Will Six Flags site ever be developed? New Orleans officials tear apart new 700-page plan.

Developers working on the former Six Flags park in New Orleans East last month turned over a master plan aimed at convincing public officials they were ready to sign a lease and get to work.

But the head of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, the public body that controls the site and heads up smaller projects across the city, has panned the 700-page document, telling the Bayou Phoenix development group in a May 11 letter that a do-over is needed.

The disagreement is the latest stumbling block for the landmark project and represents a continuation of previous arguments between Bayou Phoenix and public officials. The two sides have struggled to get on the same page as to what they can reasonably expect of each other before work even begins.

The master plan, which consists mostly of market and environmental studies that Bayou Phoenix commissioned, omits financing details and plans for infrastructure and demolition, NORA Executive Director Brenda Breaux wrote in the letter.

Breaux told developers that those and other missing items are required under a separate development agreement, and that it was inappropriate to fill out the master plan with hundreds of pages of studies reproduced in their entirety.

Breaux also noted the document is riddled with typos and formatting inconsistencies that she said “obfuscates Bayou Phoenix’s decision making.” Section titles within the table of contents don’t match those within the document, for example, and there isn’t a single set of page numbers.

“Bayou Phoenix’s proposed development of the former Six Flags site is one of the most ambitious redevelopment projects ever planned in New Orleans,” Breaux wrote. “The presentation and polish of the Master Plan should rise to meet the scale and impact.”

Bayou Phoenix officials said in interviews that the criticism is unfounded, and that the document already includes the needed information. It shows a layout of the 227-acre site with acreage dedicated to certain facilities, along with conceptual renderings.

Some of what Breaux is asking for is impossible to provide without a lease in place, they said.

Businessman Troy Henry, a member of Bayou Phoenix, argued that NORA had done little to help developers get the project off the ground.

“Not one time have we spoken to one person with NORA who has ever said ‘What can we do to help make this happen?’” Henry said. “If we were Disney, or if we were Universal, or if we were some other firm, I don’t think it would be that same type of behavior.”

Developer defends Six Flags plan

The Six Flags park was once a regional tourist draw, and the significance of its long-awaited redevelopment is heightened by nearly two decades of commercial neglect in New Orleans East since Hurricane Katrina.

Several redevelopment plans have tanked since the hurricane forced the park to shutter for good. And while the Bayou Phoenix project nearly blew up last year during negotiations over a development agreement, the current project has gotten farther than past attempts.

Last month, Bayou Phoenix outlined plans for a water park, athletic facilities, hotels, a movie studio and other amenities to an audience of about 1,000 people at a community meeting. The next step is for NORA’s board to approve the master plan, followed by execution of a lease.

But that doesn’t appear likely anytime soon after Breaux said that the master plan as submitted is unacceptable and developers countered that they aren’t planning any substantial revisions.

“What they’ve submitted is missing some salient points and some cohesiveness,” Breaux said in an interview. “I would be derelict in my duty if I did not provide this level of review, and did not provide them with the guidance that has been entrusted with the NORA staff and board.”

Meanwhile, Bayou Phoenix leaders say they spent more than $1 million on the consulting studies, which are aimed at demonstrating the plans are feasible.

“Our plan is our plan. It’s what we shared with the public. It’s what we’ve spent going on two years putting together,” said Scott Hedlund of construction firm TKTMJ, Inc., a member of Bayou Phoenix.

Funding requests for Six Flags project in NOLA

Developers argue they can’t possibly provide some of what NORA is requiring at this point. Infrastructure and demolition plans, for example, necessitate analyses that developers believe the city should pay for. And they say financiers won’t commit to anything until a lease is signed.

“No one is even going to begin an underwriting process until we actually have control of land,” Henry said. “Without a lease, the project is dead.”

Henry said the analyses are needed to identify things like underground gas and telephone lines, and to determine what, if anything, on the site is salvageable. Those would be needed for any redevelopment, Henry said, and the city could have commissioned them long ago.

“How would you represent today, the current status of your infrastructure? The city doesn’t have a status. They can’t represent it to us. So we’ve got to go and discover it for ourselves,” Henry said.

Bayou Phoenix also wants the city to pay other costs — as much as $15 million — to make the land “developable,” Henry said. That includes all demolition work, wetlands mitigation and new drainage pumps to replace existing ones taken by thieves.

Bayou Phoenix’s request for city funding was conveyed by District E Council member Oliver Thomas, who has a business relationship with Henry. Thomas has a paid gig as a WBOK talk show host and the station is owned by Equity Media, whose owners include Henry.

Thomas said in a text message he is consulting with attorneys about recusing himself from future involvement with the Six Flags project, so “people can’t use that to attack the project.”

“The people in the East and the city deserve that project and whatever investment the developer and the city can make,” Thomas said.

Henry denied any conflict of interest. He said he is a minority owner in Equity Media, and suggested that it’s absurd to think Thomas’s gig influenced his advocacy.

New Orleans mayor responds

Still, Mayor LaToya Cantrell brushed off the funding request in a recent media briefing, noting the city had already put up $1 million for NORA to use for security, maintenance and other needs. Cantrell said she would consider additional investment in the future, but that Bayou Phoenix first needs to show financial capacity.

“This has now shifted to them. Show us who your partners are. Show us other financial commitments that you may have,” Cantrell said.

Cantrell reasoned the developers should be able close financing deals now because they have “site control.” Her comments illustrate how public officials and developers don’t see eye to eye on basic terminology.

Developers say site control only happens once a lease is signed. Cantrell’s spokesperson, John Lawson, said in an email that the existing development agreement “unequivocally” grants site control — even though it prohibits construction work without a lease.

The disagreement over terms is not trivial, since developers say a lease is needed to secure funding commitments. That, too, is an area of disagreement between developers and officials. Breaux said the development agreement should suffice.

“Some of the stuff that we’re asking for is pretty basic,” Breaux said. “There’s more work they need to do on this.”