SAMEDI

Sketch of Proposed Tulane Stadium

The City Council is playing strong defense as Tulane University tries to plow forward with plans for their new stadium. Earlier this week, Councilmember Susan Guidry introduced a motion to establish an Interim Zoning District (IZD) requiring colleges and universities to seek approval from the City Planning Commission for new construction. Despite the formal opposition from a coalition of presidents from Tulane, Loyola and Xavier universities, the motion passed by a 4-2 vote at Thursday’s City Council meeting, stalling plans from the new stadium, which Tulane president Scott Cowen called a “temporary setback.”

While the IZD could affect a number of big construction projects at Tulane and other colleges and universities, President Cowen acknowledged in an email to the Tulane community that, “this motion, no matter how packaged, was really about Tulane Stadium.”

Councilmember Guidry, in a statement on Friday, disagrees, saying, “As I have stated repeatedly, this particular IZD is not intended to prohibit or even impede any particular university construction project.”

“Though there are four colleges and universities located within the area that comprises the IZD (Tulane, Loyola, Xavier, and Delgado),” said Councilmember Guidry, “only Tulane has stated that they have a present or planned future construction project that may be affected by this IZD.

One project potentially affected by the IZD includes renovations to Tulane’s Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. While Councilmember Guidry insists the IZD isn’t just about the stadium, President Cowen points out that proposed library renovations, “did not fall prey to the restrictions of the approved motion” since “Councilmember Guidry, at our request, amended her motion in such a way that it removed the library from further scrutiny.”

President Cowen makes nice with the neighbors in his email, saying “despite any differences we have with our neighbors we are committed to continue working with them to find common ground on issues of disagreement.”  But he also adds, “Gratefully, Mayor Landrieu came out strongly in opposition of the City Council's position and has threatened to veto an IZD ordinance.”

The stadium is obviously a top priority for Tulane, so Cowen is unlikely to back down, and he’s clearly willing to call in whatever support he can to keep the project moving forward. For now, however, the momentum seems to be on the side of the stadium’s opponents.