COMMENTARY: City's Plan for $6M Splash Park Lacks Transparency
FOIA response contains few additional details about project's source, scope or funding
The plan to build a children’s splash park in downtown Williamsburg seems to be moving forward with limited public awareness or input. And even the scant details released to the public seem to keep changing.
What is known is that the City proposes to borrow $6M to build the park on land owned by Colonial Williamsburg at the corner of N. Henry St. and Prince George St. The site is currently open pasture land, where a couple of cows grazed recently.
What isn’t publicly known still includes:
How much the project will actually cost the City - the cost figure has already changed several times
The scope and appearance of the park - no renderings or drawings have been released
The agreement with Colonial Williamsburg - details about spending public money to build on private land have not been disclosed
Project Cost
A review of the limited public data available for this projects shows that the project’s numbers continue to change. For example, the FY24 adopted budget summary first introduced the project as a “Downtown Fountain Feature” with expected costs totaling $550K. A year later in FY25, the project was expanded and relabeled a “Children’s Park,” with a new price tag of $6M. The stated plan at the time was for the City to get $3M in donations and $3M in grants. But now, as the budget for FY26 is being worked out, the City Council is considering borrowing the entire $6M+ to complete the project as quickly as possible. The likely reason is to have the park built in time for the Country’s 250th celebration.
FOIA request
Since the details about the children’s park are scarce, I filed a FOIA request with the City in order to fill in some of the gaps in information regarding the project. Once again, all communication by the City Manager was withheld as a matter of policy, without review or consideration of the requested content. As I’ve written before, the City has the right to do this, but it’s still a choice being made. Whether the City Manager made this decision unilaterally, or if this policy has been approved by City Council is unclear. Either way, I believe the City’s standard of secrecy leaves a massive gap in public knowledge about many issues, not just this project.
Project planning
The FOIA response revealed that City staff have been working on the idea since at least July 2023, when a meeting invite about the topic was sent to multiple staff on behalf of the City Manager, Andrew Trivette. The email included the Assistant City Manager, the City Attorney, Planning Director, head of Parks and Rec, Economic Development Director, the tourism manager, and even the City’s graphic designer.
Project design
The FOIA response showed that Council Member Barbara Ramsey directly emailed the City’s graphic designer about the children’s park several times. One email was sent in April 2024, when she wrote, “Thanks for your time last week and all the work you've done on the children's park - I'm so excited about it; just wish I had $ to donate!” In another email sent in December 2024, Ramsey asked the City’s graphic designer for updated design renderings of the project.
A copy of the FOIA request and the City’s responses can be downloaded here:
Lack of transparency
Since the City Manager and staff have been working on the project since at least July 2023, it’s hard to understand why residents still know almost nothing about the project’s details, including its inception or funding. And despite the fact that the City produced concept designs as early as April 2024, none have been made available to the public.
Overall, the information provided by the City in response to the FOIA request seems woefully incomplete to adequately inform the public. There are still serious gaps between what’s been decided about this project behind closed doors and what’s been disclosed. For example, the City’s FOIA response lacked any significant background information on how the project originated or documents related to subsequent decisions. It also lacked supporting documentation for information presented to both the public and City Council.
While seeking clarification on whether this information could be provided, I was informed: "You asked for correspondence and memoranda regarding the children’s park at Peacock Hill. There were no memoranda. There is no other correspondence that was generated with the search terms ‘Children’s Park’ and ‘Peacock Hill’ for council or pertinent staff. There were no date restrictions in the search. You were sent the records produced as a result of the search using those terms, excluding the records indicated in my prior email.”
Questions remain
It’s interesting that this project seemingly appeared out of the blue, has subsequently ballooned in scope and cost, and now will require public debt to make it happen. Yet, somehow none of this activity generated any paper trail the City can (or will) reveal beyond a couple of budget statements which were ultimately inaccurate, plus a few nondescript emails. As a result, some of the questions that remain unanswered are:
Where did the idea for this park originate? The first mention of the children’s park in City documents provided in their FOIA response is in an email between City staff in July 2023. Yet, the project was approved by the City Council in November 2022 as part of a small snippet in the GIO. Apparently, no public information exists about the decision to include the project in the document, so the origibal impetus for the project remains unknown.
What’s the agreement with Colonial Williamsburg for land? The public should know more about the plan to spend public tax dollars to build a park on private property owned by Colonial Williamsburg.
Why has proposed funding for the project changed? Apparently, borrowing money is now required in order to complete the project. Yet the status of any grants or donations has not been publicly disclosed. A presentation by the City’s financial advisor indicated that the City has not been able to secure the needed donations and grants so far.
What is the scope and appearance of the project? Without publicly releasing any conceptual drawings of the mysterious project in the center of town, the City Council seems poised to authorize the project along with $6M+ in public debt.
Does the project have public support? The FOIA response indicates that neighbors raised concerns with the City about redeveloping this land as far back as 2019. And there’s also the question of whether residents want to spend money on an attraction like this at a time when costs are going up, revenues are slowing and the City is tightening its belt.
These are all questions to which the public deserves answers. But perhaps the most important issue is whether the continued lack of transparency by the City’s government is ultimately acceptable to residents.
George Arbogust is Founder and Editor of the Williamsburg Independent. Consider buying him a cup of coffee.