There is a meeting this Thursday to discuss a future master plan for the James River Park, sponsored by Friends of The James River and City Council representatives Parker Agelasto (Oregon Hill’s Council rep) and Kristen Larson. It’s being held at 6 pm at the Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts (3411 Semmes Avenue, across the river).

From the meeting notice:

We want to hear from you! Attend this community meeting to share your input on the future of the James River Park. Registration is not required.

The James River Park is a crown jewel of the region, providing a unique natural wilderness for park users. As the number of visitors to the park increases each year, a Master Plan is needed to preserve, protect, and properly maintain the park for years to come. The plan will influence the future of the park within the overall framework of the park’s conservation easement.

Your input is valuable. If you can’t attend a community meeting, please take the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JamesRiverParkMasterPlan

As Oregon Hill pretty much borders the James River Park and is a popular conduit to it, neighbors will hopefully have a lot of input that will be taken seriously.

As a bit of editorial, citizens should take a broad view of things, including protection of wildlife (and corridors for it), threats of light pollution (such as proposed signage at the high-rise at 2000 Riverside Drive across the river), and commercialization of this heavily-used park system. Nothing against the new superintendent of James River Park, Bryce Wilk, but it seems like more citizens should have been involved earlier in the hiring process. Having these master plan sessions after the hiring allows the suspicion that an agenda is already in place with a new Superintendent. That’s not necessarily the case, but…. What happened with Monroe Park should be a warning to all Richmonders.