New Orleans City Park wants to add nature play area, "grand" water feature
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The proposed nature play area in New Orleans City Park will have natural elements like logs, stepping stones and a sandpit. Rendering: City Park Conservancy
New Orleans City Park leaders will unveil the park's new master plan on Wednesday.
The big picture: Plans include a children's play area and a shallow reflecting pool, City Park Conservancy President and CEO Rebecca Dietz tells Axios New Orleans.
- The water feature is meant to be a "grand entrance" to the park near Dreyfous and Marconi drives.
- It will be on the site of the former pool that closed in the 1950s rather than integrating.
- "This feels to us like an opportunity to welcome everyone in the community back to enjoy water in the park," Dietz says.
- The specifics will be worked out in the design phase, Dietz says, and the timeline will depend on funding.
Zoom in: The ideas came from a series of community meetings with hundreds of attendees.
- The plan also includes elevated overlooks (hills!), fields with native plants and walking trails, Dietz says.
- Plus, there are new boathouses and sports fields, along with better access to the islands and lagoons.
- Restrooms, water fountains, parking, shade, trashcans, way-finding signs and other "givens" will be priorities throughout the park too, she says.
What she says: The plan will be "somewhat transformational without changing the backbone of City Park, which is already so special to so many people," Dietz says.
Zoom out: Residents will be able to weigh in Wednesday at two public meetings at the Pavilion of the Two Sisters in City Park.
- The meetings are at 11:30am and 6pm. The same information will be presented at both. RSVP.
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Catch up quick: The City Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that began managing the park in the 2022, is creating a roadmap for the next 20 to 25 years.
- The last plan, which was approved after Hurricane Katrina's devastation in 2005, focused on the southern half of the 1,300-acre park.
- This one focuses on the northern half: Couturie Forest, the former golf courses, the lagoons and the acreage on the lakeside of Interstate 610.
- The process started in 2023 and was expected to finish last year.
Yes, but: The planning was put on hold after pushback over the future of Grow Dat Youth Farm.
- Grow Dat and the park eventually reached a long-term agreement, and the park scrapped plans to relocate the youth farm to make room for a new road.
- City Park then rebooted its planning process with more voices involved, including Grow Dat staffers and a youth committee.
By the numbers: The plan will cost millions to implement.
- Dietz said the park will pursue federal money when available, but will rely heavily on grant money from private foundations and donors.
- The funding will guide the timeline and which elements are prioritized, she said.
What's next: The two boards that govern the park will vote on the plan at their August meetings.
Go deeper
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say the City Park pool closed in the 1950s (not the 1960s).
