The City of Richmond Hill has officially announced the ownership of Robert “Bobby” Carpenter Park, through a transfer process with Bryan County.

Located in The Bottom neighborhood, the City of Richmond Hill has plans to convert the park into a passive park. 

A passive park is commonly defined as a park used for less structured recreational activity–which rules out any sports facilities or playgrounds. Instead, passive parks typically feature walking trails, picnic areas, gardens, and other related amenities.

“We want to return it to the original idea [of a passive park], with a mix of other uses, such as the building [there]. We’d like to use that as a community meeting space,” Mayor Russ Carpenter said. 

Bobby Carpenter Park and The Bottom neighborhood was previously known for its baseball fields, which are currently in the process of being removed as part of the transfer of ownership. 

However, Carpenter hopes that the city will honor the park’s sports heritage in a new way. 

“We want to do something for the history [of the park]. There are a lot of people who have played baseball or football there. “We would like to do a display, a permanent display inside the building.”

Although plans for the passive park are still preliminary, Richmond Hill residents are encouraged to voice their ideas and “share their vision” for the park’s future. 

“We’re still in the beginning stages of planning,” Carpenter added. “We’ll go through the whole process [of planning] and decide what we’re going to use it for.”