The Charrette—Or Mississippi Renewal Forum

“It is unprecedented in its size. It’s ten times larger than any such planning exercise every attempted,” was how Jim Barksdale, Mississippi native, former Netscape CEO and Chairman of the Mississippi Renewal Forum (www.mississippirenewal.com)
characterized the one week Charrette that I participated in this week.

A Charrette is an intensive, creative work session that involves professionals along with public workshops and open houses. It is a collaborative planning process that harnesses the talents and energies of the many interested parties to create and support a feasible plan for transformative community change.

And with Hurricane Katrina having “wiped the slate clean” for many of the Gulf towns, this event pulled together many diverse people in a positive way. Governor Haley Barbour led off the Charrette mentioning that Mississippi had gone thru four major catastrophes in its history: The Civil War, The 1927 Flood, Hurricane Camille in 1969 and this year’s Hurricane Katrina. In the first two events, little help came from the rest of the country and Hurricane Camille only resulted in “Business as usual. There were building service stations on the beach two months later. This is our fourth chance, and I’m determined that we are not going to miss that chance.”

Renowned architect and planner Andres Duany of Miami led the Charrette. Everyone came with their own ideas and several were initially leery of how it would all work out. But by the end of the weeklong process, I believe that most if not all were impressed with what was accomplished.

One of the first items that quickly came to the fore, was the nearly universal dislike for all of the 11 Gulf towns for the CSX RR which ran lengthwise along the entire coast thru every town, usually about a quarter of a mile from the beach. Virtually all of the rail crossings are at grade and the constant freight trains thru the towns were a major complaint. Even though CSX had already started rebuilding its line, including the reconstruction of two major bridges, as Chester “Rick” Chellman of TND Engineering said, “There were some very high level discussions that got CSX to stop their reconstruction that was starting at Bay St. Louis and moving east.” That rail line will probably become a light commuter rail, trolley line, bike path, or arterial roadway. Or some combination of those items.

The Charrette was a chance for a clean slate to be looked at and for dreams to be shared. Susan Lunardini summed it up best for me, “This Charrette has been a wonderful experience. We have teams from all over the country, the state and from every town on the Gulf Coast interacting with each other. We will build something magnificent that will be livable, walk able and attractive.”