Isle of Wight County Parks and Recreation has a new plan for Henry H. Bradby Park.

The latest proposal for the 52-acre Rushmere-centric park, which has been on the county’s drawing board since 2008, calls for a phased approach to its construction.

“Right now we’re designing phase one,” Parks and Recreation Director Mike Frickanisce told county supervisors on Oct. 17.

The proposed park is named for Henry H. Bradby, who represented the Hardy District on Isle of Wight’s Board of Supervisors for many years and was the first African American to be elected to the Board of Supervisors and to serve as its chairman.

The entrance to the park would be located off Woodmere Drive, roughly a half-mile from Tyler’s Beach, 1.7 miles from Fort Huger and just over a mile north of Route 10.

A circa-2010 conceptual plan had called for the construction of an indoor recreation center and community meeting room, gymnasium with fitness equipment, library, museum and an outdoor swimming pool, as well as multipurpose sports fields, a walking trail and an amphitheater. The county began the process of updating the now 14-year-old plans in 2020 by surveying Rushmere residents on their preferences for amenities the park should offer.

Frickanisce said the first phase of the latest proposal calls for a walking trail, picnic pavilion, playground and basketball court, as well as a prefabricated maintenance shed that would house equipment for Bradby Park, Fort Huger and Tyler’s Beach.

“This project has been on the books for a long time,” said Supervisor Rudolph Jefferson, who represents the former Hardy District, now District 3, which includes the Rushmere area.

The idea, Frickanisce said, is for families to be able to spend several hours at Bradby Park during the day. The playground, he said, would be designed for ages 5-12.

The walking trail would be roughly a mile long.

Frickanisce said the circa-2008 cost for the entire park was estimated at that time at $16 million. The county presently has just over $800,000 budgeted.

The first phase, Frickanisce said, is estimated at $89,243 for pre-construction engineering services and $1.9 million for construction. Roughly $400,000 of that cost is a contingency budget for unplanned expenses.

One of the largest costs, Frickanisce said, will entail clearing trees from the heavily wooded parcel. That’s why the first phase focuses on the walking trail, which would require minimal clearing.

Jefferson asked about indoor facilities residents could use during the winter months. Frickanisce said those would be built in a future phase of the park.

Frickanisce did not estimate when the first phase’s construction could start.