Lafayette Consolidated Government (LCG) was presented with the Heritage Award by the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation (LTHP) in conjunction with the group’s annual conference.
The Heritage Award recognizes an organization that has successfully leveraged assets to provide greater cultural value to its region within the state, such as a heritage tourism project, or restoration/preservation effort such as adaptive reuse.
“I’m proud that Lafayette has been recognized for our work towards cultural and historic preservation,” stated Mayor-President Joel Robideaux. “Given our unique culture, it’s especially important to put forth efforts to ensure that future generations know and understand who we are as a community and to be proud of that heritage.”
Robideaux said he remains committed to other efforts to preserve and revitalize areas of local, cultural significance including the historic Four Corners area.
In recent years LCG has achieved several milestones which aided in the successful award application and support LTHP’s mission of advocating, promoting and preserving historic places representing diverse cultures.
With the adoption of the Unified Development Code in 2015, the categories of Historic Landmark, Cultural Resource and Local Historic District were added to the code to allow for additional designations.
Previously, Historic Property was the only category. The Atakapa-Ishak bike trail phase 1 was created, connecting Downtown Lafayette to the Jean Lafitte Acadian Cultural Center, with trailhead kiosks describing the Atakapa-Ishak culture and showcasing Atakapa-Ishak heritage. Additionally, LCG’s Planning Department supported historic neighborhoods’ efforts in hosting celebrations and open-house “History Walk” tours for Elmhurst Park, Downtown, LaPlace, Freetown, and Sterling Grove.
Director of Development and Planning Carlee Alm-LaBar accepted the award on behalf of LCG saying, “This award is because of a strong collaboration with many of our neighborhood and historic preservation volunteers who believe in celebrating Lafayette’s history. LCG has been working for several years now to support our neighborhoods both in policies and actions that will celebrate our community’s rich history.”
Other highlights of LCG’s application included:
Certified Local Government (CLG) status achieved in 2017. CLG status is administered by the State Historic Preservation Office in conjunction with the National Parks Service.
Installed a Gateway Sign for Downtown Cultural District.
Organized CREATE (Culture Recreation, Entertainment, Arts, Tourism and Economy) initiative, a collaborative initiative that promotes growth by strategically cultivating and leveraging our proven cultural, recreation, entertainment, arts and tourism assets that make up the existing creative economy in Lafayette Parish. Through this initiative, CREATE seeks opportunities to fund existing gaps in our cultural economy in intentional and strategic ways to generate sustainable revenue and adequately support Lafayette’s unique cultural identity.
Assisted McComb-Veazey’s application for Cultural District status in 2018.
