New Orleans City Planning Commission Meeting – October 27, 2026

The City Planning Commission met at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, in Council Chambers. The Commission heard a deferred conditional-use request for an auto repair facility in New Orleans East and a lengthy citywide text amendment to overhaul transient lodging regulations based on the Transient Lodging Study. After public testimony and discussion, the Commission approved the auto repair use 5-3 and adopted the transient lodging package unanimously with amendments that removed the French Quarter's VCE1 district from proposed short-term rental expansion and added restrictions on small hotels.

Consent Calendar

• There were no subdivisions on the ratification list, and none were ratified.
• The agenda included adoption of the October 13, 2026 minutes, but the minutes are not available and the transcript does not reflect a separate vote on them.

Public Comments & Testimony – Zoning Docket 095/26

• Applicant representative Jimmy Brown said the proposed shop would occupy approximately 936 square feet with two service bays and four parking spaces; he said the owner met city requests, addressed outside-aesthetics concerns, and wants to be a good neighbor and work with community organizations.
• Roland Barthay, president of the Pines Village Association, opposed the conditional use. He said the neighborhood's opposition was unchanged, disputed the applicant's characterization of earlier meetings, described Downman Road as an eyesore, said the city has not enforced code violations, presented opposition signatures, and recommended denial.
• Madeline Trapanier, a Pines Village resident, opposed the application, citing existing illegal body shops and tire shops on the corridor, lack of business participation in the Downman Road Business Alliance, and the need for quality-of-life enforcement.
• Kenya Smith, interim president of the Eastern New Orleans Neighborhood Advisory Committee, said the group represents more than 80,000 residents and 60 percent of the city's land mass; he supported residents' concerns and noted at least eight to ten repair shops already along the Downman Road corridor.
• Commissioner Jackson, who lives in District E, said she did not want the business to leave but was alarmed by lack of compliance and wanted the issue rectified.

Public Comments & Testimony – Zoning Docket 082/26

• Supporters of allowing commercial short-term rentals in the VCE1 district included Suzette Taladano, Clark Gray, Craig Brewerette, Jennifer Wickham, Christina Jones, and Bert Lodrig. They argued that VCE1 is a heavily commercial district, that many buildings and units are vacant or too small for long-term residents, that real estate demand is weak, that short-term rental income would finance renovations, and that 45 property and business owners signed statements of support.
• Sylvia Patterson, a Frenchman Street property owner and short-term rental operator since the 1990s, asked the Commission to distinguish long-standing hospitality businesses from speculative conversions and to protect lawful operators.
• Opponents included VCPORA executive director Aaron Holmes and president Nathan Chapman, Preservation Resource Center representative Marionelle Nolan Wheatley, Louisiana Landmark Society's Sandra Stokes, Neighbors First for Bywater leaders Eleanor Graham and Julie Jones, French Quarter residents, and members of the Strong coalition. They opposed expanding short-term rentals into VCE1 and, in many cases, opposed commercial short-term rentals citywide. They cited loss of permanent housing, unsafe and unmanaged properties, enforcement failures, fraudulent permits, the fragile residential character of the French Quarter, and concerns about new small and large hotels in historic mixed-use districts.
• VCPORA's Aaron Holmes said 89 of 119 written comments on the study opposed expansion in the French Quarter and that the written record contained only two letters in support of VCE1 expansion.
• Alan Johnson of the Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association said the Marigny lost 20 percent of its resident-occupied housing from 2000 to now, from 83.3 percent to 64.2 percent, and warned that allowing small hotels in HMC2 could convert residential structures.
• Garden District Association's Ron Babin asked for deferral or rejection, citing pending Magazine Street overlay work and concerns about small hotels.
• Rhonda Finley opposed the French Quarter expansion on economic grounds, citing declining hotel occupancy and arguing the city should not expand short-term rentals while investing in hotel rooms.

Discussion Items

• Zoning Docket 095/26: Staff reported the proposed auto repair use is consistent with the Master Plan and the S-B1 district. The property currently contains a gas station and convenience store; past occupational licenses for similar uses had lapsed more than six months, so no active permit existed. The Commission approved the conditional use with a 5-3 vote.
• Zoning Docket 082/26: Staff presented the Transient Lodging Study, adopted by the CPC on January 27, 2026, and proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. Major recommendations included converting commercial short-term rentals to temporary uses, creating three CSTR categories called small, medium, and whole, limiting CSTRs, NSTRs, and bed-and-breakfasts to one per square block, restricting hotels by splitting them into small and large categories, consolidating bed-and-breakfast types, and removing CSTRs from HMC2, HMMU, and HUMU districts.
• As of March 2025, short-term rentals made up 88 percent of licensed transient lodging uses, and CSTRs were about 40 percent of all licenses. Staff noted HMC2 and HUMU districts together account for 39 percent of current CSTR activity.
• During commissioner discussion, staff clarified that the one-per-square-block limit would not apply to hotels, that Canal Street between the Mississippi River and Claiborne Avenue would be exempt from the density cap, and that the recommended licensing period remained one year, not two.
• The VCE1 district contains about five square blocks, so the original staff recommendation would have allowed at most five small CSTRs there; the final motion removed VCE1 from the CSTR allowances entirely.

Key Outcomes

• Zoning Docket 095/26: Motion to approve per staff recommendation carried 5-3. Voting yes: Commissioners Jackson, Poche, Kepper, Flick, and Steag. Voting no: Commissioners Josie Gupta, Whitries, and Jordan. Commissioners encouraged the applicant to continue neighborhood engagement and address beautification, trash, and related complaints.
• Zoning Docket 082/26: The Commission adopted a motion approving the staff recommendations with amendments, by a vote of 8-0. The amendments:
  • Removed VCE1 from all proposed commercial short-term rental allowances, meaning no new CSTRs would be allowed in that French Quarter district.
  • Made small hotels in HUB1 districts a conditional use rather than a permitted use.
  • Added small hotels to the list of uses subject to the one-per-square-block limit.
• The Commission will transmit Zoning Docket 082/26 to the City Council. Under the process, the City Council has 60 days to act by motion and 90 days to adopt an ordinance, and the Council may modify the Commission's recommendations.
• The meeting adjourned after the Commission ratified no subdivisions.