As design committee OKs revised Brown’s Island plan, members weigh corporate vibe vs. ‘wildness’

After being interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, Richmond’s $30 million plan to revamp Brown’s Island is picking up speed.

On Thursday, the city’s Urban Design Committee signed off on a new conceptual design for the island on the James River that’s used as a park and venue for concerts, festivals and other events.

What started as a push to plant more trees on the man-made island has evolved into a bigger project that would add a wide variety of new features, including a flexible-use pavilion, permanent restrooms, a splash pad and slide for kids, terraces and an enhanced approach to the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge that connects the north and south sides of the river. 

The idea, according to project planners, is to make the 6-acre island more usable and create more ways for Richmonders and out-of-town visitors to connect with the river.

Work on the project — which will be paid for by a combination of city funds and the fundraising efforts of Venture Richmond, a nonprofit that promotes downtown and leases the island from the city — could get underway by the end of 2025.

“I think this is a huge opportunity for the city,” said Damon Pearson, an architect who serves as one of the UDC’s citizen members. “It’s very exciting.”

The city has already budgeted $10 million for the project.

The design work on the Brown’s Island project is being handled by local firms Timmons Group and 3North. An earlier design was approved in 2019, but enough changes have been made to the revised plan — crafted with input from a previous public survey — that it needed a new review by the UDC. A finalized design is expected to be approved later this year.

“There needs to be more shade. There needs to be more bathrooms. There needs to be more things to do. And there needs to be better connectivity to the river,” 3north landscape architect Andrea Almond said as she described what the project team heard in the survey and what they’re trying to accomplish with the new design.

The city’s design committee — which reviews public projects and makes recommendations to the city Planning Commission — approved the revised conceptual plan unanimously, but only after making a few new suggestions. Several members raised concerns that building up the island too much would detract from the natural beauty of the river, which they said should be the main attraction.

Committee member Jessie Gemmer, a local architect, said the “magic” of the river is nature jutting up against downtown.

“I think that wildness is missing from this,” she said. “Obviously you can’t design for wildness. But it is feeling more corporate than it has to.”

Echoing Gemmer’s comments, citizen member Charles Woodson said there’s maybe “too much on this pizza” and some things should be taken off.

“I think everything should be scaled back,” he said. “Because the river is the star here. The river is what’s bringing people here. And we need to exalt that river. And we need to respect that river.”

Woodson said planners should remember nothing built on the edge of the James is permanent, “because the river can take all of this stuff down to Hopewell in the blink of an eye.”

One problem the project planners are hoping to solve is too much wildness on the southern side of the island facing the river. That area, said 3north landscape architect Andrea Almond, is “fully covered with invasive plants.”

“Those are what are blocking your view of the river,” she said.

The plan for that side of the island calls for removing the invasive vegetation and adding terraced seating areas that would “allow visitors to get closer to the river than any other place on the island and provide a new place to sit, visit with people and experience the majesty of the river.”

There are already better river views from the part of the island that lies beneath the Manchester Bridge, Almond said, but that gravel area is underused because it feels like a “back of house” space behind where the stage is set up during concert season.

The plan for that end of the island — dubbed the “Manchester Breezeway” — includes a paved plaza, pavilion and more terraces that would make the space more usable throughout the year and better connect the island to the Canal Walk. The pavilion would be an extension of the concert stage, with office space, a green room for performers, restrooms and a kiosk for “rotating vendors.”

On the side of the island facing downtown, an area called “The Point” would have a splash pad, a slide and other “nature play features” that create a family-friendly spot as visitors arrive over the 7th Street pedestrian bridge.

A “Haxall Gardens” area next to the Haxall Canal would feature plants, art, a new dock for watercraft and floating islands in the canal itself.

On the western side of the island, planners envision an area they’re calling “The Lookout,” which will have more amenities and a widened approach to the Potterfield Bridge. The area will also feature a restroom building with six stalls, a vendor kiosk, water fountains, swings, hammock posts and another dock with some sort of sign making it clearer to out-of-towners they’ve arrived at Brown’s Island.

The sign showed in design renderings was a sticking point at Tuesday’s meeting, with some attendees suggesting it looked over-the-top or tacky.

“I find that very offensive,” said Oregon Hill resident Charles Pool, the only person who spoke about the design during a public comment period. “You don’t see that in any of the other parks, some kind of display of a huge sign of where you are. We don’t do that.”

Committee member Eva Clarke, an environmental advocate and arborist, seemed to concur with Pool on the sign.

“The fact that would be so visible right on the edge of the river I do think is not appropriate,” she said.

During the UDC’s two-hour review of the Brown’s Island plan, other concerns were raised about how Venture Richmond would keep the restrooms in good condition and how they might be used by “urban campers” known to frequent the riverfront. Almond said the restroom building could be closed down in the evenings, but would be open during the day even when no special events are happening on the island.

To address the broader concern about too much of Brown’s Island being filled with new features and hard surfaces, the committee added a new recommendation to reduce the amount of built space and leave more of the island in an undeveloped state. The committee also formally suggested more character-defining architectural features that would better distinguish Brown’s Island as a unique Richmond location.

Despite the quibbles, committee members praised the design’s big picture and said the island’s overhaul would be a significant upgrade.

“I think we need to tweak it a little bit. But overall, it’s on point,” said landscape architect Luigi Mignardi.

Committee member Victor McKenzie Jr., who also serves on the Planning Commission, said his mind kept going to how he and his family might use the island’s new features.

“I have a 5-year-old daughter,” he said. “And I thought, man, we’d have a blast.”