Once again, St. Charles Parish will submit a grant application for $150,000 in federal funding to get started on Rathborne Park, which will include a baseball field, sand volleyball court and playground equipment.
Last year, the parish’s funding application for the park, which will be located south of Lakewood Ridge Estates at the end of Lakewood Drive in Luling, ranked sixth out of 19 applications. The Land and Water Conservation Fund only funded the top four applicants.
The grant, along with $150,000 of parish matching funds, would not only cover the cost of a baseball field, sand volleyball court and playground equipment for residents living in the Willowdale and Lakewood subdivisions, but would also cover design plans, site preparation and a parking lot. In addition, the park will also have bike racks, bleachers, two pavilions, picnic tables, barbeque grills, fitness stations, park benches and a mini-basketball court – all covered with the grant.
If the application is successful, the parish will match the funds with subdivision fees taken from the developers of subdivisions near the park.
While the parish will have to wait a little longer to find out if they receive those funds, they have already secured $90,385 through the Louisiana Recreational Trails Program.
“That money will be used to construct a walking/jogging trail in Rathborne Park,” Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said.
Ten percent fund matching is required.
“The parish is in the process of obtaining letters of certification from various federal and state agencies that are required prior to gaining authorization to begin the project,” Grants Officer Holly Fonseca said. “Once authorization is obtained to begin the project, the parish will contract to have the project plans designed.
“When the design plans are complete, the project will be advertised for bid.”
The parish will re-apply for the Land and Water Conservation Fund this month. Last year, because the walking and jogging trails planned for Rathborne Park are not within viewing distance of waterways, the project did not score as high as other applications.
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