After meeting Thursday with the public, planners of the Baton Rouge lakes project turned Friday to student leaders to hear what students hope to gain from the renovations and to respond to their concerns.
The meeting addressed where the portion of student funding would come from.
Baton Rouge Area Foundation executive vice president John Spain asked if students would be opposed to a portion of the student activity fee going toward the project.
Student Government president Clay Tufts said if the fee is used on a project that increases options for student activity, students voting on the fee in the future should be on board.
The Daily Reveille previously reported students voted in favor of a similiar fee in 2012 for UREC renovations.
Kinder Baumgardner, president of the SWA group, showed early designs for the lakes that included separate trails for bikers and pedestrians, a boat house to rent on-the-water equipment and a place to eat.
One of the planners, Jeffrey Carbo of the Jeffrey Carbo Landscape Architects group, said the lakes were something he and other students only drove past during his time at the University and asked if the lakes were more than a visual experience for students now.
Tufts said with nice weather, the lakes have been packed.
Carbo asked if the lakes were a part of the LSU experience.
“Yes, definitely,” Tufts said. “It’s something being used as a part of LSU. It’s in there with those monumental things — the Bell Tower, the Quad, the Parade Grounds, Death Valley.”
Carbo said when the lakes shifted in popularity, they lacked amenities visitors sought out.
“The lakes are there, but they were never really designed to do the things that people are wanting to do today,” Carbo said.
Tufts said he thinks there would be more student involvement if there were designated areas, like the ones shown in the plans, to separate pedestrian and biking traffic and more opportunities to go out on the water.
The renovations give the lakes the opportunity to become a landmark to enhance the campus and appeal to prospective students, Tufts said.
Chauncey Stephens, student director of Volunteer LSU and resident assistant, said students would have a greater sense of ownership of the area as they see the project in the works.
Stephens also said first-year students and commuters would benefit from the amenities shown in the plans.
“I have a lot of first-year students who are on campus all the time,” Stephens said. “They may not have a car or things like that, and they talk about, ‘Yeah, I want to go kayaking, but I don’t know how to do that.’”
Once the project is started, Spain said it should take three to four years to complete.
“This is an iconic place for LSU and the people that live around it,” Baumgardner said. “This is an iconic place for the parish, for the city. This is the state capital, a lot of people come and go. It’s a chance to do something right here that really does change the way a city thinks about itself.”

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Ronni Bourgeois

Consultant in the LSU lakes renovation program, Kinder Baumgardner speaks on Jan. 30, 2015, to booard of student leaders about the project in the Orleans Room located in the Student Union.