New City Park Will Befriend Environment

When the city acquired the former Allen-Morrison Corporation plant site on Rutherford Street, it took on an environmental disaster. That was in 2003. The nearly 17-acre site had been cleaned up to an extent by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, but it remained an industrial wasteland.

That is about to change as the city Parks and Recreation Department embarks on an ambitious project to transform the site from its former environmental nightmare into a cutting edge “eco-park.”

When Allen-Morrison, which produced metal signs, went out of business in 1996, it abandoned a cluster of brick and metal buildings. The city acquired the property through eminent domain with a plan to turn the site into a park for the Fort Hill neighborhood.

That plan has now become one that makes the park as friendly to the environment around it as possible. The project, referred to as “City Stadium Park” because of its proximity to the stadium, was one of 16 chosen nationwide for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Program. The program provides grant money for the redevelopment of property with hazardous environmental issues.

That grant, combined with money from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, has paid for the early stages of the new park.

“Our goal is that this park will model sustainability,” said Parks and Recreation Director Kay Frazier, “and we want to use green building practices as much as we can as we design this park.”

Those practices will begin with the demolition of the buildings now on the site. The deconstruction, as it is now called, will salvage materials that can be recycled or reused in other city projects. They include metal, wood, lumber and bricks that could be given a new life. The ultimate aim is to keep those materials out of the landfill, said Frazier.

The buildings could be demolished as soon as this summer.

So what constitutes green building practices? The entire project will be as friendly to the environment as possible. The plan, which was designed in part by graduate students from the University of Virginia, restores trees and green space to an area dominated by concrete and asphalt.

The park will feature a multi-purpose athletic field, a community center with an indoor gym, playgrounds, trails, picnic shelters and pedestrian access to the stadium and Lynchburg Grows, another nearby neighbor.

Rain gardens will be a part of the park that will reduce the amount of runoff from rainwater leaving the site.

Frazier emphasized that public comment will be solicited for the park before any plans are made final. And for those who may be worried about the city taking on another capital project during the economic downturn, she said the park’s completion could be years down the road because of the lack of money.

But that doesn’t mean planning can’t go forward so that when money becomes available, the city can move ahead. Demolition of the existing buildings will be the most visible phase of the project in the near future.

The eco-park will be a welcome addition to the Fort Hill neighborhood, an area that Frazier says is presently “underserved for recreational space and park space.”

The result, when it is completed, will enhance that neighborhood — and the city. More than that, it will benefit the environment in an area where little or no regard for the environment has been shown over the years.