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What should be on Oak Street? planners ask
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As Oak Street’s status among New Orleans “going out” destinations continues to rise, a number of residents’ groups have engaged a planning firm to help them ensure that the “mixed use” commercial corridor evolves into something more diverse than a strip of bars and restaurants. Carrollton-Audubon Renaissance Inc., formed by residents’ groups from around the Carrollton area, is sponsoring a study by the planning firm Villavaso and Associates to help define the “neighborhood mixed use” zoning designation currently slated for Oak Street. The firm has created a complete list of the current uses of buildings on Oak Street, and planners are now meeting with individual business owners and residents to determine how they would like to see the rest of the street develop. After public hearings about their findings, they will draft language about Oak Street to be inserted into the new Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance the city is assembling now, said planner Steve Villavaso of the University of New Orleans at a meeting last week of the Carrollton Riverbend Neighborhood Association. “We have put Oak Street under our microscope,” Villavaso said.