By JIM BUTLER
Buhlow Lake is open again to boat traffic and the work done during months of low-water stage is but a start to polishing what officials consider a previously undervalued jewel.
In addition to improvements along airport road (beach area, bbq/picnic facilities, sand volleyball) the city plans a new development anchored by the lake.
Chief of Staff Doug Gann previewed those intentions at January’s City Council meeting.
The first of many steps in that project will be a proposed ordinance outlining the district and its reason for being.
Gann noted the proposed district will include the old Huey P. Long Hospital area.
The district will likely have the same authorities and responsibilities as the existing Pineville Downtown Development District.
That district extends north-south from the Buhlow airport to the Cottingham Expressway and east-west from the rail line extending from the lake to Cottingham to Red River.
How any overlap of one district and the other would be accommodated is among the many steps Gann told the Council have to be completed to create the Buhlow district.
He’s familiar first-hand with the subject as unpaid executive director of the downtown district which has a seven-member board.
