New images for planned upgrades at Buddy Prejean, JD Clifton, Columbus Circle and Huber parks were unveiled to area residents Wednesday afternoon — all part of enhancements made possible through the passage of the LC Rebound bond proposal in November 2023.

Michael Castille, director of community services for the city, said the projects are in the final design phase with construction set to get underway within the summer months.

Huber Park

“Huber Park is a great neighborhood park that brings a lot of kids and also Mid City Little League plays here,” Castille said. “But because it’s an older park, what made sense at one point in time when they played only a few games here doesn’t make sense any more.”

Initially, the park had just two ballfields. That was expanded to four regulation-sized fields and two youth-sized fields.

“More ballfields means more traffic and the need for more parking,” Castille said. “When you start parking down the street, it effects area residents. A park should not be a negative asset, it should be beneficial.”

To alleviate some of that pressure for neighbors, the city plans to bring the parking off the street and into the park with a 35-lot space built at the corner of 4th Avenue and Orchard Street.

The playground currently sitting in that corner will be moved further into the park.

Columbus Circle Park

Columbus Circle Park is home to the Boys and Girls Club of Acadiana.

“There’s 45 kids now — there’s actually more but since the building can’t hold more than 45 kids at a time they have to alternate the kids who can come in,” Castille said. “Their waiting list is 60. They have more on their waiting list than they can actually serve.”

The bond will allow expansion of the building to include a second activity room, more storage and a larger observation room.

“There’s a few things the architect is still trying to figure out — like how close the building can come to the road, the true occupancy (rate with the new expansion), and what the building is required to have,” he said.

Castille said he’s hoping the expansion will allow the children on the current waiting list to be included in the program.

“But I’m nervous because the expansion also allows us to expand the age range up to 14, 15, 16, even 18, which means we can expand our grab, but that means it could expand our waiting list,” he said. “I spoke to several kids who are in the program who are on a better path because of it. They’re doing a great job here so there’s a real need for more space.

“I wish it could be four stories and so much more, but we’re working toward that,” he said with a laugh.

Castille said a lot of children depend on the Boys and Girls Club for warm meals.

“For a lot of these kids, their last meal was at school,” he said. “They do, in fact, in this neighborhood go home hungry.”

Tutoring and after-school programs are also offered there.

Buddy Prejean Park

The LC Rebound bond project will also allow ballfield enhancements at Buddy Prejean Park.

The two, 250-feet ballfield park previously hosted Mid City Little League, but now the fields aren’t used.

Catille said Brossett Architect has found their niche with ballfield design and are going to create high school-level regulation fields at 350 feet for both baseball and softball games.

“There is a shortage of high school-sized fields in the area,” Castille said. “Lake Charles College Prep does not have a field, LaGrange does not have a field, Hamilton does not have a field. The schools share Legion Field and some of them play their home games in Sulphur. It bothers me that they are based in Lake Charles and have to drive out of the city to play.”

The first phase of the enhancements will be fencing and lighting.

The master plan will also include a splash pad.

“A splash pad fits here because the nearest splash pad is Ward 3 or Millennium Park,” he said. “There’s a need because it gets so hot here in Southwest Louisiana and this is realistic for someone to get to from a car, a bike or by walking.”

The LC Rebound money will start the project, and money from the city’s capital outlay budget as well as Community Development Block Grant funding will pay to complete it.

JD Clifton Park

A putting green course and botanical garden is being added to JD Clifton Park.

Two adjudicated parcels the city acquired in 2023 will allow the park to expand, Castille said.

“We have natural parks in Tuten Park, which was at one time supposed to be a pine savannah before Hurricanes Rita and Laura altered that; Riverside Park, which has cypress trees and palmettos; and Hillcrest is a bioswale,” he said. “We’re trying one more natural park within this park.”

He said as visitors walk into the park, they will see vegetation surrounding them.

“It’s not a Shangri La, but it’s similar to where you have little pockets of different vegetation that you could go out there as part of a field trip and learn about it,” Castille said.

There will be two types of playgrounds at the facility — one for the younger children and one for the older.

Berms will also separate the park from the noises of roaring 18-wheelers on the nearby Interstate 10.

Castille said the putting green course was selected for this park “because it’s very important not to be disenfranchised at any part of Lake Charles for the community with our golf course.”

Mallard Golf Course used to be more centrally located and since it was moved to MorganField it’s “in a very select corner of a very big city.”

“If we say, ‘Hey, we want you to be able to play golf,’ accessibility is typically the No. 1 factor if someone gets into golf,” he said. “JD Clifton became very ideal for us because it has the volume now with the adjudicated property and the thing with putting greens are they are pretty alone. There will be turf and even if you’re not a golfer you will appreciate the natural look of it and there will be natural areas around it. Putting greens lend a very natural aspect to a natural park.”

He said staff from the Mallard Gold Course will also be utilized to teach clinics and camps at JD Clifton and Sterling Golf, through its partnership with Mallard, are donating $5,000 worth of children-sized clubs for the attendees to use during the lessons.