OUR SHARED VISION

click here for a possible vision of the future Horse Farm

Our shared vision is to preserve a piece of Lafayette's history, and to preserve a badly-needed respite from urban life in the heart of this ever-expanding city. There are currently not enough park facilities in Lafayette to serve our rapidly-growing population. Moreover, the Horse Farm property is large, centrally located, and extraordinarily beautiful, and thus exceptionally well-suited as natural parkland. The property contains rolling meadows, several acres of woods, many century-old live oaks, a small wetland area, and a coulee that feeds directly into the Vermillion River. The property also would easily connect to other publicly-owned green spaces such as Rotary Point on the Vermillion River. Undoubtedly the property would instantly become the new crown jewel of the Lafayette Park System, with extensive possibilities for use as greenspace, parkland, gardens, trailways, and other outdoor recreation uses. If the property is developed, the City of Lafayette will never again have such an immense positive opportunity to gain a large area of beautiful parkland centrally located within the City limits.

Our organization has collected many ideas from numerous caring and dedicated citizens, which show possible future use of the Horse Farm property, if utilized as a City Park. These possibilities are diverse and are mere ideas only: A series of community meetings may be hosted to determine any details. Thus, the ideas here are presented in the spirit of showing just some of the amazing opportunities that the University and the City stand to gain.

We ordered our thoughts into FOUR hierarchical categories:

[* Principles] overarching concepts that guide the process.
[+ Broad Objectives] derive from the principles.
[- Specific Goals] discrete subsets of the broad objectives.
[Restrictions] things or ideas that we think are detrimental.

* 1) Strive to preserve and create historic and natural areas
      + Care for water areas
           - Protect wetlands; protect and restore riparian zones
      + Protect tree diversity
           - Care for live oaks; tend woods to make an arboretum
      + Identify and care for unique areas
           - Recreate Cajun prairie; create semi-formal gardens
      + Determine minimum percentage to remain as green
           - This would leave most of the property protected

* 2) Strive for environmental sustainability
      + Provide connections to alternative transportation
           - Bike paths; walking paths; bus connections; future streetcar connections
      + Environmentally sustainable facilities
           - Solar power; micro-hydro power; LEED(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rated buildings
      + Environmentally sustainable upkeep
           - Bio-diesel used for tractors, vehicles; compost debris on site; minimize use of motorized tools and equipment

* 3) The park should be For and By the people of Lafayette
      + Designed by the community
           - City-wide design charrettes
      + Guided by the community
           - Citizen Advisory board (or along those lines); commitment to a citizen-created master plan
      + Educational
           - A working, accessible farm museum; access for the University; interpretive signs
      + Fun, Peaceful and Useful
           - A dog-off-leash area; farmer's market; natural amphitheater; house police horses in barn; a new Lafayette festival; mixed-use perimeter, maybe re-zone the abutting strip of properties to include light-commercial and high density residentiale

[Restrictions]
No delineated, boundaried or fenced sports fields or courts
No thru traffic (Johnston to West Bayou Parkway)
Limited thru traffic (controlled, with curves, speed bumps or one-way, etc.)
Minimize duplication of parks or facilities already existing in Lafayette.

Issues of public access and thru traffic to be in concert with Smart Growth principles as outlined in the relevant LINC Comprehensive Plan Elements (Land Use, Neighborhood, Urban Design, Transportation)