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On Stands Now!
On Stands Now!

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BREC dreams up a redesigned Greenwood Park and zoo access

  • By Benjamin Leger

One of the city’s largest public green spaces is on track to become an outdoor wonderland. That’s if residents can agree on what they want to see at Greenwood Community Park.

In early May, BREC unveiled three potential designs for the park at two public meetings and asked for residents’ feedback.

The designs each have a theme—culture, recreation and nature, respectively—but all of them seek to move the zoo’s southern entrance at Thomas Road to the north side of the zoo near Greenwood Lake, creating a central hub for most activities in the park.

Each design also proposes eliminating the 18-hole Dumas Memorial Golf Course—one of two golf courses at the site—and incorporating the existing nine holes at J.S. Clark Golf Course into the plans.

While each redesign leans on its respective themes and makes use of nearly every corner of the property, BREC doesn’t expect residents to choose just one layout. “They can mix and match what they like from each one,” BREC spokeswoman Cheryl Michelet says.

BREC expects to unveil its final master plan in July, including projected costs of the project’s phases. The first phase likely will focus on moving the zoo’s entrance and creating a new road and parking lots. brec.org

THREE DIRECTIONS

Boston’s Sasaki Associates and New Orleans firm Torre Design Consortium worked on these designs for Greenwood Community Park, each with a different theme.

• EBR’s Heart

This redesign proposes transforming Greenwood into a cultural hub by expanding the lake and dotting its shores with waterfront restaurants, a massive outdoor music venue, an adventure playground, a network of trails and more. A kayak rental hub would give visitors the chance to explore the much larger lake and its smaller ponds.

• Braided Bayou

Recreation is the focus of this redesign plan, with a large sports complex of baseball diamonds, soccer fields and more making use of the park’s green space. The more adventure-minded recreationalists could try out a zipline trail, a rock climbing wall and plenty of multiuse trails skirting the restored bayous in this plan.

• Eco Constellation

The natural landscape is the star of this redesign, with areas devoted to forest adventures like biking and camping, an observation tower, an eco education center and treetop ziplines. New waterways jutting off the main lake would create opportunities for kayaking, fishing and more.

This article was originally published in the June 2019 issue of 225 Magazine.


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