Despite constant objections from about a dozen opponents Tuesday, the City Park Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to add to its master plan a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of the park's golf complex.

The 36-member Board of Commissioners, which convened for its monthly meeting at the Botanical Gardens in the Pavilion of Two Sisters, decided to go along with Phase I of the project.

Phase I would cost about $24.5 million and would include construction of an 18-hole championship course designed by Rees Jones, a renovated North Course, a clubhouse and parking, a driving range, range clubhouse and maintenance facility. It would be built between Interstate 610 and Filmore Avenue, with completion expected by fall of 2011 or in 2012.

Phase I is expected to yield $1.6 million in net operating income by 2016, according to a plan released at the meeting.

"It's a good day because we continue to recover from the storm and implement the plan," said City Park CEO Bob Becker, who recommended to the board the passage of the bill.

In urging the commission to vote for Phase I, Becker recommended placing Phase II on hold, which the commission obliged.

Market research

Originally, the commission had planned to vote on a $46 million plan for both phases, sponsored by the nonprofit Bayou District Foundation. Phase II would include a second 18-hole course, a nine-hole par-3 course and a First Tee teaching facility.

Instead, a market research study will be done after the completion of Phase I to determine whether the second phase can be completed.

"This allows us to move to the next phase, which would be drafting a request for proposals and seeing if there is a partner out there for us," Becker said. "We couldn't really go forward with that until we get past this point. It could be that there is no one that wants to participate with us, or it's multiple people who want to participate with us. So it's an important step for us."

City Park has in hand about $15.5 million to pay for Phase I -- $5.9 million in FEMA reimbursements and $9.65 million from state capital outlay. The Bayou District Foundation is raising approximately $9 million in private money to cover the remaining costs of the first phase.

Becker said the commission is open to anyone reaching a "cooperative endeavor agreement," which in essence is a partnership with City Park. This process is expected to take about three months before the park begins taking bids for the construction.

"There is no question that we would respond to the RFP (request for proposal), and it will be a very strong response," said Gerry Barousse, chairman of the board for the Bayou District Foundation. "I think that we are in pretty good shape in terms of money."

Opponents voice views

The commission's vote didn't sit well with everyone, though, as several vocal opponents arrived at the meeting wearing signs that read: "Green Space Yes, Golf Course No."

At one point during Becker's presentation and recommendation to the commission, Elizabeth Cook, who opposed the course, interrupted the meeting -- which was not open to public debate -- by yelling and voicing her views.

The plan had been a hot topic of discussion since March 10, when several hundred people gathered at the pavilion to voice their opinions.

Several suggested the event Tuesday was little more than "a dog and pony show," and that the project had been "rubber stamped," a charge that several board members vehemently denied.

Like Cook, many of the bill's opponents wanted to see the commission vote down the proposal, allowing them to continue to use the shuttered course as green space, dog paths and recreation areas.

Becker said he understood the strong convictions of many of those who opposed renovation of the courses, but he said he tried to accommodate the opposition by adding a bicycle path between Filmore and Harrison and allowing the former South Course to remain closed and used for green space.

Apparently, that wasn't enough.

"They want to spend public money on a park that will be expensive for folks to use," Cook said. "We believe that not a dime of state or federal money should be spent on a rich man's sport, which essentially is what this is. We believe that the majority of people desire more green space and are utilizing the green space."

Said Byron Almquist, who also opposed the course: "There has been no reasonable alternative proposed. Who knows what can be done with all that open space if it were enhanced by professionals? I don't know what that can be, but it wasn't really considered. That's one part of it. The other is that this has just been steamrolled through."

Not everyone at the meeting was against the renovation project. Some in attendance said they welcomed the return of quality courses to City Park.

"I've been a neighbor of the park for 25 years," Joseph Hall said. "I purchased my home right across from the bayou simply because of the proximity to the golf course, looking forward to when I retire. I find it really inconceivable that folks would want to take the golf course and make it a wilderness or a dog path."

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