LSU lakes restoration project planners begin work in Baton Rouge

The sky will be the limit during the initial planning stages to restore the LSU lakes, the project's lead planner said Thursday (Sept. 25).

Kinder Baumgardner, a landscape architect with SWA Group in Houston, answered questions from reporters in Baton Rougefrom a spot overlooking the six-lake system's biggest water body, University Lake.

Cost, of course, will steer what can be accomplished. But Baumgardner said the first goal is to pinpoint exactly what the community wants from the lakes and then deliver the vision. Cost analysis and sorting out who pays for what will come next, as well as a potential paring down of the design elements in necessary.

Many cities "would kill" to have such a beautiful natural environment perched in the middle of an urban environment, he said. But the challenges that brings with it are complicated ones, which his team will explore to find solutions that meet both the ecological needs of below thelakes' surface and the community's needs for the recreational space around them.

Part of his firm's task is to identify funding sources to execute the plans. Those may include a bond issue, donations or a combination of public and private funds. Most projects like this one, he said, are done these days through such a combination of public and private dollars.

"I'm guessing that's probably going to be the answer," he said.

Baumgardner joined Jeffrey Carbo of Lafayette in Baton Rouge Thursday to begin formal work on a master plan to restore the ecological soundness of the lakes and design 45 acres around them for recreational use. BRAF, which raised $750,000 in private fundsto hire theplanning team, along with other stakeholders,selected the team in June among a number of candidates for the project.

They will meet with leaders from LSU, the city-parish government, BREC and an advisory committee established by theBaton Rouge AreaFoundationcomprised of a number of stakeholders.

Plans will include:

-Recommendations for shoreline improvements with dredged materials, such as a trail system.

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LSU lakes restoration project planners begin work in Baton Rouge