement, and reconstruction of neighborhood and community centers and of areas or districts destroyed or seriously damaged by fire, earthquake, hurricane, flood or other disaster.

(f)

Such other studies as may be requested or directed by the Council.

(4)

Prepare the capital improvement plan and assist the Chief Administrative Officer in the preparation of the annual capital budget. The capital improvement plan and the capital budget shall be consistent with the Master Plan.

(5)

Prepare such studies as may be requested by the Mayor.