Design already in place for park in Willowridge, Lakewood

There are many places for kids to play in St. Charles Parish, but the Luling subdivisions of Lakewood and Willowridge aren’t one of them, even though both subdivisions have a very healthy population of school-aged children.

The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office has been called on numerous occasions because children were playing where they weren’t wanted, including the golf course and woods surrounding the neighborhood.

But it looks like things are about to change.
"We are trying to get something done to service the Willowdale and Willowridge communities," Duane Foret, parks and recreation director, said. "Wetlands are not an issue as far as getting permits."

St. Charles Parish has received a permit from the Corps of Engineers for site preparation and a design is already in place for a park to service the Lakewood and Willowridge area subdivisions.

"We have a plan to evaluate the whole parish to seek the recreational needs of all citizens living in the community," he said. “There are 37 parks in St. Charles Parish maintained by parks and recreation staff. We know that in the past developers donated money instead of land in the subdivisions, but that's about to change."

Though developers are required to donate land or money for recreational uses, the donated land is sometimes too small to meet recreational needs. Those needs include play spots for young children, as well as larger recreation areas that can handle football and baseball games for teens and young adults.

Foret said his department is developing its priorities in conjunction with  revisiting the parish land-use study and aggressively looking to secure land for future growth.
"We always get a lot of complaints about too few parks," he said. "Residents living in Montz also want a park and so do people living in St. Rose."