As BREC management begins the process of reimagining the future of the sprawling 660-acre Greenwood Park in north Baton Rouge—which is home to the Baton Rouge Zoo and two golf courses—BREC Commissioner Davis Rhorer says one idea he’d like to see added to the list of possibilities is some sort of residential development in the park.
“With that size property you could build new neighborhoods,” says Rhorer, who is also executive director of the Downtown Development District. “There is a lot of woods and it’s a really beautiful property that could be a new type of residential environment for Baton Rouge. This is the time to vision the possibilities so we need to think outside the box.”
BREC shifted its focus to Greenwood Park this week when it revived discussions about the possibility of moving the zoo, which is located on 147 acres in the middle of the park. A 2015 feasibility study recommended relocating the zoo, a move favored by BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight but opposed by some advocates for north Baton Rouge. McKnight has said her plans for transforming Greenwood would generate more economic development for the community than the zoo does.
Whether BREC ultimately transforms the park into the kind of regional attraction favored by McKnight or keeps the zoo at its current location and upgrades it, Rhorer believes BREC needs to start thinking outside the box about ways to redevelop the park and transform it into an asset that can have a bigger impact on the community.
“There are all sorts of interesting things we could do there,” he says. “When you look around at communities being developed in other parts of the country they take advantage of natural habitats like this.”
Though legal issues would have to be addressed before BREC could develop single family homes in a park, Rhorer says he’s confident the agency could enter into some sort of cooperative endeavor agreement with a private developer.
Rhorer’s suggestion initially came during Thursday night’s meeting of the BREC board of commissioners, at which McKnight presented her ideas for what could be done at Greenwood Park if the Baton Rouge Zoo is moved to a new location. The conceptual plan for Greenwood includes new soccer fields, picnic grounds, green space, walking and horseback riding trails, an amusement park, water park and adventure playground and would cost some $40 million over several years.
McKnight said at Thursday’s meeting she is open to exploring residential development and thinks it would be well-received by residents of the surrounding area.
“We believe the people around the three sides of that property would love that idea,” she says.
BREC has created an online survey to determine what people would like to see at Greenwood in the future. She is encouraging the public to respond.
—Stephanie Riegel
