BATON ROUGE — The BREC Commission deferred a final vote on Thursday to declare several parks obsolete in order to authorize the sale of the land, according to a report by The Advocate. 

Out of the eight parks up for consideration, Alexander Street, Dover Street, Lanier Drive, an outparcel at Corlett Drive at Sharon Hills and Wenonah Street parks were all approved to move forward in the process, with BREC officials stressing that the properties are not necessarily being sold. 

Voting on Belfair, Blueberry Street and Fortune Addition parks, however, was deferred to the June commission meeting as several people expressed opposition to the sale of the parks. 

William Johnson of Kingdom Well Church expressed his interest in the church using Belfair Park. "I would like to hope and think we are currently in discussions for discussing a partnership with BREC to use the facility," Johnson said. 

According to BREC officials, Blueberry Street Park was deemed obsolete as the parks agency is developing a new park near the area. Officials also said any money made from sales of the parks will be put in a separate fund and will only be available for BREC in that service area.

BREC is considering selling over 50 parks, according to the BREC Commission chairman. The sales are part of BREC's plan to reduce its land to better prioritize the system's resources.