Baton Rouge wants its park back
Survey says: People want more nature, less golf
A survey on City-Brooks Park is in—and it tells a story about what Baton Rouge wants from its biggest green space.
The numbers: BREC's planning consultant Sasaki drew 1,084 responses to a public survey on the City-Brooks Park master plan—the process guiding the future of the vast park straddling Dalrymple Drive near LSU.
Clear ask: Respondents want the park to feel like one connected place, not a collection of unrelated destinations. Greenway trail connectivity was the top desire at 59%. Safer crossings on Dalrymple—widely described as a dangerous barrier between the east and west sides—showed up in more than 30 open-ended comments.
Nature rules: Enhancing ecology ranked first among all design priorities, with 49% requesting pollinator gardens and a third each calling for restored waterways, educational nature trails and more tree canopy.
Golf stays, probably: Sasaki's read on the most contested question—what to do with the golf course—is to keep it but shrink its footprint and add programming. The consultant stopped short of recommending removal.
Join the club: Respondents overwhelmingly want a coffee shop (62%) and restaurant (39%) over a traditional golf clubhouse. A publicly accessible gathering space, not a single-sport facility.
The bottom line: Sasaki's summary puts it plainly: dream big, be bold, then make it happen. Whether BREC and the city have the appetite to match that ambition is the story that follows.
See the survey here.
(Our mistake: An earlier version of this story published the incorrect acreage for City-Brooks Park. Apologies.)
