On Tuesday, March 22, 2011, the New Orleans City Park Improvement Association unanimously approved amendments to the City Park Master Plan to (1) reduce the acreage allocated to golf uses by modifying the golf plan, (2) modify and broaden the land use category in the land use plan pertaining to the acreage removed from golf uses pursuant to the modified golf plan, and (3) add a site for a permanent boat house in the Big Lake area and provide for other technical modifications associated therewith.

The important aspects of the proposed changes are:

1. Instead of a golf master plan which contains two 18 hole courses and a 9-hole course, the proposed amendments would develop just the two 18 hole courses. One would be the North Course which would continue to be a moderately priced course offering affordable golf for those who wish that type of golf experience. The second 18 hole course would be a high end course for those who wish a more challenging golf experience.

2. The golf club house would be rebuilt generally on the site of the former clubhouse and not off of Mirabeau. The driving range would be improved generally on its current site and not relocated across Filmore.

3. The location of the high end course would not utilize land south of Harrison Ave. but would incorporate an area south of Filmore which was originally scheduled to be developed in a second phase golf project. The area for the new 18 hole course would be reduced from 310 acres to approximately 250 acres.

With an eye toward closing a long-discussed deal with a golf developer in the next few months, the City Park Improvement Association gave its unanimous approval Tuesday to a scaled-down plan that reduces by 20 percent the land set aside for a proposed championship course.

New Orleans' premier public tennis venue, rooted on Victory Avenue in the heart of City Park for more than a century, is moving.

On Thursday morning, park officials will cut the ribbon at their new $3.9 million tennis complex on a once-dormant tract along Marconi Drive between Harrison Avenue and Interstate 610. The City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center, which features 26 courts and a clubhouse, is the latest in a string of flashy attractions that are altering the face of the urban playground that was left in ruins after Hurricane Katrina.

A painstaking push to restore City Park’s storm-battered golf complex appears to be nearing an end as officials consider a scaled-down version they hope will lead to a long-term management agreement for a proposed championship course.

The revised plan — which scuttles a 9-hole course and reduces from 310 acres to 250 acres the space needed for the new, 18-hole layout — is scheduled to go before the City Park board of commissioners on March 22.