LAFAYETTE, La. — The much anticipated expansion of Graham Brown Memorial Park is finally becoming a reality, bringing new amenities to the Northside community.
After several months of construction, the park is showing progress, so far the park has added:
- Four tournament-level baseball and softball fields
- An extended walking path/trail
- 3 pavilions throughout the park
- 5 park benches
- Extending the size of dog park that will also have separate sections for both small and large dogs
- A new concession building
KATC met with Tim Sensley, Director of Parks, Arts, Recreation and Culture about the progress and how the project will be exactly what the Northside community needs, despite its original plans to be converted into a baseball and softball super complex in the previous administration.
"We didn’t lose the vital part of having a community park, so that way we can give them the best of both worlds. If we made it into a mega park than about 80-95 percent of the park would have been consumed with just baseball and softball fields," says Sensley.
Christian Zenon, a local resident is happy with the progress and the size.
"Downsizing is never a bad thing," Zenon remarked. "You never want to jump the gun so when it comes to a budget and preparing for that you don't want to overspend and not get the response you want. You can always grow it doesn't need to be huge, you can start small and grow."
One another neighbor, Nureaka Ross wished the park would've stayed more closely to its original plans.
"I'm happy as a resident to have something new, it's exciting to see the growth in the area but I am still slightly disappointed because I know what the plan would’ve been and I was excited to see a potential sports complex in the area," she says. "We saw what it did to Youngsville and in other cities and it increased business, growth and opportunities. So I would’ve liked to see it here especially located off the interstate."
To read our past stories on this, click here and here.
The expansion is expected to be completed this fall. To see the past plan under the Guillory administration and current plan under the Boulet administration, see below:
