Project Overview
After decades of promises, unrealized plans, and crumbling infrastructure, the City of Pensacola secured funding to support a redesign and development of Hollice T. Williams Park and Long Hollow Stormwater Pond. This 110-acre site required both critical flood control improvements and a community-centered park design. As the site of a thriving neighborhood displaced by the construction of Interstate 110 in the 1970’s, there were long-standing historical challenges, distrust, and suspicion of any changes to the current largely vacant park.
We supported the project design team with a comprehensive community engagement and stakeholder outreach strategy designed to elevate the voices of residents and stakeholders, and ensure the $25 million redevelopment project reflected authentic community input.
1,080+
Residents and neighbors engaged in the design process.
31
Public events, stakeholder meetings, and topic workshops.
1,327
Visual preference data points collected.
455
Survey responses via online and paper questionnaires.
The Challenge
More than 50 years ago, hundreds of largely African-American homes, businesses, churches, and families were displaced from Pensacola’s Eastside Neighborhood during the construction of the I-110 interstate spur. As in many other urban areas, this highway construction disconnected neighborhoods, destroyed communities, and created an emotional and physical rift in the City.
The past two decades had seen several iterations, designs, and ideas for constructing a park to reconnect this neighborhood, but those had failed to secure public support or funding. Because of this, it was imperative to the design team that we approach this project with sensitivity, sincerity, and honesty.
In addition, the technical aspects of this project presented several complex, interconnected challenges. The existing stormwater infrastructure was inadequate, contributing to massive flooding in adjacent neighborhoods and downtown Pensacola. The existing stormwater infrastructure also allowed untreated water runoff into Pensacola Bay.
The City secured $25 million in grant funding for this transformational project, but success depended on meaningful community engagement to ensure the final design would serve the community’s needs while addressing critical stormwater management.
"This project has set the standard for what community engagement in our City should look like."
Approach
Our community engagement strategy recognized both the technical complexity of stormwater management and the deep emotional connection residents had to this historically significant space.
We developed a layered approach to our outreach and engagement, combining larger community meetings with smaller, topic-focused meetings, and both online and offline engagement tools.
These served as an opportunity to not only hear from residents and community members, but also allowed the design team to explain some of the complex constraints, tradeoffs, and challenges facing the project.
We began by convening community leaders and key stakeholders to introduce the project team and gather initial input. We then expanded outreach to a diverse cross-section of community members through direct mail, social media, and local partnerships. The HTWPensacola.com website provided ongoing project updates and collected continuous community input through online surveys.
Throughout the design process, we conducted regular community meetings and feedback sessions, ensuring the evolving Vision Plan incorporated community input at each stage. This transparency and collaborative approach helped to build trust throughout the process, as we were able to point to specific community-requested updates, changes, or additions in each iteration of the design plan.
Results
This year-long engagement process culminated in a highly successful final community design meeting on October 21, 2025, which drew 120+ area residents, numerous City staff and elected officials. It also featured an innovative 63-foot floor map that allowed attendees to walk on it and physically explore the updated designs for the 34-acre Phase 1 development.
The process received overwhelmingly positive community feedback on the updated designs, which incorporated important changes based on community input, and was recognized as a model for future community engagement efforts in the City.
With the park and stormwater design finalized, the City of Pensacola expects to begin construction on the first phase at Hollice T. Williams Park and Long Hollow Stormwater Pond in early 2026.
We look forward to watching this transformative project come to life, reconnecting this historic neighborhood and providing much-needed park and stormwater improvements to the community.
Special thanks to the project design team, led by Geosyntec Consultants, supported by park designers Michael Van Valkenberg Associates, and landscape architects Jerry Pate Design.
Need help engaging your community around a complex infrastructure or development project? We’d be glad to discuss how strategic community engagement can turn challenging projects into community successes.
