Abita Springs could get 100-acre development for disabled
St. Andrew's Village on the front page of the Times-Picayune.
Benjamin Alexander-Bloch
2/21/2009
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A New Orleans nonprofit corporation is seeking approval to build a residential and commercial development that would cater to adults with developmental disabilities on 100 acres in Abita Springs.
If it receives a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers and a zoning change from the Abita Springs Board of Aldermen, St. Andrew's Village Inc. could break ground late this year and be completed by late 2010, said Donna S. Breaux, the corporation's executive director.
The corporation is trying to raise $30 million for the project, which would be mainly for adults with developmental disabilities, she said. The village would employ at least 100 full-time staff members.
Breaux said the corporation has just begun a capital campaign and has raised about $1.5 million so far.
The project needs the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers, she said, because about half the 100-acre site is designated as wetlands. Breaux said the wetlands would not be developed, but would remain in their natural state for nature walks and education on coastal erosion and restoration. She said she hopes to have the needed permits by this summer.
St. Andrew's Village touts itself as a "faith-based village community where adults with special needs can live, work, worship and socialize."
The corporation hired Holly & Smith Architects of Hammond to develop the site plans. The plans were informally presented to the Abita Springs Board of Aldermen at its monthly meeting on Tuesday.
The project must go before the town's Planning and Zoning Commission for its recommendation, and then to the Board of Aldermen for a zoning change to planned-unit development, Mayor Louis Fitzmorris said.
At the Tuesday board meeting, the mayor and aldermen expressed their full support.
"We are really proud to support this unique development," Fitzmorris said.
Alderwoman Sheri Sable-Campbell added that it would allow "some people who never had the opportunity to live alone to have that opportunity."
"I really think Abita is the perfect community for you all," she said.
The plan is to break ground late this year, with four village homes, Breaux said. Each home would house three developmentally disabled adults and one staff member, who would help take care of them. Each resident would have a bedroom and bathroom, and each home would include a living room, laundry area and kitchen, she said.
The community would also include a clinic, an athletic facility, a chapel, stores, a restaurant, and a place to facilitate possible employment and interaction with the residents of Abita Springs, according to the village's site plan and literature.
The idea is to foster "independence and self-determination" among the residences and create "meaningful employment with dignity and purpose," according to the literature.
The residents, referred to as "villagers," would be encouraged to raise and sell plants, work in the facility's restaurant and retail stores, and provide services for local business, Breaux said.
Preliminary sketches of the development call for 19 homes for developmentally disabled adults, allowing for 57 disabled adults and 19 live-in support staff. A larger "neighborhood development" also would eventually be built outside of the main center, creating homes that could be leased by the disabled adults' family members or others.