City Park changes planning process after outcry over Grow Dat Youth Farm, new road - NOLA.com

City Park officials have decided to extend the master planning process to gather more community feedback as tensions brew over two major projects proposed for the beloved city green space.

The fourth public input meeting, scheduled for May 20, has been postponed, the City Park Conservancy said Tuesday. Whether plans for $200 million worth of park improvements will be completed as expected by the end of the year remains to be seen.

“While we have made great strides in the current planning process and talked to so many individuals and stakeholders, we are continuing to listen to public feedback and further deepening our outreach to the community at large," City Park Conservancy President and CEO Cara Lambright said in a statement.

She said the extension would allow more time to flesh out ideas suggested by community members such as more playgrounds near entrances, improved stormwater storage, more trails and less roadways.

The extension follows strong objections to designs for a "Wooded Island Gateway" and a "Park Promenade" revealed over the course of three public meetings since the master planning period launched in July.

Criticism of the planning process itself has also circulated by those who have felt shut out of the cherished park's future, including supporters of a popular Grow Dat Youth Farm who would be displaced if current plans move forward.

“The park needs to listen to New Orleanians to create an informed master plan, and I don’t think a survey that 5,000 people responded to is anything close to meaningful community engagement,” Grow Dat Youth Farm founder Johanna Gilligan has said.

Plans to put a road and walkway through the center of the park — connecting the south-end attractions to greenspaces above the interstate — are aimed at improving accessibility for thousands of the park's daily pedestrians, vehicles and bicyclists.

But the youth farm is near the only underpass in the center of the park, at Interstate 610 and Zachary Taylor Drive. If moved, years of soil cultivation could be disrupted, members say.

Design teams have not yet announced alternatives that avoid touching the farm.

The future of the 7-acre farm at City Park, along with a desire to add more perspectives to the overall planning process, prompted Grow Dat leadership to hold a planning event Tuesday where more than 100 people turned out.

"We wanted to take advantage of Grow Dat community networks that run across race and class throughout the city. It wasn't about Grow Dat specifically," said farm manager Leo Gorman.

Gorman said they're supportive of City Park's move to include "as many voices as possible," adding that the park's primary method of collecting public input so far — through open house-style presentations with pre-designed options — have been frustrating for many.

During the extension, the Conservancy and the design team plan to meet with multiple neighborhood groups to hear their needs and listen more about conditions in the park that negatively affect them.

Officials also are launching an Ideas Youth Committee this summer to engage teens and young adults to include their voices and ideas as well.

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