The construction of a controversial $46 million golf complex on 400 acres at City Park apparently is not a done deal after all.
At least, the matter won't get resolved Tuesday when the 36-member board of commissioners convenes for its monthly meeting at the Botanical Gardens-Pavilion of Two Sisters. Park CEO Bob Becker said no vote will be taken on the "master plan." In fact, it won't even be on the agenda.
The plan has been a hot topic since March 10, when several hundred people gathered at the pavilion to voice their opinions. Several suggested the event was little more than a dog-and-pony show and that the project had already been rubber-stamped, a charge that several board members vehemently denied.
No additional public meetings are scheduled, but park officials will continue to accept public comments through next week before Becker and his staff get down to business.
"We don't feel any need to have another set of public meetings," Becker said Wednesday. "We're getting all the input and feedback we think is necessary to make an informed decision. Once we have a chance to sit down and analyze all the information, I'll write a report to the board. Then once the board has a chance to digest all that, then we'll schedule a vote.
"We do not feel rushed on this project. We've been working deliberately on this for a number of years. We want to be true to the process that we've always established here at City Park. We want to take the time necessary to review everybody's comments and look again at the plan."
If the Bayou District Foundation's plan for redeveloping golf is adopted to City's Park's master plan within 60 days, construction could begin by January, and the first phase of the project could be open by fall 2011. Phase 1 is projected to cost $24.5 million and includes an 18-hole championship course, a $3.3 million clubhouse, access road to the clubhouse and parking, driving range and maintenance building encompassed between Interstate 610 and Filmore Avenue and bounded east and west by Marconi and Wisner boulevards.
Delays into the summer months could push back the opening until 2012.
"We don't feel a real pressure to either do it right away or to postpone it for a long time," Becker said. "We're going to take the time that we feel is necessary to give the matter adequate study and review, and then we'll move forward with it."
Mike Rodrigue, who along with Gerry Barousse is the point man for the nonprofit Bayou District Foundation, took Wednesday's news in stride.
"We look forward to working with the park in any way we can to address the issues," Rodrigue said.
The City Park situation is reminiscent of the one at Audubon Golf Club, which, despite public outcry, underwent a $6 million renovation in 2002. Opinions ran the gamut, from nature and animal lovers, bicyclists, runners, joggers and walkers, and even golfers who were against change and leery the days of "affordable golf" were over.
"There are people that oppose anything," said Stan Stopa, Audubon's director of golf. "I had to fight with those people, and the Audubon commission had to fight with those people, just to do what we have here now.
"If you give some people a solid gold bar, they would complain that it would be too heavy to cart off and get the money. Some people are going to complain just to complain. We fought that foolishness for six months until once we got rolling here. City Park is going through the same thing; you're going to have some people fight it."
Becker, former director of the New Orleans City Planning Commission, served as general manager for Audubon Zoo and Park at the time of the golf course renovation. And no, he is not a glutton for punishment. He said people are entitled to their opinion.
"If you're doing something where nobody says anything, you're probably not doing anything that is really important," Becker said. "This is not unusual. This is what you expect and what you hope for. We have a public process, and we're going to honor that public process."
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