Maintaining an excellent parks system dedicated to fulfilling the community’s vision takes time, resources and patience. But every year, BREC demonstrates its commitment to quality with the completion or continuation of new projects throughout East Baton Rouge Parish that have been shaped by community feedback. Here’s a taste of what’s happening now.
• The first phase of the $40 million Baton Rouge Zoo renovation reopens this spring, with a new Jurassic Park-inspired entrance and a giraffe feeding station that brings guests closer than ever to these majestic animals.
• A new Baton Rouge Zoo entrance through Greenwood Community Park, a multi-use site that is also seeing major improvements, including a $1 million wild animal-themed playground to open this spring, and a $5 million watershed grant that will dredge and deepen its recreational lake.
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Ashley Thibodeaux
Sharing snacks at BREC Baton Rouge Zoo's brand-new giraffe feeding station
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Heavy hitter at BREC tennis tournament
• A new master plan to continue improvements to the vibrant, family-friendly Anna T. Jordan Community Park.
• An exciting new vision for Howell Community Park, which was badly flooded in 2016. Thanks to additional funding partners, the park will soon feature a state-of-the-art recreation center for youth, swimming pool and pool house, football field, basketball gym, a recording studio, video game room and more.
• A new interpretive center at the Frenchtown Conservation Area, BREC’s largest park. Covering nearly 500 acres, the bottomland hardwood forest is considered a rare or imperiled habitat and is home to diverse flora and fauna including countless species of migratory birds.
• Future construction of the parish’s 13th community park: Airline Highway Community Park. Public meetings and more than 780 online responses helped mold this master plan, which includes a new recreation center, disaster management safe room, greenway trail, refurbished pond with kayak launch, dog park, splash pad and more. Construction will begin in 2025.
These projects and others were driven by community feedback during BREC’s Imagine Your Parks 1 & 2. Visit Imagine Your Parks 3 to provide your thoughts about the park system’s future today.
