Detailed planning of Virginia Museum of Natural History Waynesboro campus included in state budget
Published Wednesday, May. 19, 2021, 2:16 pm
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Image courtesy Virginia Museum of Natural History
Funding for the design of the Virginia Museum of Natural History campus in Waynesboro has been included in the state budget, which will allow the museum to move forward with design work for the new museum facility.
“This is an exciting milestone in the museum’s pursuance of a permanent presence in the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley region,” said Faye Cooper, chair of the VMNH Board of Trustees’ Waynesboro Advocacy Committee. “With this bill, VMNH is now able to move beyond the conceptual design stage of a new museum facility in Waynesboro, to the development of detailed designs.
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WAYNESBORO A concept more than 20 years in the making, the Virginia Museum of Natural History s Waynesboro location is now come to fruition thanks to state funding for its design.
Waynesboro city staff and residents gathered Wednesday afternoon for the site unveiling in downtown. According to Greg Hitchin, the city s economic development director, the idea for establishing an interpretive center focused on natural resources can be traced back to the first Virginia Fly Fishing Festival in 2000.
The Center for Coldwaters Restoration, a volunteer group that was formed in 2010, helped spark the building of the education pavilion in Constitution Park along with the vision and contributions from the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited and Dominion Energy, a release said.
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An aerial view of the proposed new museum. (Virginia Museum of Natural History rendering)
In a land not so far away, but a time before a world-wide pandemic, discussion began about building a $10.4 million branch of the Virginia Museum of Natural History in the Shenandoah Valley town of Waynesboro. So, a year ago at this point, [the museum] got put into the state budget [as part of capital improvement projects], said Greg Hitchin, Waynesboro s director of economic development and tourism.
Despite the
COVID-19 pandemic, Hitchin said the museum remains in the state budget, but on hold until funds are ready. He added that it is 100 percent based on when the state puts money back into that line item [of the state budget].