LAFAYETTE, La. — Over at Brown Park on Pont des Mouton Road, a recent cut down of its construction leaves one council member concerned over its future.
“But now downgrading it. I don’t know what it's going to look like, and the community is concerned,” says Elroy Broussard, city council member in District 1.
The two-phase $36 million investment is getting a cutback to now one phase that will cost $15 million instead.
In a statement to KATC, Mayor-President Monique Blanco-Boulet says:
Brown Park is a highly used park by the local community, who enjoy the dog park, walking trails, and ball fields. The initial plan would have taken daily access away from residents who live in the area. The community will now have the best of both worlds: four tournament-ready fields, walking trails, and a dog park to enjoy.”
Broussard says he's been receiving calls about the change and is not sure why it needed to happen in the first place.
“We were hoping this renovation would make it bigger and better. We always need some improvements, but before the construction began, we had six baseball fields, a newly constructed board room, and an updated concession stand,” he says.
This park hits home for Broussard after seeing his children and grandchildren playing in these fields. He was even a coach himself.
“It's home to a lot of people throughout the years. We had a lot of success come through this park; we had some young men and women who went on to be successful citizens and professionals, and they got a lot of memories. It means a lot, Brown Park means a lot to the community, especially for the Northside of town,”
With the cutback of the Brown Park Baseball and Softball Super Complex and with phase one still set to finish by the end of this year, Broussard hopes that once completed, residents of Lafayette can enjoy the park once again.
“I think the question is, why did we completely tear the park up? Not to be useful for two or three years instead of doing it in certain portions. You do this today and do this later, they totally took the park out of the community, and they are afraid that it won’t come back," Broussard said.
