BATON ROUGE — BREC Commission Chairman Michael A. Polito released a statement on Thursday regarding the closure of various parks around Baton Rouge. 

In the statement, Polito wrote that the potential closure of the parks "is not new, not political and not targeted."

According to BREC, the parks being considered for closure are viewed as obsolete and no longer needed for public purposes, with the properties being sold at various amounts.

The parks considered for closure originally included seven parks; however, following Tuesday's planning and park resources advisory committee meeting, only three moved on to go before BREC commissioners for final approval. The remaining three parks included Alexander Street Park, Belfair Park and Blueberry Street Park.

"It is a continuation of a multi-year, data-driven initiative – undertaken at the direct direction of voters through their approval of Imagine Your Parks 3 - to responsibly manage public assets for the benefit of all residents of East Baton Rouge Parish," Polito wrote.

Polito claims that the proceeds from the sale of the properties will be reinvested within the same geographic area to support parks and recreational assets serving the community.

According to Polito, the process of identifying underutilized properties began under the previous administration led by former Superintendent Corey Wilson.

During that time, about 25 of the over 50 properties currently under consideration were already identified as obsolete, with two properties already being sold and several others being approved for disposition by the previous administration.