From trash to ‘front porch’: Inside plans to create Jackson’s Riverfront Park

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A landfill shut down more than 50 years ago could soon be transformed into Jackson’s “front porch” — an open gathering space for concerts, festivals, and community events along the Pearl River.

The city of Jackson and the Jackson River District Partnership are preparing to raise funds for the proposed 30-acre Riverfront Park, a green space planned for a section of the river near the intersection of South Jefferson Street and Old Brandon Road.

The project is currently in the planning and fundraising phase, with construction dependent on raising the necessary money and securing required permits.

Supporters view the project as the ideal way to revitalize acreage that has sat largely vacant, occupied only by a few city-owned buildings.

Travis Crabtree, an urban designer and landscape architect with Tree Urban Design, said the park is the perfect fit for the site, explaining that the environmental history there makes it unsuitable for standard commercial or residential development.

“It’s not in Northeast Jackson. It’s not really in South Jackson, West Jackson. It’s really in the very middle point of where the city sort of begins if [you] were to draw it from a protractor,” he said. “It’s also got a lot of historical value. Louis LeFleur, this is one of the first points that he navigated and came up the bluff when he was sort of discovering Jackson.”

Crabtree spoke to WLBT inside a meeting room at The Plant, where he showcased several artist renderings of the proposed park, which is expected to include an amphitheater, scenic overlook, walking trails, and a boat ramp.

The boat ramp is perhaps one of the park’s most important features, because it will bridge a longstanding gap between residents and the waterway.

“Right now, the Pearl River runs 22 miles through the whole city of Jackson, and Jacksonians don’t have any free public access points that they can come to,” he said. “The main objective of the project is to connect downtown Jackson to the Pearl River and really create public access.”

The push for the park fits into a decades-long effort by local leaders to open up the river for recreation and economic growth, dating back to the early days of the Two Lakes and One Lake Project.

In 2024, a bipartisan alliance of business and civic leaders known as the Pearl River Revitalization Coalition came out in support of a major flood control plan, in part, because it would provide expanded access to the river.

[READ: Business leaders come together to back Pearl River flood control project]

That project has yet to be approved by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. And some fear that even after its approval, the project could be tied up for years in the court system.

The park, on the other hand, doesn’t require U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval, with exposure to contaminants addressed by the construction of a “clay cap” over the landfill.

That cap, in turn, will serve as an overlook giving visitors a new view of the city and river.

“This isn’t going to actually impact the river itself,” Crabtree said. “Really, the main folks that will need to be involved are NRCS and sort of from a soil standpoint.”

The Natural Resources Conservation Service offers programs to reduce soil erosion, enhance water supplies, and increase wildlife habitat.

Ted Fortenberry, general manager of WLBT and a member of the board of directors for the River District Partnership, said WLBT got involved in the project to revitalize the area.

WLBT is located on South Jefferson, directly across from the park. The station has already worked with the city to do some initial cleaning and clearing along the roadway in front of the station.

“We have over 100 employees who work right here at the corner of Jefferson Street and Silas Brown, and we want the area around us to look great,” he said. “If our employees come to work and they experience something beautiful, and can look over the river, and they’re proud of where they go to work, then that’s good for our employees, [and] it’s also good for the city of Jackson.”

The latest effort is not the first time local leaders have studied creating a park at the site. Crabtree said the concept originally dates back to former Jackson Mayor Kane Ditto, who served from 1989 to 1997.

Later, in 2005, an assessment of the “LeFleur’s Bluff Landing Site” was conducted by PPM Consultants for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

According to a copy of that assessment, which has been posted on the Pearl Riverkeeper website, the property served as a landfill for the city from “approximately 1900 through 1970.” It also was home to a city maintenance garage, animal control facility, asphalt plant, paint shop, and other facilities.

At the time, the report stated that due to the presence of lead and other hazardous wastes, excavation was not possible.

Instead, consultants suggested a “one-foot clay cap... to be installed over the entire site to prevent exposure to impacted soils and subsurface vapors.”

Crabtree said talks were already ongoing with developers about potential in-kind donations to provide the clay, saying many developers are looking for places to take it.

In all, improvements at the park are expected to cost under $2 million. The partnership is coordinating fundraising efforts as part of a memorandum of understanding with the city. The City Council approved the memorandum in August.

Riverfront Park at a glance:

• Estimated cost: $1M to $2M for the first phase
• Raised so far: Approximately $500K
• Fundraising began: Early 2026
• Target construction start date: Late 2027

As part of the memorandum, the partnership will obtain and maintain any permits needed for the project, including those that would be required under the Clean Water Act, and liability insurance coverage. The group also will indemnify the city from any liability related to the project.

Council Vice President Kevin Parkinson supported the MOU and said the park is something everyone can get excited about.

“You can’t put a hotel there, a restaurant there, an office park there... but that doesn’t mean the property should go to waste,” he said. “So, using it as a green space, as a spot connected to nature, I think is the best possible use of that.”

Parkinson especially likes the fact that the park will have a boat ramp. There is currently only one ramp to the river in Jackson, located at Mayes Lake, and visitors must pay to access it.

The councilman says people are likely taking more interest in the river and having access to it due to the “huge success” of the city’s trail system.

“The Museum Trail is widely used and is incredibly successful. And that trail is being extended to go right there... So, I think it’s taken a spot that maybe has already had potential and already had people [wanting] to do things with it, and really put the spotlight on it,” he said.

The Museum Trail originally ran from LeFleur’s Bluff State Park to the intersection of Spengler Street and Madison Street. The trail is now being extended south along Commerce Street, with additional plans in the works to take it west to Jackson State University.

“We’re starting now to be able to link people by pedestrian, by bicycle, those sort of ways in addition to a car,” said Chief Administrative Officer Pieter Teeuwissen. “And that’s really how forward-thinking cities are looking at things, whether they’re here or over there in Europe.”

Teeuwissen likes the park because it likely could be built sooner than a flood control project, and for a significantly lower cost.

The outgoing CAO said leaders have been debating flood control options for more than four decades, dating back to Shoccoe Dam, an unpopular idea proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1985.

Since then, he said multiple flood control proposals have been brought forward, with the latest lake proposal still being reviewed by federal officials.

“As opposed to the lake, this project is not seeking to disturb habitats. It’s really seeking to expand our front lawn into the habitat that naturally exists,” Teeuwissen said. “We don’t think that’s as heavy a lift as people who are not experts in this area might think it is.”

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