A plan for a new ballpark in Des Allemands is finally coming to fruition after its location and other obstacles caused controversy for nearly four years.
Last week, the parish council began accepting bids from contractors willing to do the work and get the park built.
The lowest bid for the 1.76-acre park, which will be constructed on J.B. Green Road in Des Allemands, was by Civil Construction in Hahnville, with a bid of $141,941.75.
Yet, regardless of the parish’s will to progress forward with the project, area residents are concerned that this particular ballpark will not live up to its potential.
“I really think that a ballpark in Des Allemands is a great idea, but it is crazy to put a place for children to play in the middle of a crime-infested area,” said 15-year Bayou Gauche resident Diana Laing. “I will never bring my grandchild to play in an area that has so much drugs and crime going on.
“I think that the main thing to be concerned about when building a place for children to play should be how safe the area is that surrounds it.”
And Des Allemands resident Amanda Vanacor agrees.
“This park will be somewhere for the drug dealers to make their hustle when it is supposed to be a place for children to enjoy,” she said. “There is no way that I would allow my children to be around that atmosphere.
“Why waste our tax dollars on a place for the drug dealers and gangsters to deal drugs? What kind of parish do we live in?”
Vanacor adds that she would rather see money put into the park on WPA Road because there kids can play and not have to worry about being influenced by the drug dealers.
And although most others who live in Des Allemands feel the same way, parish officials say that the land has already been purchased and a park will be erected.
The J.B. Green Road project includes a small baseball field, a basketball court and a gravel parking area. The approved contractor would have 120 calendar days to complete the work once the parish gives it the notice to proceed with construction.
Parish Councilman Paul Hogan introduced an ordinance to accept Civil Constructors’ bid at the council’s Jan. 20 meeting. A vote on the measure will be taken at the Feb. 2 meeting.
Many Des Allemands residents have been waiting for a ballpark, noting that most other areas throughout the parish have neighborhood playgrounds.
“Just like all other parish residents, we need a park in Des Allemands,” Joey Cortez said. “And hopefully the park will help to clean up the area by bringing new people onto the block and get more patrolling from the sheriff’s office.”
The story of the park is one with many facets that has been on the council’s drawing board for several years.
Before Hogan was elected as councilman, he opposed the parish’s purchase of the land from Justice of the Peace L.J. Frickey, citing that the property was too small for a ballfield and poorly drained. But the council voted to buy the land for $32,800 in January 2005.
Following a title dispute that spanned two years, plans to prepare the J.B. Green Road site for construction were irrevocably set and stated that 4,000 cubic yards of fill were required to build the land up to par.
Recreation director Duane Foret said the playgroud will be an asset to the area and hopes that the community forms a booster club to help maintain that park.
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