Approved Park Conceptual Design

At its September 24 meeting, Harrisonburg City Council voted to approve the conceptual plans presented by Build Our Park.

Location
The park will be developed on land owned by the City of Harrisonburg, located between the Turner Pavilion and the Lindsey Funeral Home property. The west border will be Liberty Street, and the east border will be the alley and pocket park behind the Municipal Building. These boundaries are consistent with, but scaled back from the recommendations of the Urban Land Institute study and the Harrisonburg Downtown 2040 Master Plan.

Guiding Principles

Based on the experience of other urban parks but tailored to the unique local needs and aspirations, the Build Our Park board adopted the following guiding principles:

Keep the park people-focused, child friendly, inclusive and accessible by promoting positive social relationships, multi-generational use and multicultural life.
Actively design park amenities to support program activities to appeal to a broad range of interests and diverse populations.
Create a civic plaza and open space to celebrate community and to support large and small programs, activities and events.
Develop a park that features history, the arts, plants, and area natural resources.
Collaborate with the Farmers Market as a key park amenity.
Make the park as nature based, sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible.
Create and reinforce linkages to, from and through the park to neighboring areas to encourage public access, cycling and walking.
Make the park a catalyst for downtown development by attracting a diversity of businesses, services, residents and visitors.
Form a future park conservancy to provide financial support and citizen input into ongoing park maintenance and programming.

Urban Context

The City of Harrisonburg is located in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia, approximately two hours equidistant from Washington D.C. and Richmond. With a population of just over 55,000, the City is one of the largest municipalities in the Valley and twelfth largest in the State. Harrisonburg is also the county seat of Rockingham County. Harrisonburg’s large German, Brethren, Mennonite, Hispanic, African American, Asian, and Eastern European ethnic populations provide unique cultural diversity to the region.

Harrisonburg has a rich agricultural tradition and continues to rely on agriculture as part of the City’s economic development. The popular Downtown Farmer’s Market held in the Turner Pavilion symbolizes the region’s growing agrotourism industry, exemplified by area farm and winery tours, with emphasis on locally grown produce and goods.

The area’s burgeoning technology and biotechnology sectors amplify Harrisonburg’s economy. City initiated technology centers, including the Harrisonburg Technology Park and Harrisonburg Downtown Technology Zone, play a significant role in furthering Harrisonburg’s reputation as a technology incubator.

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