As construction is going on for the new skate park at Thomas Park, the public worries where Lafayette Consolidated Government stands with Brown Park developments.

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – As construction is going on for the new skate park at Thomas Park, the public worries where Lafayette Consolidated Government stands with Brown Park developments.

Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet says they are not stopping any of the construction, and are moving forward with phase one. Phase one will have four tournament-ready fields. “What we're doing is asking the architects and the contractors when we complete phase one, that the whole park is usable and functional,” said Boulet. “One of the things that I think we're also going back to consider is the usability for the residents and for the people who live around the park, who use it for walking trails, for the dog park,” says Mayor-President Boulet.

She said if the park phase one and two is constructed then the community loses the community park function. “We're going to go ahead and complete phase one in a way that the entire park is complete so that the community function can come back into use and exactly what that looks like I'll tell you, we're waiting on drawings from the architect and then we're going to go out and have a public meeting around Brown Park,” said Boulet.

Furthermore, the Mayor-President suggested what the park would look like if pavilions were built in. “Would the community use the park more if we had some pavilions? What are some other amenities that they might be interested in so that when we complete phase one, it really is the best of both worlds? It's the tournament-ready fields. We will have four very nice turf and two baseball fields, and then the rest of the park will be built for community use,” she said.

Boulet stresses she wants to keep the community access to the park which wasn’t available with the former Mayor-President Josh Guillory’s administration plan.

“The previous administration wanted to do was to build a mega park and potentially outsource the management of it to a private company. So what that means is when it's not in tournament use, it's locked down and really the design layout consumed most of the real estate of the park. So that's where you lose the community access to the park,” she explained. “That's one of the things we are looking at. How do we have both? How do we have those tournament-ready fields, which we will have four very nice fields as well as community use and I think that's the big difference is, you know, do we need another mega baseball facility in Lafayette Parish? We have several really nice ones and so it's really kind of a duplicative service we’re building and I think our parks really provide a quality of life that the citizens that live around them want and so I want to balance it. I want to consider both the baseball demands as well as the community needs and I think that's where this plan gives us both of those considerations.”

News 10 asked about the concerns if there were concerns about too much money being spent on Brown Park and she answered, “Well, we don’t actually have the money identified. The 14 million for phase one is not actually in the budget, and we're having to pull that money from different sources and phase two money is not identified anywhere else. So we're not taking money away from it. It's allocating money that we have or don't have and so we are still working to identify the funds. We'll probably have to bond out funds just to do phase one. So, the funds for the entire thing were never identified or located.”

Moving in how things are looking in the new skate park at Thomas Park. Timothy Sensley, the new Director of Parks, Arts, Recreation, & Culture, said there was a lot of rain in January but work is progressing with the skate park and things are on track to be finished toward the summertime. He shared his excitement. “It’s going to bring forth just a new level of energy for the skate lovers and skate advocates. It also gives an avenue for not just skateboarders but someone can get in with roller skates and things of that nature. It just brings in a whole new atmosphere here in our community,” says Sensley.

He thanks the people who help facilitate the day-to-day operation of the park from the site directors to the maintenance crew, and maintenance supervisor. He expressed everyone plays a vital role in keeping everything functional as they do construction on-site.

“New director here, a lot of things going on, and a lot of open projects. So we're trying to make sure that we give our citizens and our community the biggest bang for their buck. Also, listen to the needs that they have and make sure it is something that they're advocating for and something they want that can be of service to them and likewise, figure out ways that we can meet, the needs of our community,” he concluded.

The Mayor-President said crews are trying to get the grass planted so Brown Park phase one can be done by springtime. There will be a public meeting next month to further discuss Brown Park developments.

Latest Stories