Swansboro Elementary School
Park Project
Project Overview
The Swansboro West community needs a park. The only space in the community large enough to put a park is the Swansboro Elementary Schoolyard. 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. After three rounds of input from the community and five separate input events, Timmons Group, our vendor partner, developed a park master plan for the site. It contains all of the elements that the community and the school said were important and provides a beautiful greenspace for fun and learning. This design will now be shared with the Richmond School System and Richmond Parks and Recreation for consideration for construction. It may take a few years to achieve our vision, but we now have a very specific goal to shoot for. Click here to see the complete report from Timmons Group that includes all survey input received.
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.
Project Review
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 were provided to our partner, Timmons Group, as input. They took that input and developed two alternatives for the community to consider. They presented these alternatives at the Swansboro West Civic Association meeting on Thursday, July 10. You can view all of the boards they displayed by clicking here. About 25 community members met in the school yard/playground area of the Swansboro Elementary School. Timmons led a discussion of the alternatives and recorded any feedback provided. A second outreach event was held on Saturday, July 26 in the playground area for anyone that could not make the first meeting. There was also an online survey to provide feedback. The Community Survey #2 resulted in 25 responses in addition to all of the in person feedback received.
Our Timmons Group partners were provided all of the phase 2 input and feedback both from the in person meetings and the online survey. They then created a preliminary, proposed design for the park. This was presented to the community on Saturday, September 6. A picture of the design is below (click on it to enlarge). They also provided a poster board showing what some of the features in the park may look like. You can view all of the boards they displayed by clicking here.
Feedback and input was taken by Timmons on the proposed design at this event and any additional questions, comments and concerns until September 15, 2025.
At that point, Timmons finalized the park design (show above) which was reviewed and accepted by the Steering Committee. There were only two changes to the draft design. First, additional shade was provided over the large playground area. Second, the fitness equipment was moved to be in line of sight with the playground so parents could workout and still see their kids playing on the playground. Both of these changes were the result of comments on the draft from the community. The project’s completion and the final design was celebrated at this year’s National Night Out event on October 7, 2025 at the school.
Now that the community master plan is complete, the hard work begins. First, we will seek acceptance of the plan by the Richmond Public School System. Then finding funding to implement the plan will be the primary focus. We will be seeking grant funding for most of the work as not to impact the already burdened school budget. We are hopeful to get some quick wins to show early progress, but this will take time before our community vision is realized.
