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Park & Facility Planning
Welcome to the Parks, Recreation and Tourism's Park and Facility Planning Division which consists of Park and Facility Planning, Urban Forestry and Landscape Design.
The department is actively working towards a 10-minute walk goal ensuring that all Chesapeake residents live within a 10-minute walk from a public park or meaningful open space. To achieve this goal, park planning staff works with citizens, city staff, and other stakeholders to acquire, design, and improve parks throughout the City of Chesapeake.
Parks, Recreation and Tourism acquires land for future parks through purchase, subdivision requirements, and donations. The department's Park Planner works with real estate agents, developers, architectural and engineering firms, citizens, and state and federal officials to acquire, master plan, and develop these properties into future parks. In addition, park planning duties include working on park and environmental issues with various departments such as Planning, Public Works, the Geographic Information System (GIS) committee, and the Chesapeake Historic Preservation Committee.
At present, the Chesapeake park system contains more than 80 parks with 2,453 acres of land, excluding athletic fields.
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Parks, Recreation & Tourism
Physical Address
1224 Progressive Drive
Chesapeake Visitor Center
Chesapeake, VA 23320
Phone: 757-382-6411Fax: 757-277-9365
Our landscape design staff aims to beautify our City’s built environment through the design, installation, and maintenance of attractive foundation landscaping around City facilities such as community centers, libraries, and other municipal buildings. In addition to plantings around buildings, landscape designing also enhances more natural areas in the City’s parks, to include meadow-making and park gateway signage.
Newton Neck Park - As approved at the January 25, 2022 Chesapeake City Council meeting via Resolution (22-R-08) and facilitated by the Living River Restoration Trust (LRT), the City of Chesapeake accepted a deed from Southport Land Corporation and executed a grant agreement with the state relating to the purchase of the Newton Neck property for use as a public park. This unique and beautiful 90-acre waterfront property is located on the southern branch of the Elizabeth River at 5550 Bainbridge Point. The transfer of deed for the Newton Neck property took place on January 31, 2022, and the property was accepted into the City's park system. City staff met with citizens on November 29, 2022 to discuss the community's vision for this property.
Battlefield Park South - Battlefield Park South is located at 116 Reservation Road, adjacent to the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal and southwest of the Great Bridge Bridge. The park has already experienced a variety of improvements, including the moving of the Battle of Great Bridge monument, the addition of gateway signage with landscaping, a sidewalk from Battlefield Boulevard to the overlook, and improved permanent breastworks for the Battle reenactment. Next up is the addition of more sidewalks throughout the site, tree plantings, an improved parking lot, picnic shelters, and a welcome archway for tourists visiting the site via boat.
The Chesapeake Tree List - The team has been hard at work creating a new tree list document to guide the citizens of Chesapeake in tree selection. The list contains a variety of tree sizes and types with detailed information about site conditions needed for different tree types to thrive.
Upcoming Events and Activities
- September 23 - Bike Your Park Day
- September 30 - Trash Can Painting Contest
- October 7 - Invasive Plant Removal Days
- October 7 - Chesapeake Celebrates Trees
- November 18 - Invasive Plant Removal Days
- December 9 - Invasive Plant Removal Days @(Model.BulletStyle == CivicPlus.Entities.Modules.Layout.Enums.BulletStyle.Decimal ? "ol" : "ul")>