RICHMOND, Va. -- The City of Richmond wants to hear from you about its first citywide park and recreation vision plan since the 1970s.
The city’s Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities department is in the midst of implementing its Master Plan process, titled Richmond INSPIRE (Imagining Neighborhood-Shaping Parks and Inclusive Recreation Experiences).
This plan will create a community-supported vision for parks and recreational spaces, complete with a detailed action plan for phased implementation, according to the city’s website.
Ryan Rinn, a capital projects planner, spearheads this project after hosting in-person workshops in September across the city’s nine voting districts.
His team hopes to receive thousands of online survey submissions from those unable to attend the workshops.
“We're hoping to hear how people use parks. What do they do when they're here? How long do they stick around? Why do they show up? Where do they get information from? What would they like to see if they had their magic wand, and they could come into the park system and say, you know, if Richmond Parks had this, it would be amazing,” Rinn explained.
Rinn said the plan will include investments to maintain facilities that he admits have been lacking over the years.
“We need to hear where that's happening so that we can start to prioritize how we're making our decisions going forward, and really look at that through a lens of racial equity and a lens of climate resiliency, and then again, a lens of connectivity, on how we connect our park systems and make sure that folks in the city of Richmond who do not have walkable access to a park have that access,” he stated.
Rinn highlighted The Round House community center near Fountain Lake in Byrd Park as a facility that could use more financial investment.
“We still need to make investments in [The Round House] to make the restrooms ADA accessible. So it covers a lot of things that are covered by federal law and state law and city ordinance that we need to catch up to,” he said.
Parks and Recreation has largely avoided the criticism, turnover, and strife plaguing other City Hall departments.
More Richmonders have been able to access a park within walking distance in the last seven years since Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney appointed Director Christopher Frelke.
As of 2024, more than 80 percent of residents have access to one of the city’s 175 parks within a 10-minute walk. That number has increased by 20 percent since Frelke joined the city from Raleigh, North Carolina in 2017.
His department has also seen a surge in local, state, and federal funding, including American Rescue Plan dollars.
Frelke’s team recently took over booking operations for Midtown Green, the former Bon Secours Training Camp in Scott’s Addition, while other facilities like Hotchkiss Green on the Northside will receive a $1 million refresh.
They hope to facilitate discussions and events surrounding gun violence and other citywide issues by hosting events on their properties and offering stages and audio equipment.
The city looks to Parks and Recreation to engage the community with after-school and summer programs to keep youth off the streets. They staff the city's nine public pools and help maintain the James River Parks System.
The department needs the community’s help to envision what the city’s parks could look and feel like over the next 10 to 20 years. Rinn said they particularly want to include more voices from the Southside.
Their website, RichmondINSPIRE.com, includes the online survey along with resources shared at the public workshops in English, Spanish, and visual aid versions.
The deadline to share your thoughts is November 8. Those who complete the 15- to 20-minute survey will be entered to win one of three $50 Target gift cards.
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