The proposed site of City Splash, a water park contemplated under City Park’s master plan, has been changed to a more spacious location on Palm Drive under a plan approved last week by the park’s board.

The original plan called for putting the water attraction on the western edge of the park near Marconi Drive, between Dreyfous and Victory avenues. That changed because park officials decided the feature would need more space for parking and to accommodate a second phase, said Robert DeViney, the park’s chief operating officer.

The Palm Drive site, north of Roosevelt Mall and near the park’s administration building, is 8 acres, double that of the master plan’s original location.

“So many things have changed since 2005 when we adopted the plan,” DeViney said. “So we just moved it to where we thought we could accommodate it.”

Park officials had publicly discussed the idea of relocating the water park but made it official at Tuesday’s board meeting, the first time the master plan has been updated in three years.

The City Splash design is not yet final, but it is expected to include various gadgets that shoot, squirt and spray water on customers. A proposed second phase would include a “lazy river,” a pool with a slow current that patrons ride along in rafts.

Construction on City Splash is scheduled to begin this year. It is slated to open in 2015, according to the updated master plan. Construction originally had been scheduled to begin in 2013, with the attraction opening this year. The construction and completion dates depend on the park’s ability to secure capital outlay funds from the state.

City Park has received $500,000 of the $5 million approved for the project by the state Bond Commission. The initial investment was for the park’s design phase, DeViney said. The remaining $4.5 million is listed as a Priority 5 project in the capital outlay budget.

“So once the design is done, we’ll tell the Legislature to move that money up,” DeViney said.

Relocating City Splash will require that the park’s 18-hole disc golf course, in the splash park’s new footprint, be moved as well. Its new home will be what had been proposed in the master plan as a new baseball diamond on Marconi Drive.

Unrelated to the splash park’s move, the park’s board voted to eliminate a new catering building from the master plan. The park received enough money after Hurricane Katrina to completely repair the old building, which is not in use, DeViney said.

The City Park 2018 Master Plan was adopted in 2005, just months before Katrina hit the city. It was intended as a grand vision for revitalizing the then-rundown park by the city’s 300th anniversary in 2018. The plan’s list of large and small capital improvement projects has guided the park’s post-storm recovery.

The NOLA City Bark dog park, Arbor Room at Popp Fountain event space and City Putt mini-golf complex are all part of the master plan.

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