Preserving Richmond's playground

A conservation easement would cover about 280 acres of parkland, including Belle Isle.

By: Will Jones | Times-Dispatch
Published: February 13, 2009

The James River Park System gives Richmonders a wild, natural escape in the center of the city.

The land would stay pristine forever under an idea that was floated 10 years ago but now is garnering support with the City Council.

A conservation easement would be placed on about 280 acres of parkland, including the James River Park System, Great Shiplock Park and Belle Isle, meaning the land never could be sold or developed, even with ball fields or cell-phone towers.

The easement would not apply to the Pumphouse at Three Mile Lock, which has been considered for restoration.

Conservation easements typically are used by private owners as a way to protect farmland in exchange for tax benefits, but City Council President Kathy C. Graziano said Richmond's riverfront parkland also warrants a guarantee of protection.

"A future council may want to sell pieces of it," she said. An easement "protects it from that, but it also protects it as a natural park. The beauty of the park is it's a natural oasis in the middle of the city."

Last month, Graziano introduced an ordinance to establish the easement, which would be co-held by the Capital Region Land Conservancy, the Richmond Recreation and Parks Foundation, and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. Four other council members have signed on as co-patrons. A vote is scheduled Feb. 23.

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation holds or co-holds similar easements on several parks across the state, including ones in Roanoke, Loudoun County and the Fredericksburg area, said Bob Lee, the foundation's executive director.

The growing popularity of the James River parks could lead the city to consider the need for additional restroom facilities, said J.R. Pope Jr., Richmond's parks director. The easement restrictions would not prevent that kind of addition, but they likely would block concessions and playgrounds and perhaps expansion of parking areas, he said.

"We have probably the best playground you could have down there. That's a natural playground," Pope said.

. . .

Charles Price, a longtime Richmonder, has been trying to persuade officials to use conservation easements to protect city parks since 1999, when officials considered selling Bandy Field on Three Chopt Road in the West End. Initially, officials balked at the idea of easements.

"The primary reason was they didn't want to give up the city's prerogative to manage the property and give up [absolute] control of the property," Price said.

In 2004, a developer approached the city with the idea of using Great Shiplock Park to support a riverfront condominium development. That's the area where the Echo Harbour condominiums now are proposed.

James Theobald, an attorney for Echo Harbour, said the conservation easement for Great Shiplock would not affect plans being revised for the development.

"I think there's always a possibility for development up and down the river," Price said. "We've pushed for this [easement] for the long haul, that these are protected lands."

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.