POLL: Downtown Children's Splash Park
How much do you know about Williamsburg's plans to borrow $6.5M to build a history-themed play area in Peacock Hill neighborhood?
During a recent budget retreat, the Williamsburg City Council discussed the possibility of borrowing $6.5M to build a children’s history-themed park downtown in the Peacock Hill neighborhood, near Colonial Williamsburg. According to a presentation by the City’s financial advisors, the City already plans to open the new facility in June 2026. It states the park will be “designed to include a splash pad that is public art, sand play, climbing centers, slides, and a carousel, all themed to Williamsburg’s historical context and design standards.”
The presentation also claims that the project is “ultimately expected to be paid back by grants, development, and excess fund balance (if necessary).” Yet, in their rush to push this project forward, the City actually needs to borrow the money in advance. No telling how much money they are actually going to need from the “excess fund balance.” I’ll point out that another way to describe that fund is people’s tax money, not Council’s play fund.
The financial advisor’s presentation also makes the claim that “support has grown for a children’s park.” Really? As best I can tell, public details about this proposal are scarce at best. All I could come up with in terms of official mention of the children’s park idea was a blurb in the City’s latest GIO document (under the subtitle “Innovating A Modern City”): “Identify a funding strategy for and work toward completing the construction of a downtown children’s park that complements the design requirements of the Historic Area and facilitates interactive history.” If you know of more, please let me know.
I don’t know if building a history-themed children’s park downtown is a good idea or not, though it seems like a neat concept. My guess is a slick presentation will be presented eventually, at which point the City will force local residents to react. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, developing a discretionary $6M tourism project shouldn’t be done in secrecy with special interests. Nor should finding details about the project be difficult when the City Council is already discussing ways to finance the project in their next budget.
Rather than being something asked for by the community, I’m wondering if this is just someone’s pet project. I’m certainly happy to look at any justification the City can produce that reveals where the idea actually originated (other than vague references to the problematic Future Festivals surveys). What was the source of this idea if not the community expected to pay for it? Why do we know so little about it?
(Update 2-17-24: more public information about the downtown splash park)
A Williamsburg Planning Commission Work session on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 included a “staff presentation on proposed capital improvement program for FY26-FY30.” On page 49 of the 121 page document, the “Downtown Children’s Park” is presented. The document indicates that the City paid $50K in FY24 for a conceptual design and site selection. Turns out that the proposed location is 201 N. Henry St., which is currently open pasture land (the map above as been updated with the new location).
I also found the same blurb listed in the GIO on a page on the City’s website with a breadcrumb that looks like this: Government > Transparency > Goals, Initiatives, and Outcomes > Track Our Progress > Innovating a Modern City > Children’s Park. I hope I’m not the only one who sees the irony in that.
(Update 2-18-25: spelling)
George Arbogust is Founder and Editor of the Williamsburg Independent. You can contribute too! Email tips and story ideas: contact@williamsburgindependent.com