State Representative Stephanie Hilferty, who is a Commercial Real Estate Agent, has introduced House Bill 654 to convert approximately 4.3 acres of West End Lakeshore Park which adjoins, and four acres of a habitat for pelicans and other wildlife into commercial development.  This habitat and 1.3 acres of the park to be commercially developed are in Jefferson Parish. 

 Since 2022, The Hayride has been covering efforts by elected and appointed officials to develop West End Lakeshore Park. 

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HB 654 bill amends ACT 152, which Hilferty introduced in 2019. ACT 152 was challenged by residents opposing the commercialization of West End Lakeshore Park and the wildlife habitat. Hilferty’s ACT 152 of 2019 omitted mention of ACT 209 of 1906 and Act 9 of 1910. In 2022, residents discovered  ACTS 209 and 9 and used them to stop development of West End Lakeshore Park.  

ACT 209 created the lease from the State of Louisiana to the City of New Orleans and specified the area.  Six times in the two-paragraph act it states, “Public Park or Amusement Park.”  Text from the ACT reads: “That in order to provide a public park or an amusement park on Lake Pontchartrain at West End the following described lands …. are hereby dedicated to the people of the City of New Orleans for public use for Public Park or Amusement Park purposes.” 

Later in ACT 209 it reads, “dedicated and used exclusively for improvement and betterment of the Property hereby dedicated to Public Park and Amusement Park purposes.”  

ACT 9 of 1910 names the Public Park as West End Lakeshore Park.  Section 8 limits how revenue raised in the park can be used: “The annual net earnings shall thereafter be applied to enlarging and further embellishing that said park.” 

Hilferty’s HB 654 Bill to her state legislative colleagues avoids using the words: “West End Lakeshore Park.” In addition, The City Council of New Orleans has been going out of its way to avoid letting the public know the area to be developed has been referred to as West End Lakeshore Park since 1910. 

One reason not to mention West End Lakeshore Park in the bill is informing the public, the State’s Natural Resources Committee, and the legislature of the intent to convert a waterfront park into commercial buildings, when such action goes against New Orleans’ recently released Parks Report, and the mission statement of The Natural Resource might get the bill defeated.

Especially when 94% of the 231 people taking an online survey in your district oppose developing West End Lakeshore Park. 

The area to be developed was first a Grand Terrace Area, where in the 1930s over 5,500 Rose Bushes were planted. Later it became a lawn and finally a parking lot. Parks For All has proposed the area be returned to being a lawn and moving the parking lot to the East Side of West Roadway at the Marina.  

Removing the park from being on the water eliminates the ability to receive state and federal grants for waterfront parks. For instance, $50 million is available for projects on Lake Pontchartrain from the 2021 Infrastructure Act. Other potential programs include The Land and Water Conservation Fund, Recreational Trails, and The Outdoor Recreational Legacy Partnership Program. 

Section 8 of ACT 9 states that earnings are to be used to better the park. However, the CEA created by Hilferty’s 2019 ACT 152 calls for a split revenue to go to New Orleans and Jefferson Parish and will thus take revenue out of the park. 

Park residents were disappointed to learn that the recently passed New Orleans Parks for All tax does not include West End Lakeshore Park. 

Hilferty did not mention her intentions on developing West End Lakeshore Park and refused an invitation to debate on WDSU’s Hot Seat by Travis Mackel.  

Residents have formed the West End Lakeshore Park Civic Association to oppose HB 654 and advocate for wildlife conservation and recreation. 

A better solution is for the state to put the 1.3 acres of land on the Jefferson Parish side of West End Lakeshore Park in a preserve to promote its parks system, and save and enhance the pelican pod to allow locals to apply for grants to add a bike path and recreation like Bocce Courts.  

In February and early March emails were sent to Rep Hilferty, she did not respond.