Ruritans win award for Community Park comfort station design

By Andrea Wilkinson, Greene Ruritans
Published: October 30, 2008

The Greene Community Park is getting closer to having a comfort station offering restrooms and a concession area, thanks to support from businesses and individuals around the area. The building will be adjacent the playground, soccer fields, and family picnic shelter, which are the only such public facilities in the county, and are widely used by both children and adults.  The park also offers a disc golf course and walking / jogging / bicycle trails, which are also used by the schools’ cross country teams.  Currently, two portapotties have to accommodate the 250 youth soccer participants and all the other park users, so the new facilities will be much appreciated!
The Greene Ruritans, a local service club serving our county since 1969, has provided considerable service in the Park in the past, including providing all the labor and materials to build the large family picnic shelter.  Recently, they applied for a free design from the Charlottesville Community Design Center for the comfort station.  CCDC received 56 applications for designs, and 10 were awarded.  Greene Ruritans were honored to receive one of these awards. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, which is a volunteer group assisting in park and recreational activity planning, provided the initial draft of the building floor plan which was a part of the design application.  The building subcommittee volunteers were headed up by Lori Gore and Bob Burkholder.  The initial draft process included several meetings of the entire Advisory Committee, which also includes Joanne Burkholder, Andrea Wilkinson, Aaron Gilbert, Dale Herring, BoS liaison Carl Schmitt, and staffers Julius Bates and Jeff Bilker, to discuss ideas, along with Planning Department Director Bart Svoboda and County Administrator Barry Clark.  Brian Daly, Assistant Director of Charlottesville Parks, also volunteered to consult with the group.
Professionals working on the final designs, which were completed at the Charlottesville Community Design Center on October 10, included landscape designer Brad Priest, architect Andy Thomas, engineer Alex Foraste, and planner Mandy Burbage.  Designs provided included a site plan for the area around the comfort station, perspective drawings, and a floor plan for the building.  Designs for environmentally friendly planting areas to handle water runoff from the parking lot and building site, provide shade for users, and enhance the attractiveness of our Park were also provided.  The designs will be on display at the CCDC facility on the downtown mall for a month starting November 7th.  The Ruritans plan to begin some of the recommended plantings about mid-November.
The Ruritans ran a benefit golf tournament last year which had wide community support, netting over $9,000.  The Ruritans applied for a matching grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation last year, and received a grant of $5,000.  A selective timbering of the park netted $20,000, which county government has allocated towards construction of the park building.  These funds will all be applied to construction of the comfort station.  More funds will be needed to complete construction, so Ruritans are hoping that members of the community who are able, will assist in this effort.  If you can contribute money or labor towards this effort, please contact Andrea Wilkinson, Ruritans Grant Committee Chairperson, at 985-3870, or Julius Bates, Director of Parks and Recreation Department, at 985-5226.  We hope to see you all at the Park!