Albemarle’s growth management policy calls for residential development to be focused in designated areas and for amenities to be in place for the people who live there. However, there are not many parks in the urban sections of the county.
This year, Albemarle County is moving ahead with plans to convert a stormwater basin on Hillsdale Drive into a pocket park. Staff applied for a site development plan on March 10 and a dashboard on the Civic Access tracking website states that the review is due on April 20, 2026.
The budget for the project is $420,000 and comes out of a $1.65 million fund set aside by the Board of Supervisors in the FY26 budget for pocket parks.
The site plan itself is in the land use portal called Civic Access. The only other attachment is a March 13 letter from the Virginia Department of Transportation stating no objections to the plans. Take a look!
Albemarle held a community meeting for the pocket park last November and 33 people attended. There was then a community survey on Engage Albemarle that had 53 responses. A second community meeting will be held later this year.
Abbey Stumpf, the county’s director of communications and public engagement, said decisions still need to be made on what equipment will be selected and what other amenities might appear.
“Several community driven themes have already shaped the concept, including…a preference for a nature forward, contemplative, passive pocket park experience,” Stumpf said.
Stumpf also said there is in interested in having multiple ways for people to move around the park based on skill level.
“In response, the design includes an [Americans with Disabilities Act]-accessible paved trail at the upper portion of the site, along with a primitive grass trail that leads toward the wetland area at the bottom,” Stumpf said.
For more on the Hillsdale pocket park, visit Engage Albemarle. There is a similar process underway for Charlotte Humphris Park as well.
Before you go: The goal of Town Crier Productions is to increase awareness about what is happening at the local, regional, state, and federal government levels. Please share the work with others if you want people to know things. Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for this article which was originally published in the March 31, 2026 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. You can either subscribe through Substack or make a charitable contribution.
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