A green space between Lynchburg’s Tyreeanna and Pleasant Valley neighborhoods is set to get a makeover this spring, and city officials want to hear residents’ thoughts on the project.
During a Thursday public meeting, residents can view designs for the proposed improvements and talk with city staff and design consultants one-on-one to give feedback and ask questions. The event will be hosted from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Virginia Cooperative Extension office on Concord Turnpike.
The Tyreeanna and Pleasant Valley neighborhoods connect downtown Lynchburg to U.S. 29 and the U.S. 460 bypass. The area was a part of Campbell County until it was annexed by the city in 1976, according to a neighborhood plan adopted in May 2022.
The area has a wide array of redevelopment needs, which were first identified in a 2003 neighborhood plan that “has remained largely unimplemented due to a lack of funding,” according to the more recent 2022 plan. The lack of progress “has eroded trust between the Tyreeanna/Pleasant Valley community and the City,” the plan reads.
The 2022 plan combines input from residents, a project steering committee, city staff and planning consultants from Hill Studio to envision opportunities for sustainable community development. It outlines challenges the area faces, including:
- A lack of sidewalks and bike lanes makes transportation difficult without a car;
- Infrastructure constraints, including the absence of sewer service;
- Sites that require environmental testing and remediation prior to development, including the site of the Tyreeanna landfill.
Such a large-scale plan requires baby steps of progress, said Charlotte Lester, a neighborhood planner of the city’s Community Development Planning Division. She said she hopes every step rebuilds the trust that may have been lost over the decades.
“This is a long-term vision. And, of course, there are going to be some projects that are easier and quicker, and some that are much more long term, and everything in between,” she said. “I think it’s important to show some progress and to deliver as the resources are available.”
Resources are available today, she said, thanks to a $118,000 federal Community Development Block Grant.
That funding will be put toward a project to enhance an existing green space between Concord Turnpike and Spinoza Circle, Lester said. Plans call for adding a walking path, seating and landscaping to create a community space that “hits at that really core aspect of building the neighborhood identity.”
The green space will also create a connection to the Megginson Rosenwald School, which is recognized by a state historic marker. The school, which was built in 1923 to educate the African American students in the community, was founded by a formerly enslaved man named Albert Megginson. It is one of more than 5,000 schools that were built in the rural South in the early 20th century with financial support from the Julius Rosenwald Fund, according to the 2022 neighborhood plan.
“The school buildings reflect not only one of the most ambitious school building projects ever undertaken but they symbolize the African Americans’ struggle for educational opportunities in a segregated South,” the plan reads.
There’s no better place than a cherished historic site to start chipping away at the neighborhood’s improvement plan, Lester said.
“It’s very important to understand and build on the neighborhood identity,” she said. “Understanding that story is a crucial part of the planning process.”
Today, 45% of the neighborhood’s 625 residents identify as Black, according to the neighborhood plan.
The improvements in the Tyreeanna and Pleasant Valley neighborhoods are part of the city’s larger comprehensive plan, which establishes a vision for Lynchburg’s future up to 2030. Specific neighborhood plans, like the one for Tyreeanna and Pleasant Valley, allow city staff to take complex goals and tailor them to specific local needs — to literally walk on the paths that residents travel every day, Lester said.
“The plan gets us to the starting line, and then we have to adapt,” she said.
After Thursday’s public meeting, green space improvement plans will be finalized and a bid for construction will be posted. Lester said she expects improvements to be complete by June so residents can enjoy the space all summer long.
As for future projects in the neighborhood improvement plan, Lester said it’s a waiting game of “hitting the moving target” that is state and federal funding and continuing to adapt planning strategies as new wants and needs emerge for residents.
