Expanding the Park Footprint

Gordonsville’s public pool has served the community for seven decades and has provided countless hours of water fun, opportunities to learn to swim and the life skill to safely enjoy water activities. Created by philanthropic-minded families and enhanced by community efforts, the pool has been a focal point. As the only public pool between Charlottesville and Fredericksburg it draws children from the surrounding counties. For many years the community has recognized that the pool was in desperate need of replacement. A decade ago, while their children were still young, parents raised almost $70,000 (mostly from bake sales) for a new pool.

These funds were a great foundation for the re-energized project. Sparked by the fresh look at the town in a UVA graduate level planning project, an organization of community volunteers formed Town To Trail. The first project for this group was raising $35,000 in private contributions to donate to the town for the first acquisition in the revamped park footprint. This parcel along with the town’s subsequent acquisition of the former CSX property completed the park block.

As a vacant lot and available properties became available, Town To Trail raised additional funds from private contributions and generous friends and neighbors. Working with PEC, the purchase of these additional properties expanded the park space. These parcels have been donated to the town. The footprint of the park now flows to connect with the Firemen’s Fairground owned by the Gordonsville Volunteer Fire Company and used for community events such as the Gordonsville Fried Chicken Festival.

The acquisition phase defining the new park network winding through town attracted about $700,000 in private, municipal, and state funding.

From Concept To Reality

The acquisition phase was a heavy lift. The Town Council interviewed many design firms and chose Charlottesville-based Land Planning and Design Associates (LPDA) as our partner to design a park that would fit seamlessly into the town. Utilizing community input from a series of meeting in 2017, Phase One was envisioned that would include key elements including new park infrastructure, a regulation-size pool, bathhouse, pavilion, and playground.  Working with LPDA, a concept budget for this phase was developed and originally estimated at $3 million.

In March of 2022, the town successfully applied for and was one of 6 requests in the state to receive a large grant from the National Park Service for Phase One. The town was well positioned for the grant with initially conceptional planning, ownership of the property and $1.6 million in matching funds including a pledge of $1 million from The Manning Family Foundation and over eighty additional generous contributors. With the match the funds multiplied to $3.2 million. This is about one-half of the funds needed to complete Phase One, so fundraising continues!

Following summer bid solicitation and contractor selection in the fall, contract award is pending and construction is expected to begin in February 2024.

Moving from concept to design has been the focus of many hours for Town Council and LPDA. Cost have continued to increase since the original estimate. Additional funds are needed to complete phase one.

How Can You Help?

Every dollar you donate qualifies for matching funds, making every dollar donated worth two dollars toward making Phase One a reality.

Donate and Double Up!