BATON ROUGE - A conceptual plan for Howell Park show a community area without a golf course but with other outdoor activity sites such as obstacle courses, an update pool area and a new baseball diamond and track.

The plan was revealed at a community meeting Tuesday evening. In renderings, the 18-hole golf course has been eliminated.

Park officials said they made decisions on what to include in plans for a newer, more modern park after talking with people who use the park and following a recommendation by golf experts that BREC eliminate some of its golf courses.

"We are still figuring out what is going to happen," Ted Jack, a BREC official, said. "Nothing is for sure right now. We still have to boil down how is the best way to improve it and what are those improvements."

In addition to the golf course and pool, the park currently has a baseball diamond and tennis courts plus a play area for children. The master plan calls for an adventure playground, a track and challenge course along the northeastern edge of the park, currently occupied by part of the course. Other parts of the current golf course would be turned into a lake, and lighted multipurpose field.

A dream plan includes boat rentals for the lake, trails and even more outdoor activity areas.

Howell Park spans about ten blocks on Winbourne Avenue between North Foster Drive and E Brookstown Drive, near Howell Park Elementary School.

Future plans include the creek that runs through the middle of the park.

Including Howell Park, BREC currently operates seven public golf courses.

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