By Lizzie Stone, city council reporter
A long-discussed plan for a privately funded group to build a public park on city land took a step forward as the city council on Tuesday approved conceptual designs and tasked the city attorney with finalizing an agreement with the group.
The proposed park, would be built on the land adjacent to city hall and Turner Pavilion, is being planned by the private group Build Our Park. That group will take responsibility for fundraising and planning the site.
The city council hasn’t approved any actions yet, but the group can take its next steps toward an agreement with the city that would allow Build Our Park to move forward with research and engineering, ownership, and other details. Brown said the agreement is about a week away from being finished with a draft after he follows up with city officials.
Build the Park organizers have said they expect the project to take 2-3 years to fully complete and cost around $2 million. Their fundraising efforts have raised about $281,000, and they expect to use a mix of grants, fundraising, and potentially city funds for the park.
Council member Monica Robinson voted against the council’s approval of the design and next steps. She voiced concerns about equity, and whether the park would fail to serve the entire community.
Other council members said they had the same concerns about equity and catering public services toward the whole community.
Council member Chris Jones said he has seen a lack of enthusiasm for projects proposed by marginalized groups who might be less familiar with local government and its processes. He said he was worried that some residents would compare their experiences to the excitement around the new park project and feel unwelcome in the community.
Council members agreed that they wanted to involve marginalized groups in government processes and create public services that meet their needs. They also agreed the park is being designed with good intentions and would bridge a gap in public services by serving adults. It approved it for further planning and for further community input.
City will buy three new electric school buses
The city will buy three electric school buses to replace three older fuel-dependent buses in the city’s fleet that serves Harrisonburg public schools.
A $600,000 EPA grant for clean school buses will cover about half the total cost of the new buses. Each bus with a charger will cost $406,117 for a total of about $1.2 million.
The city will own five electric buses after this purchase. The transportation department’s garage has enough space to hold 10, with plans to work with the HEC to add infrastructure to support more electric buses in the future.
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