Fifty one residents attended the spillway meeting and the first draft of the plan will be complete by August. The final plan should be complete by October.
Better restroom facilities, a monster truck riding area and more park ranger patrols all appeared on a wish list for residents who attended
“The master plan for the spillway was done in 1998,” Chris Brantley, operations manger of the spillway, said. “We typically update our plans every five years, but after Katrina we ran behind a bit. Now, it’s time to get the public’s comments and the new plans up and running again.”
Brantley says that although placing bathroom facilities topped the resident’s wish list, it could be a challenge.
“If we have to open the structure again, like we did this year, we wouldn’t want the bathrooms to float to the top and hit the bridge and cause structural damage,” he said. “Right now, there are port-a-pottys for people to use, but we are looking into accommodating those who requested bathroom facilities.”
Currently, recreational activities at the spillway include hunting, fishing, ATV riding, camping, cycling, archery, crawfishing and horseback riding.
Brantley says creating the master plan will cost $300,000.
A new master plan is coming just in time, since the number of visitors to the spillway has increased this year. In April, 80,000 people visited the spillway. In May, there were 60,000 visitors.
“Those numbers so far have more than doubled,” he said. “In April last year 36,000 people came to the spillway and in May there were only 29,000.
“In 2007, 300,000 visitors came to the spillway,” he continued. “With the numbers we have so far that total could double.”
Corps members from the headquarters in Washington, D.C., will come to the spillway to help Brantley and officials from the New Orleans office put the master plan together.
“We took the questionnaires that residents filled out at the meeting and we compiled them,” he said. “One of the requests from the study in 1998 was to add park rangers, and we did that.”
Brantley says that they are looking at getting a new office location for the rangers that patrol the spillway.
“We want to separate the activities for the residents too,” he said. “For example, we have people who ride horses on the spillway that conflict with the ones on four-wheelers.”
Brantley says the four-wheelers frighten the horses so a separate riding area is needed.
“We want the public to email their comments to the website,” Brantley said.
Residents will have until mid-July to post their suggestions regarding the master plan. The comments can be posted at www.mvn.uscae.army.mil on the spillway page.
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