Zoning Dockets, 1942-2007

Series

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Each zoning docket is filed in a separate folder. Contents of the folders vary over the years, but they generally include a copy of the Planning Commission's report and recommendation (except for the 1973-1987 period, when reports and recommendations were discarded because they duplicated the City Planning Commission's version of the records) and the Council's decision on the matter (in the more recent dockets, in the form of the motion and/or ordinance adopted by the Council).

Individual dockets may also include all or some of the following:

public notices
transmittal letters
corresspondence and/or petitions from supporters/opponents of the zoning matter
lists of neighboring property owners
maps
plans
photographs

Prior to 1954 the records for each zoning docket were filed with the Official Proceedings of the Council. A small group of dockets from that period are filed separately, recorded as the Early Zoning Dockets series. Beginning in 1954 the records are filed in order by their docket numbers (e.g., #14/55 being the 14th docket filed in the year 1955). In the earlier years, at least, the Clerk of Council also assigned a petition number to each record received from the Planning Commission, but filed the dockets according to the Commission's designations.

The Archives has not retained copies of approved site plans produced in the zoning process; those documents were filed with the Register of Conveyances and are retained in that office. Some individual dockets are missing from the main body of records and are listed in separate series of "Stray" zoning dockets, 1965-1996. Many of these "stray" dockets are administrative amendments to previously approved dockets (these are listed with the year in which the amendment was approved), others were withdrawn from consideration, and others may simply not have been refiled after being used. Some pre-1954 dockets may also be missing from the Official Proceedings, but we have made no effort to identify them individually.

Dates

Creation: 1942-2007

Creator

From the Collection: New Orleans (La.) City Council (Organization)
From the Collection: Clerk of the City Council (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Available to registered researchers by appointment. Request by box and zoning docket number.

Biographical / Historical

The City's first Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance was adopted by the Commission Council in 1929. The ordinance, in addition to specifying permitted uses within the City's several zoning districts, also included provisions for its administration and set forth the process by which it could be amended. Essentially, the amendment procedure was initiated by application to the City Planning and Zoning Commission (later renamed the City Planning Commission) which would gather information on the change request, hold a public hearing, and issue a report and recommendation to the Council. The Council then had a specified period of time to approve, disapprove, or amend the Commission's recommendation. On approval, the zoning change became law through passage of an ordinance.

Extent

78 Cubic Feet (78 boxes)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Zoning Dockets are arranged in separate series that reflect accessions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The records were received and processed by the Archives at several different times and thus are arranged in separate subseries.

Related Materials

The Archives also holds the records of the City Planning and Zoning Commission (later City Planning Commission) for the years 1923-1987 in bound volumes. The Commission began filing the zoning dockets in separate volumes in 1954; prior to that time zoning matters are filed along with the minutes of the meetings at which they came under consideration. There is considerable duplication of material between the Commission and the Council records, but in theory at least, the latter version may include documentation of actions taken after the Commission's report and recommendation were forwarded to the Council for action.