Public Feedback

One feature of the Greenwood Community Park plan is to incorporate a “story walk” along one or more walking trails or promenades within the park. Sculptures, placards and art would convey the narrative of a story as one proceeds along the walkway. A few initial ideas for stories were generated during the master planning process and are displayed below. But we are most interested in receiving more community-contributed story and character ideas. Please use the survey form below to contribute your ideas for story walk creatures, characters or themes.

Magical Realism Examples

Contribute Your Ideas

Master Plan Public Engagement

Throughout the entire process, community engagement was an integral part of defining the next step of the master plan. In order to invite as many voices as possible into the process, the team intended engagement methods to be accessible to a range of preferences and capacity for participation.

Engagement Round One

The first round of engagement marked the public kick-off of the Greenwood Park and Baton Rouge Zoo Master Plans. The intent of the engagement was two-fold: to invite the public into ongoing participation through a clear introduction of the forthcoming process, and to gather information and feedback to inform the next steps of the master plan.

1. Program Preference

Participants at the open house voted for their favorite program elements for the future Greenwood Park by placing colorful gumballs into jars around a large game board. In order to have each person prioritize which programs were their top picks, each participant was limited to ten gumballs. Participants could choose to place one or multiple gumballs in each option, based on how they wanted to distribute their allotted votes for program.

2. Character Selection

Participants selected from an array of images depicting park elements in order to create their own Pinterest or mood board of pictures that captured the type of style or feel they envisioned for Greenwood Park. The images available showed examples of places that included nature-, culture-, and recreation-focused characteristics.

3. Interactive Mapping

Through an interactive mapping website, both open house and online participants responded to prompts to draw on a map how they use Greenwood Park today, such as “draw a star on your favorite place in the park” and “mark where you enter the park.”

Engagement Round Two

Based on the emerging themes of the conversations and survey results of the first round of public engagements, the team created three alternative concepts for Greenwood Park to drive the second round of public engagement.

East Baton Rouge (EBR) Heart

This concept centers around the creation of a core of activity radiating out from the center of the park. A formal pedestrian promenade connects the new entrance of the zoo located in the heart of the park to the existing Waterfront Building and lakeside, flanked by a large adventure playground and other cultural amenities. A new expanded lake invites people in and hosts a range of activities around its edge, including a new amphitheater, picnic area, and nature walks. Tying the site together is a new parkway and multi-purpose trail loop.

Braided Bayou

This concept restores the natural alignment of the site’s bayous and weaves together active recreation programming and natural amenities, creating a distinct balance between an active sports-based western edge and a passive nature-based eastern edge. A new loop road connects the new zoo entrance in the center of the park with the rest of the site’s programs, while two primary pathways weave around the site, connecting people to various ecosystems and activities. This concept’s sports-based program serves as a regional destination.

Eco Constellation

This concept disperses nature-based program elements like camping, hiking, and ziplines throughout a site that is restored to a more ecologically driven design. A new series of blue trails connect the water bodies into a network of water-based circulation. Multiple entrances around the site offer access to these various program elements, while an extensive pedestrian network connects the elements together. This concept creates a series of distinct programmatic and ecological rooms within the larger park.

Engagement Round Three

The final round of public engagement culminated in a huge party!

Party in the Park

Public meeting three celebrated all the work and feedback the community gave over the previous eight months of engagement for the master plan. From online surveys, to mapping exercises, to social media, to door-to-door surveys, over 3,000 points of engagement led to the design of the Greenwood Park. The celebration unveiled both the new Greenwood Park Master Plan and the new Baton Rouge Zoo Master Plan in a day of activities for all ages. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. between 700 and 1000 people were at the Party in the Park. The day was structured around a few key events.

Greenwood Park & the Baton Rouge Zoo Presentation

At 10:30 a.m. Superintendent Corey Wilson addressed a crowd of around 200 people and explained the structure of the presentation and day. Next, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome spoke and gave her support of the master plans and the new energy coming into North Baton Rouge. She was followed by Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks and State Senator Regina Barrow, who gave their support and thanks to the community for their involvement. Sasaki and Torre then presented the final master plan by talking about the process that led to the Party in the Park, then taking everyone on a tour of the future Greenwood Park by showing images and plan enlargements of each area. At the end of the presentation, Corey discussed the implementation of Phase 1 of both the park and the zoo before encouraging the crowd to go out and enjoy the many free activities provided by BREC.

Immersive Master Plan

A 22-by-24-foot illustrative plan made of banner material was located right outside the Waterfront Building. At this station, the community was encouraged to take a walking tour of the future Greenwood Park and Baton Rouge Zoo with people from BREC and Sasaki. The large scale of the plan gave individuals a detailed understanding of the park. Illustrative images surrounded the large master plan to give an even more detailed experience of the future Greenwood Park. The station also provided an area to leave feedback on cards that asked people to finish the sentences, “One thing I would add is…” and “My favorite idea is…,” along with blank cards asking for other feedback.

Outdoor Activites

After people gave feedback, they were encouraged to go have fun and participate in all the activities at Greenwood Park. Live music by Sweet Southern Heat kicked off the party at 11 a.m. The community could enjoy free food such as jambalaya, snow cones, and catfish around the Waterfront Building and in Greenwood Park. BREC on the Geaux showed up with tons of activities including the following:

  • Balloon animals
  • Face painting
  • Free zoo tickets
  • Free kayaking
  • Photobooth
  • Teen foam party
  • Hamster balls