Friends of the Richmond Greenway

UNITY PARK COMMUNITY LED DESIGN

 

How We Gathered Community Input

In 2015 in order to get direct feedback from all of the individuals who use the Richmond Greenway, Friends of the Richmond Greenway set up a series of community outreach events. Beginning with our annual Martin Luther National Day of Service, we set up Design Feedback Tents 3-5 days a week on the Richmond Greenway where community members completed surveys giving there feedback on the tyoes of elements that should be included in the new park.

We also went door to door conducting surveys with all Greenway neighbors and all households with 3 blocks of the Richmond Greenway from 2nd Street to 23rd Street and Maine to Bissell. After gathering months of community input our Design Teams: 1) Art & Amenities, 2) Bike & Pedestrian Infrastructure 3) Community Gardens 4) Playground and 5) Community Plaza & Great Lawn began working on placing all of the park elements requested by the community.

 

35% Community Design

Once our initial sketches were completed we hosted a large Design Feedback event on the Greenway at 16th Street where community members could see their ideas drawn out and placed along the Greenway.

Once the Community 35% Designs were completed, we handed our designs over to Vallier Design Associates and the Design Management Team, Javier Ocha (Groundwork Richmond), Najari Smith (Rich City Rides), Matt Holmes (National Park Service) and Doria Robinson (Urban Tilth) worked with Vallier’s team to arrive at a final design.

 

Master Plan vs Build NOW Plan

In order to arrive at a final design we had to insure that we would be within the grant budget. Our budget forced the team to create 2 sets of designs 1) A Master Plan for Unity Park which includes all elements requested by the community and 2) Our Build NOW Plan which only includes elements that we can afford now and fulfill the grant requirements.

As we enter the last phase of Design we invite everyone to Join us at the Nevin Community Center on November 4th, 2015 to see the final Master Plan and Build NOW Designs. See where the future of the Richmond Greenway is going… be apart of history!

 

Here is what the MLK Day experience looked like for 2015!