Alm-Labar leaving LCG for real estate development firm

Carlee Alm-Labar is leaving Lafayette Consolidated Government.

She has been named the director of planning for traditional neighborhood developments for Southern Lifestyle Development.

Alm-Labar most recently was LCG’s development and planning director. Her last day with LCG will be June 22, according to a city-parish news release.

In her new position, Alm-Labar will lead a team that drives the development of SLD’s 10 mixed-use neighborhoods in Louisiana and Mississippi. Those neighborhoods include Sugar Mill Pond, Couret Farms and River Ranch in Lafayette Parish, as well as sites in Lake Charles, Monroe, Thibodaux and Jackson, Mississippi.

While at LCG, Alm-LaBar led the development and implementation of the parish’s first comprehensive plan and the new Unified Development Code. In 2017, she reorganized the development and planning department, with an aim toward improving customer service and land-use planning.

Prior to her term as the planning and development director, she was the LCG chief development officer and an assistant to former City-Parish President Joey Durel.

“Carlee’s dedication, commitment to excellence and insight have been invaluable to my Administration,” stated Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux. “I’m grateful for her leadership within government and for her service to the citizens of Lafayette Parish. She will certainly be missed and we all wish her the very best in her next endeavor.”

In addition to various efforts downtown, including the re-development of the old Federal Courthouse site and the repeal of the downtown bar moratorium, Alm-LaBar shepherded the work of the Evangeline Thruway Redevelopment Team, which recently proposed a series of improvements along the Evangeline Thruway corridor.

“Carlee is an exceptional talent,” SLD Managing Partner Robert Daigle said. “In her time with LCG, she has demonstrated the creativity, vision, and leadership necessary to build great places.”

SLD Chief Operating Officer Kevin Blanchard worked with Alm-LaBar previously at LCG.

“At SLD we work every day to build neighborhoods that improve the quality of the lives of our residents and the broader community,” Blanchard said. “Under Carlee’s leadership, we know that we will be better able to deliver on that mission.”

“I have had the privilege for the last eight years to be involved in some really meaningful projects and work with some very talented people,” Alm-LaBar said. “This next chapter promises to be a new kind of opportunity to participate in building better communities.”