Below are phased plans for playground renovations at Chimborazo Playground Park. Its goal is to provide space for all of the different types of park visitors or “users” — including basketball, petanque, skateboarding, community gardeners, children, tennis players and others. It outlines phases of the project. The next meeting is set for Saturday, March 19 at 9am at the playground. The meeting will be headed up by Larry Miller of the Richmond Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Facilities.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t understand why the skating surface area is assumed to be the LAST phase, when the immediate need of the park is to get the skaters off the basketball courts so basketball players can play?!?! I understand parts of phase two, but resurfacing the courts, and bbq areas should come last, given the current user group issues within the park. Am I wrong here?
The Friends of Chimborazo Playground received a neighborhood improvement grant from the Church Hill Association; part of the grant designates funds to build a BBQ stand or pit and install shade sails. These funds are independent from the Dept of Parks & Rec’s budget and can be used now, which is why it’s prioritized higher – simply because it can get accomplished faster.
The other parts of the neighborhood grant included:
- building the community gardens shed (done)
- building/installing the picnic tables from local nonprofit CHAT/Nehemiah’s Workshop, which teaches underserved youth practical job skills like carpentry and home repairs (done)
- installing a bat house to reduce mosquitoes and encourage wildlife (done)
- installing shade sails to provide shade
- adding 1-2 BBQ stands
- installing a purple martin house
Matt – did you go to the meeting on March 5th? There has been a lot of discussion on this. Perhaps some things came out of the meeting this past weekend (the 19th) that would better answer your questions? Everyone agrees that finding a home for skateboarders should happen and so the neighborhood got together this weekend to discuss a plan to help move it forward, raise money, gather manpower.
It’s disappointing how hard it is to gather and centralize the information on this quickly, but keep an eye out.