Park proponents seek to halt process

Members of the Hudson Bayou community, who had recommended the county develop a park at 1150 S. Orange Ave., are now asking that the request be placed on hold, at least temporarily.

John Allaman, president of the Hudson Bayou Neighborhood Association, wrote to city commissioners this week to explain why they want to halt the process.

“It is with disappointment and some surprise that we recently read about the passionate and coordinated opposition,” he wrote. “We are particularly dismayed that our fellow neighbors … have felt left out of the process. This was never our intent.”

Members of the Harbor Acres and Bay Point Park neighborhoods addressed the City Commission last week asking that the park recommendation be rescinded. The Orange Avenue property actually resides in Harbor Acres, not Hudson Bayou, but it was only Hudson Bayou residents pushing for the park.

Because the city does not require neighborhood notification of park recommendations, Hudson Bayou and Bay Point Park residents were never notified of the move to make the property a park.

The City Commission already had signed off on the request, and it was nearing the final stages of the park-acquisition process.

The residents were particularly upset, because the application, filled out by a Harbor Acres resident, indicated the property contained wetlands and rare species. In actuality, it is a residential lot, with homes on both sides.

Allaman told commissioners he wanted to meet with the Harbor Acres and Bay Point Park neighborhoods to try to come to a consensus on the property.

Contact Robin Roy at [email protected].