Swansboro Elementary School
Park Project
Project Overview
The Swansboro West community does not have a park. To access one of the nearby parks in another neighborhood, residents, including children, have to cross at least one major road such as Hull Street or Midlothian Turnpike. This realization caused the Swansboro West Civic Association to look at ways to bring a park into the neighborhood. They found that the only area large enough to support a community park was the area around Swansboro Elementary School. The playground at the school is also quite old and in disrepair so a partnership to address both appeared to be the best solution. Following the example of other joint school/park projects in the city, the Civic Association set out to figure out how to tackle such a project. Since this park needs to serve both the school and community, it became clear they needed to develop a shared vision of what needed to be in the park and how it would be laid out. So the Swansboro West Civic Association and Southside ReLeaf applied for and were awarded a $20,000 grant from the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to fund the development of a master plan for a community park at the school.
Project Plan
To tackle this project, a steering committee made up of school leadership and community members was formed to guide the process. The members include:
Dr. Theron Sampson, Swansboro Elementary Principal
Dr. Kennette Lee-Anderson, Swansboro Elementary Assistant Principal
Deb Butterworth, Swansboro West Civic Association Secretary
Sydney Gary, Community Member
Rachel Hofbauer, Community Member
Janaye Oliver, Community Member
Elena Johnson, Community Member
Steve Marzolf, Swansboro West Civic Association Project Lead
After interviewing two firms in Richmond that do this type of work, the steering committee selected Timmons Group, a local engineering firm, to help us navigate the process and develop the plan. They proposed a process with three major community engagement phases. The first phase will be to solicit ideas for what everyone wants to see in the park. The second will be to report back what was heard in the first phase and present alternatives to how the park could look to address what was heard. The third phase will be to present the draft plan and finalize the park design with any final thoughts. The timeline below shows the general schedule for each phase. The project will be completed by October, which is when we will begin searching for funding to actually build the park that you have designed.
Get Involved
The first public engagement was held Monday, May 12, 2025 from 5:00-7:00pm at the Swansboro Elementary School. We held a second outreach event at the school playground on Saturday, June 7th. As a result of both events, we received a total of 78 surveys and had numerous other conversations and discussions with members of the community. If you would like to see all of the survey response, CLICK HERE. The responses in this spreadsheet are exactly as they were submitted. The only field removed was the email address for those that wanted to receive updates to protect privacy.
All of the responses have been provided to our partner, Timmons Group, as input. They will take that input and will develop several alternatives for the community to consider. They will present these alternatives at the Swansboro West Civic Association meeting on Thursday, July 10 at 6:00pm. We will be meeting in the school yard/playground area of the Swansboro Elementary School. Timmons will lead a discussion of the alternatives and record any feedback provided. We will be holding a second outreach event on Saturday, July 26 from 11:00 to 1:00pm in the playground area if you can’t make the first meeting. There will also be an online survey to provide feedback. Check back here after July 10th to get a link to it. The Community Survey #2 will remain open until noon on August 1 at which point it will be closed.
Our Timmons Group partners will then take all of the phase 2 input and feedback on the alternative they present and develop a proposed design for the park. This will be presented to the community Saturday, September 6 from 11:00-1:00 in the Swansboro Elementary schoolyard. Again, feedback and input will be taken by Timmons on the proposed design at this event, but if you can’t make it an online survey will also be provided. Since changes should be minimal at this point in the project, this final survey will only be open for a week until noon on September 12th so please be sure to mark your calendars to either attend the September event or come back here to get the link for Community Survey #3. Timmons will then finalize the park design which will be reviewed and accepted by the Steering Committee. The project’s completion and the final design will be celebrated at this year’s National Night Out event on Tuesday, October 7 from 6:00-8:00 at the school.
To stay connected with all of the updates on this project, you can also sign up for the Swansboro West newsletter, which will contain an update in every monthly issue.
