June 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 38

Rising From the Water

A

fter Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf coast of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, the residents of New Orleans lost many friends and their homes. In addition, they
lost a city landmark-the 1,300-acre City Park that saw 11 million visitors annually. The park
sat under eight feet of water for close to a month. When the water receded, the park had
suffered $43 million of damage, including the loss of more than 2,000 trees.
But because of a recently adopted park master plan that was based in smart growth principles, Vist
sion for the 21 Century, park and recreation departments
were able to rally for recovery. Park staff opened revenuegenerating facilities, renewed fund-raising efforts, and used
the Vision plan to guide them in recovery and planning.
City Park staff enlisted the help of volunteers to implement many of their ideas-25,000 volunteers gave 125,000
hours of their time to the project. Today, the City Park is
again thriving. Thanks to the master plan, the parks and recreation department has renovated the majority of the athletic and cultural facilities, added two miles of bike paths
and resurfaced roadways. Upcoming additions to the park
include a golf course, educational center, and dog park.
Speaking to the Greater New Orleans Foundation, New
Orleans City Park CEO Robert Becker said, " The park has
turned a massive dose of lemons into an abundance of finetasting lemonade. "
-Rachel Roberts

intervention. " " By that we mean that we want systems to be as efficient as possible in terms of use of
resources, " Alminana explains. " They are able to
achieve economies of scale that are sustainable. "
Thus multiple benefits can be derived from applying smart growth principles to the development
of natural systems. Examples include the use of
meadows and greenways that also serve as floodways and developing trail systems that serve as
rights-of-way for underground utility corridors.
Guenther, of the design firm Mithun, agrees.
" Yes, we are still looking at designing public
places that work and are beautiful, " she says. " But
that is not enough anymore. We also have to apply metrics for sustainability, measure the performance, and improve the functions of our landscapes
and public spaces. "
One innovative use of parks in smart growth is the
creation of " eco-districts. " Here, parks and public
lands serve a functional purpose, almost as mini-utility
districts. Portland, Oregon, for example, is exploring
the idea of using public spaces and entire neighborhoods as self-regenerating sources of energy and producers of additional environmental benefits.
This could also mean using parkland as a ground
source for community-based heat pumps, constructing wetlands as filtration systems for treating
gray water from communities, using public lands to
36	 Parks & Recreation

JUNE 2010

www.NRPA .ORG

provide biological filtration systems composed of
advanced wetlands, hydroponic tanks, and ponds
for tertiary-quality treatment of sewage and wastewater. Using parks and public lands to implement
these ideas could provide far smarter, and less expensive, growth potential than current, expensive
methods of underground piping and massive pumping stations that transport wastewater miles from
sites where they are generated for off-site treatment
and disposal.
Guenther speculates that parks could even contribute to the creation of " climate-benefit districts, "
or overlay zones that allow off-the-grid solutions
to improving air quality and reducing energy use.
Developers would enjoy such benefits as fast-tracking, tax-credits, and other means of incentivizing
smart growth when the net benefits for reducing infrastructure costs, improving air quality, or providing other measurable environmental benefits can
be demonstrated.
Smart growth, say some proponents, provides
all the things you might want to do without having
to drive to them. What better places are there to get
healthy, visit with friends and neighbors, and enjoy
the beauty and benefits of nature and the outdoors
than in a close-to-home public park? 
✹
RICHARD J. DOLESH is NRPA Chief of Public Policy.

Photo: Kyle Pietari

Volunteers plant wetland
grasses at Big Lake
lagoon in New Orleans
City Park. These plants
help to build a thriving
wetland ecosystem,
prevent erosion, and
beautify the park.

New Orleans' historic park refreshed and
revitalized using smart growth
June 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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