City Park has big plans in the works for Louisiana residents who enjoy the amenities and open spaces the park has to offer. Those in charge of the park have been relying on public input, asking locals what their visions might be for City Park moving forward.
Rebecca Dietz, President and CEO of City Park Conservancy, joined WWL’s Tommy Tucker to discuss the new City Park master plan and how it might be implemented.
“There’s been nearly two years of public engagement, research, and doing a lot of listening to the public,” explained Dietz.
Between hosting community meetings, listening to focus groups, conducting surveys, and meeting with people one-on-one, Dietz says she and others have been taking a wide array of viewpoints into consideration when trying to create a vision for what the park may look like for the next 25 years or so.
Dietz also emphasized that her team is trying to enhance the elements visitors have said they already love about the park.
“The last master plan for City Park was passed in 2005, right before Hurricane Katrina. It was that master plan that allowed us to make significant investment in the park after Katrina, and now look how far the park has come,” Dietz emphasized.
While much of the community input focused on keeping nature accessible in the park, others have asked for more recreational opportunities, better amenities, more cooling centers, and access to water sports.
For area residents curious about what amenities the updated master plan may include, the highlights include a new trail network on the north side of the park, providing access to over 200 acres of habitat that will connect the entirety of the north side of the park. There will also be more hiking, walking, and biking trails, with additional plans to restore the native landscape (which has become overgrown in many areas).
Restoration of the lagoons and plans to bring back more Louisiana wildlife to the park are also planned. "Right now, it's hard to get a boat through some of the lagoons, but we would like to clean those out so people can take a canoe or paddleboard out there," Dietz told WWL's Tommy Tucker.
For sports enthusiasts, Dietz says park managers have identified areas within the park for new sports courts that can be programmed for pickleball and other activities. She also emphasized that she would like City Park to keep those spaces open to facilitate handball, racketball, and other sports as well.
Scout Island is another area of the park that will be restored, with the hopes that people will be able to camp out there at night again. Dietz noted that the reason Scout Island isn’t currently available for use is the lack of security available to keep visitors safe, but the hope is to provide those amenities later to help bring the space back to its former glory.
While City Park Conservancy doesn’t have a final price tag on the costs of implementing the master plan, cost estimators are working on it currently. The last master plan invested roughly $200 million into City Park.
“While that sounds like a large number, it’s not unmanageable over the span of time it would take to implement,” emphasized Dietz. “I hope the community doesn’t get stuck on a number and instead focuses on why City Park is worth the investment. We want to make sure City Park stays affordable and accessible for our community, so we’re going to be looking at federal & state grants, national foundation funding, philanthropy, and launching a capital campaign for City Park soon as well,” Dietz went on to say.
She says the public should expect major infrastructure investments in the park over the next few years and adds that revenue-producing elements such as concessions and boat rentals are part of the plans moving forward.
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