Former state senator gets plan rolling for eco-park near pier
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Former La. Sen. A.G. Crowe has not forgotten about his proposal during the midst of the casino battle for Slidell to build something more family friendly out near Lake Pontchartrain.
Last year while the contentious fight waged for over 10 months about a proposed casino off the Oak Harbor exit off I-10 it raised the question of what else Slidell could do to add something new and special for the community to enjoy.
Crowe, who has headed multi-million dollar ideas and projects during his days in the Louisiana Legislature, went public during the early fall about an idea he envisioned to build a multi-use family park on Lake Pontchartrain, not far from where the casino was proposed.
Once the casino was defeated by parish voters in December, Crowe began to push his plan publicly with more enthusiasm, and now has a Go Fund Me account to raise $5,000 to get the ball rolling for Nature Island, a park to be built next to the current site of the St. Tammany Fishing Pier on Lake Pontchartrain.
The proposal from Crowe is for a nine-acre, eco-park that would include an incredible array of family friendly options. Among them are a lakeside park, beach, bike trail, a walking nature trail, a boardwalk to the fishing pier, separate crabbing pier, pavilion and stage, kids playground, boat launch, kayaking, paddleboat area, nature walk, marina, shops, food trucks, picnic shelters, a dog park and other amenities to go alongside the fishing pier.
“The term eco-park means it would be self-sustaining with a number of ways to bring in revenue without taxing residents in any way,” said Crowe. “We’ve barely gotten this off the ground and have a lot of positive response.”
Crowe came up for the idea last August and made a Facebook post that immediately garnered a lot of attention.
“We had 400 shares within a week, and if you consider how many people that ultimately can reach it would be over a million,” he said. “The bottom line is that once the proposal was put out there the people showed they are hungry for a venue that is not a casino.”
Crowe has already produced a video and artist renderings for the park after he opened it up to the public to receive suggestions. He was surprised at how many ideas he received, which led to the current plan with nearly 20 features.
“We had such a big response that at first we considered calling it Peoples Park,” he stated. “It’s still a work in progress and we aren’t saying this plan is set in stone, but the support to move forward is great. Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer, Councilman Bill Borchert and Parish Councilman Jake Airey, who represent that area, are among many who are behind it.”
Step number one is to secure the land for the park, but Crowe said that is already looking good since the parish owns 2.5 acres next to the pier, and the state owns other acreage next to I-10 that could be incorporated into the plan.
Crowe has a lot of experience from his Legislature days in securing lake bottom rights for communities to use and he anticipates doing that with the Department of Transportation (DOTD).
“This is very doable, and without taxing anyone,” he said. “There are several ways to bring in revenue from the park itself. There is a place near Metairie called Bonnabel Park that is similar to this and they have 12 sources of revenue from food trucks, plus sponsors for different aspects of the park.”
Crowe mentioned the idea that they could get corporations and area businesses to sponsor many features of the park, such as the stage, the bird and walking trails, crabbing pier, and more.
“The last resort here is a tax and we can do it without that,” he added. “The goal is to create it to be financially sustainable on its own.”
The Go Fund Me account is already at $3,000 raised out of the $5,000 goal, which will help pay for the current video and drawings, as well as creating a professional overview of the project so they can begin presenting it to the various funding sources.
Crowe believes the entire park plan can be ready to be built within one year.
“The people have spoken loud and clear about this,” he said. “We can reclaim water bottoms for free or a very low, long-term lease and for the first time, we will have direct access to the lake and enjoy all the amenities, or simply watch the sun rise or the sun set.”