A consulting firm is asking for more public input on the future of two Fredericksburg city parks and an island in the Rappahannock River.
Consultants have been holding meetings with the public since February, gathering input and feedback to offer recommendations to the city’s Parks and Recreation and Events department’s master plan, building off suggestions gathered in 2021.
Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects, a consulting firm in Alexandria, took a detailed look at Alum Spring Park, Old Mill Park and Ficklen Island to assess the facilities and services of each and how they can meet modern recreational needs.
At a recent presentation, they summarized some of the biggest issues they found through the surveys.
New moves for Old Mill
The city’s most-visited park, Old Mill, faces issues with flooding, limited parking, ADA-compliance, worn equipment, a steep exit drive with poor sightlines, diminished vegetation and a southern lawn that is too wet to be useful.
The park restrooms specifically pose a problem due to being in the floodplain, but overhead high-voltage transmission lines make relocating them a challenge.
“How can we get them up and out of that floodway?” asked Elizabeth Lardner of Lardner/Klein. “We’re recommending moving them, but you will have to keep the restrooms in the floodway, and you’re just going to have to do your best, like at Riverfront Park, to harden it.”
Working with public comments and field visits, Lardner’s firm came up with two concepts for Old Mill. Both suggest linking the park to the Heritage Trail, complete with a pedestrian bridge; creating an ADA-accessible perimeter walking trail; planting more trees; adding on-street parking on Caroline Street; extending the existing main gravel parking lot to the north to add 48 spaces; and upgrading the canoe/kayak launch.
“Concept A” retains existing parking lots and spaces and entry points with bump-outs as well as leaving all existing structures in place, grandfathered in the potential Resource Protection Areas (RPA). Buildings in the RPAs can’t be replaced or expanded, explained Lardner.
“Concept B” expands the park to the south, where a city-owned parcel exists, allowing for a new entry to the park. This concept would close the existing entry and use it for emergency, maintenance or special event traffic only.
Concept B also calls for a new parking lot, adding 44 spaces, removing the lot at the playground, and developing 100 additional lots under Dominion Power’s transmission lines on the southern parcel. This concept includes a new picnic shelter north of the existing one in a “cluster” with a new playground and restroom. The new restroom would provide an opportunity to lift the floor elevation, floodproof the building, and erect an osprey platform or bell tower above the building to house the park’s electrical equipment.
Alternate entrance for Alum Spring
Flooding is also a major concern at Alum Spring Park, located at the end of Greenbrier Drive.
Trail clearing and repairing damage underneath the existing pedestrian bridge top the list of priorities for this park. Lardner said that both concepts include improving existing pedestrian trails, ensuring existing features are connected by ADA-accessible routes, repairing/re-routing highly eroded trail segments, and improving abutments under the existing pedestrian bridge over Hazel Run.
“Concept A” calls for replacing the existing low water vehicle crossing with a new two-lane bridge. Although the current entrance becomes impassable after heavy rains, installing a vehicle bridge could be expensive, said Lardner.
Concept A recommends reconfiguring the parking lot to provide angled parking on both sides, adding 20 spaces, and formalizing the gravel paved parking spaces on the north side of Hazel Run. It calls for a stream restoration of Hazel Run, particularly at the location of the concrete ford.
“Concept B” would close the low water entrance altogether, remove access to the parking lot and develop an alternative entrance off Emancipation Highway (Route 1) at Idlewild Drive, on a parcel currently owned by the University of Mary Washington. The consultants recommended this option, pointing out that the site could be linked by trails to Alum Park and the Virginia Central Railway trail.
“We also looked at going along with the Small Area 5 plan to do the potential road that comes off of Idlewild that they just talked about last winter and there’s a potential park expansion,” Lardner said, adding that installing a pedestrian bridge to connect the areas was “very doable”.
By using the UMW-owned parcel, the existing infrastructure could be migrated to the new site, allowing the natural resources to flourish. Lardner said new restrooms, picnic shelters and playgrounds could be built on the site.
Fresh take on Ficklen Island
Ficklen Island off Riverside Drive draws wildlife watchers, anglers and hikers to the riverfront. The main challenge in improving the site is a 1909-era concrete dam currently being used as a bridge. Consultants have considered decking but say it would be vulnerable to storms that bring large trees downriver. Stairs are out of the question because they won’t be ADA-compliant.
A bridge brings a risk, too, said Lardner.
“We looked at a steel pedestrian bridge, but using just a ballpark number… it’s in the neighborhood of $450,000, without installation,” she said. “And I think the city maybe needs other things for that kind of investment.”
Lardner said her firm recommends looking into removing the dam entirely.
But first, the consultants want the public to offer more feedback before their comprehensive presentation outlining findings are delivered to city council this fall.
Specifically, they want to know if their recommendations are supported. Should the concrete dam be removed at Ficklen Island and replaced with a low-water crossing? Which concept at Old Mill Park makes sense and should it incorporate a new park entry to the south? Should the Alum Spring Park shift to a new entrance and orientation with the expansion to the UMW parcel?
Lardner/Klein’s detailed presentation with maps is available to view on the city’s website here. Find the survey here.
