In 2025, RVA Magazine published an article: Richmond’s Parks Are Something the City is Getting Right.
Let’s dive into how CRLC is involved, and how you can be a part of it.
In 2017, the City of Richmond made a promise: every Richmonder should have a park within a 10-minute walk of home. Today, 83% of Richmond’s have access to parkland! But that isn’t 100%. Nearly one in five Richmond residents still lives without easy access to green space.
The Trust for Public Land’s 10-Minute Walk standard, roughly half a mile, is the benchmark that the National Park Service and CDC use to link park access and public health. Richmond has pledged to reach 100%. Scott’s Addition, one of the city’s hottest and fastest-growing neighborhoods, is among the areas still working toward that goal.
Since 2005, Capital Region Land Conservancy has facilitated the protection of over 500 acres of greenspace within the City of Richmond. Here’s just some of the lands protected for parkspace:
While the process between acquisition, protection of the natural resources, the transfer to the City of Richmond, and the ultimate opening of the spaces for public access is long, the opportunity for these spaces to become parks is gone if we don’t act fast. And one neighborhood that has grown increasingly hot and impervious has not gotten our full attention, until now:
The Opportunity in Scott’s Addition
Christie and Kevin Barry, owners of Christie’s Fine Gardening & Creative Landscapes, have signed a letter of intent to part-gift, part-sell their 0.43-acre property at 3420 Norfolk Street to CRLC. The site would become a permanent public park, deed-restricted from development forever.
The Barrys purchased this land in 2012 and watched it grow in value to $1.77 million alongside the neighborhood boom. Rather than sell to a developer, they chose to give back. They are donating the difference between the purchase price and full assessed value. Read the full press release here.
Studies confirm what Scott’s Addition residents already feel: this neighborhood is one of Richmond’s most intense urban heat islands. Trees, soil, and shade aren’t a luxury… they’re a health issue. (Learn more about how heat impacts Richmond at Throwing Shade RVA) This park would join three other green spaces that the Greater Scott’s Addition Association has helped establish since 2018, and directly supports Richmond’s INSPIRE plan to ensure every resident is within a 10-minute walk of a park.
Help Us Reach the Goal
Acquisition Goal: $650,000
Committed so far: $250,000 | Still needed: $400,000
Every gift goes directly to a restricted fund for this acquisition.
Capital Region Land Conservancy needs to raise $400,000 to close on this property. The Barrys have committed to over $1,200,000 in donated land value, and the City of Richmond has committed $250,000 to make this happen, but we won’t reach closing day without community support. Whether your gift is $10, $100, or $1,000, every dollar will help to crowdfund Richmond’s best opportunity for more green space in Scott’s Addition. Once funded and board-approved, we’ll work with the Greater Scott’s Addition Association and the City of Richmond to design and activate the space for the neighborhood’s 3,000 residents.
The Barrys already showed what’s possible a decade ago when they dug up their own parking lot and created a neighborhood dog park. People still stop to say thank you to them. This time, we have the chance to make something that lasts forever and to move Richmond one step closer to the promise of nature within steps of every home.
