Municipal authorities may create districts and regulate land and buildings; New Orleans also has special powers for landmark designation and preservation controls.
§4722. Creation of districts; powers of municipal authorities; transfers of development rights; and uniform regulations within district A. For any and all of the purposes set forth in R.S. 33:4721 the governing authority of any municipality may divide the municipality into districts of such number, shape, and area as may be deemed best suited to carry out the purposes; and within the districts so created, the governing authority may regulate and restrict the erection, construction, alteration, or use of buildings, structures or land. B. The governing authority of the city of New Orleans shall have the power to provide for official landmark or other appropriate designation by ordinance of areas, places, buildings, and structures having a special historical, community, or aesthetic interest or value; and in connection with those areas, places, buildings, and structures so designated by ordinance to impose regulations governing their construction, alteration, demolition, and use and to adopt additional measures appropriate to their preservation, enhancement, or use, which additional measures may include but are not limited to: (1) Establishment of procedures authorizing owners of designated property to transfer development rights in such amount and subject to such conditions and controls as are appropriate to secure the purposes of this Part; (2) The acquisition of the complete ownership of properties so designated or a lesser interest therein, including a preservation restriction, and the reconstruction, operation, or transfer by the municipality of any such property so acquired or the transfer of any development rights so acquired, all in accordance with such procedures and regulations and subject to such conditions as the governing authority deems reasonable and appropriate. C.(1) All such regulations shall be uniform for each class or kind of land and structure throughout each district, but the regulations of one district may differ from those in other districts. However, no regulation shall change the status of premises which have been continuously used for commercial purposes since January 1, 1929, without interruption for more than six consecutive months at any one time. The governing authority may, however, provide for the removal of nonconforming signs and billboards, less and except billboards erected in compliance with parish or municipal regulations at the time of erection, provided that it first establish a reasonable amortization time for removal according to a reasonable set of standards and schedules. (2) In the city of New Orleans the provisions of Subsection B of this Section shall apply only to the area bounded by the Mississippi River, Howard Avenue, the river side of I-10-Claiborne Avenue and the uptown side of Iberville Street Amended by Acts 1972, No. 53, §1; Acts 1975, No. 772, §1; Acts 1991, No. 289, §10; Acts 2011, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 20, §1, eff. June 12, 2011.