South Greensboro Area Plan - Public Review Draft - 9.25.25

Greensboro places great value on its vast system of parks and open spaces. Greensboro’s park system includes botanical gardens, greenways, recreation centers, and inclusive playgrounds, all designed to promote wellness, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. Within the south Greensboro study area, the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department manages parks and open spaces such as Brown Community Park, Greenhaven Park, Shannon Hills Park, Shannon Woods Park, Woodlea Park, and part of the Allen Middle School campus. The City of Greensboro owns approximately 200 acres of parks, open space, and floodplain within the study area. Of that, only about 60 acres are currently designated as parks. The planned park on City of Greensboro owned land along Short Farm Road (just outside of the study area) is about 33 acres. The City of Greensboro property west of Brown Community Park, planned for that park’s expansion, is about 12 acres. These two areas will substantially increase the amount of park space serving the area to about 105 acres (or 2% of the study area). However, according to the Trust for Public Land, the amount of parkland as a percentage of the entire City of Greensboro area is 8.6%, far greater than that of south Greensboro. More park space is needed in the study area. The map on page 80 further explores access to park space. As discussed in other parts of this plan, the south Greensboro study area contains hundreds of acres of undeveloped land and a great deal of interstitial land that is not able to be developed for various reasons. With the right master plan, strategies, funding, and other efforts these parcels have the potential to become future parks, greenway corridors, nature preserves, and other assets to the larger parks and open space system. The ideas in this chapter, as well as those found throughout the plan, provide some direction on how existing parks can be improved and new parks can be added. 05.02 Parks & Open Space

Basketball Court at Greenhaven Park (Source: Bolton & Menk)

Draft

Greenway along Ryan Creek (Source: Bolton & Menk)

Shannon Hills Park (Source: Bolton & Menk)

Opposite page: Brown Community Park (Source: Bolton & Menk)

72 / SOUTH GREENSBORO AREA PLAN

ENVIRONMENT, PARKS, AND OPEN SPACE

PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFT - 9/25/25