RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)--Some of Richmond’s West End residents packed an auditorium at St. Mary’s Hospital Wednesday night to question city and Bon Secours representatives about the future of the Westhampton school property.
The city will lease the site to Bon Secours as part of a deal to bring the Redskins training camp to Richmond.
Nadja Gutowski, a city resident, said that aside from the building, a neighborhood icon sits on the property--a playground.
“It's a very, very busy playground,” says Gutowski. She asserts that while the Redskins have a place to play, she wants to know where he son will soon play.
“It is one of the few playgrounds that is accessible with adequate parking,” Gutowski says.
The city's planning department says it’s currently looking at four locations, but, no decision has been made about its future.
For others, like Wyn Price, Westhampton alum, the meeting wasn’t just about the future, but the past. He wants to know what will happen to the place where he obtained so many life lessons. '
“We don't know where it's going to go," says Price. "We don't know if they're going to get rid of the building."
While Bon Secours had very few answers about the site's future for frustrated residents, but they say that will soon change.
“Until we can get reports back from architecture, engineering and consultants that are proposing uses, at that point, we'll have something tangible for folks to look at and react to,” says a company representative.
Another community input meeting will take place at the St. Mary’s Hospital auditorium at 4 p.m., on Feb. 11.
