Vision
Every community initiative begins with someone asking, “What if?”
Friends of Fort Getty Park is a newly formed organization, and like many community-led efforts, our vision will continue to evolve as we listen, learn, and engage with the people who care most about Fort Getty.
The letter below, written by founding member Chris Cannon, shares the ideas and inspiration that helped launch this initiative. While it reflects Chris’s perspective, it is intended to encourage thoughtful dialogue and invite others to imagine what Fort Getty’s future could become.
Letter #1: Friends of Fort Getty Park Vision and Roadmap to Its Future
By Chris Cannon, Founding Member
A Community Vision for Fort Getty Park
Fort Getty Park is one of Jamestown's greatest public assets — 41 acres of waterfront land surrounded by the beauty of Narragansett Bay, with views of the West Passage, Dutch Island, and the Jamestown Bridge. It is the only waterfront park owned by the Town of Jamestown and has the potential to become a gathering place for all 5,600 residents.
For the past fifty years, much of Fort Getty has functioned primarily as a seasonal RV campground, serving approximately 75 RV families from mid May through mid September. While that use has become a tradition for the RV families it has also limited broader community access to a significant portion of the park during the most enjoyable months of the year, but also the fall, winter and spring months.
Today, Fort Getty faces an important crossroads. Aging RV infrastructure may require up to $2.5 million or more in investments for roads, utilities, water systems, electrical service, bathrooms, and other improvements to maintain the RV campground safely and responsibly. As the Town considers these expenditures, it is appropriate to ask a larger question:
What should Fort Getty Park be for the next fifty years?
Many Jamestowners believe the park's highest and best use is as a vibrant public waterfront park that serves the entire community rather than a small seasonal RV population. They envision a place where residents can walk the shoreline, picnic with family, play sports, hang out at a dog park, watch sunsets, launch community programs, enjoy water related activities, attend events, and simply experience the natural beauty that belongs to everyone.
Importantly, some residents have expressed a willingness to consider park support by replacing approximately $325,000 of net annual RV-related income with an annual mandatory parking sticker charge if doing so allows Fort Getty to be restored and revitalized as a true community park. It’s also quite possible to raise considerable money to partially fund the restoration of the park as was done with the recent library upgrade.
It’s known that great parks create value far beyond dollars. Great parks strengthen community connections, improve quality of life, attract visitors, support local businesses, and create lasting memories for generations.
The belief is simple:
A restored Fort Getty Park can help pull together a stronger Jamestown community as we saw and felt on May 16 when over 1,000 residents got together for a picture celebrating America’s 250th birthday. It should have been July 4th but the 75 RVs take over the park then.
As elected stewards of public resources, the Jamestown Town Council has the responsibility to consider the needs and aspirations of all 5,600 residents while also considering the long history of the RV community. This should not be a conversation of winners and losers. It should be an open, respectful discussion about the future of a treasured public space.
Every Jamestowner should have a voice in shaping that future.
The mission is to bring the community together to imagine, discuss, and create a Fort Getty Park that serves the greatest number of residents, preserves the park's natural beauty, honors its history, and leaves a lasting legacy for future generations.
Our Advocacy Work
Fort Getty now has an ‘us vs. them’ feel
July 02, 2026
Jamestown has grown and evolved over the 20 years I’ve lived here, and with that growth comes a responsibility to ensure public assets like Fort Getty serve the entire community year-round.
Gathering there for a town photo recently was a reminder of how special and shared this space can be.
Yet, for the best part of the year, access is dominated by nonresident RV users. A pattern has emerged in which repeat seasonal occupants treat this space less as a public resource and more as a reserved enclave — developing routines, expectations, and informal claims that resemble ownership rather than temporary use. As a result, Fort Getty feels less welcoming to residents, creating an unnecessary “us versus them” divide.
The psychological impact is not insignificant. When a public space is used in ways that signal exclusivity, it changes how others experience it.
What is legally open to all begins to feel socially off-limits. Even if unintended, norms among returning RV users convey entitlement and discourage broader community use.
Such entitlement reinforces a cycle: seasonal users become more entrenched while residents — who should feel primary ownership — withdraw. This dynamic undermines Fort Getty’s role as a shared civic space and augments avoidable tension.
The town should prioritize equitable access, reduce the environmental impact, and make Fort Getty a place of shared belonging. Current RV use does not fit with these goals. This is an opportunity to realign Fort Getty with what the residents value and task themselves with exploring alternative revenue streams.
Jill Harrison
Sloop Street
Reworking RV sites at Getty a good idea
April 23, 2026
The Fort Getty proposal described in the April 16 issue of The Jamestown Press has much merit. The ad hoc committee should embrace it.
This proposal by committee member Bill Salmons shows a lot of thought and hard work. The level of detail is unlike anything the committee has seen.
The Salmons proposal would:
• Maintain RV revenues at current levels by increasing rates over time to a level comparable to the town-owned RV park in Middletown.
• Shift the footprint of the RV area somewhat to the east of its present location. This would free up the large expanse of open space at the top of the hill and make it fully accessible for use by all residents, all the time.
• Increase the average size of RV sites and include landscaping and vegetation.
• Award RV sites to out-of-towners via an allocation process available to everyone on equal terms. It’s time to move away from the present situation, where a nearly static cohort of mostly nonresident individuals are treated as effectively owning the right to occupy a specific taxpayer-owned piece of land for decades to the exclusion of all others.
The Salmons proposal right-sizes the RV footprint at 50 large sites — enough to maintain a neighborhood feel. It also substantially reduces the taxpayer-borne electrical upgrade cost. Most of all, it avoids a situation in which the very choicest piece of open space is a parking lot of tightly packed RVs and RV owners’ cars in the warmer months and is nothing more than a giant scar the rest of the year.
This proposal should be adopted so the committee can apply more effort and more imagination to the many possibilities this unique jewel of a park offers us and future generations.
Steve Meredith
Fort Getty Road
Look to future, not past at Fort Getty
June 04, 2026
I read Mr. Sprague’s May 21 letter, in which he states that “the future is here,” and I feel compelled to offer a few observations.
Mr. Sprague notes that for 36 weeks of the year, the site looks like the rendering “minus the trees.”
Precisely.
For most of the year, it is essentially a disused parking lot — and parking lots do not have trees.
He accurately describes that for more than 30% of the year, during some of Jamestown’s best summer weather, local residents are effectively displaced by a small, elite group of seasonal occupants, the majority of whom maintain homes off-island and fill the area with trucks, RVs and other vehicles, to the exclusion of the broader community.
Furthermore, the revenue generated is only a fraction of the $500,000 figure that is often cited. Even if that number were accurate, it would represent just 1.5% of Jamestown’s annual budget — and it is likely closer to 0.7%.
That amount could be raised in ways that are far more sustainable than continuing to operate and accept the liability of what is, in effect, a trailer park.
If we are discussing finances, we also should consider the cost of necessary infrastructure upgrades — rebuilding the potable water system, removing and replacing the electrical pedestals, increasing service to 50 amps per trailer, upgrading the cables serving the park and expanding the capacity of the distribution transformers. Those costs would run into the millions.
Mr. Sprague points to other areas on the island, but is that a reason to disrespect Fort Getty Park? We should be looking for ways to improve this space for everyone, rather than remaining paralyzed by the past. The goal should be inclusion not exclusion.
Peter Wilson
Fort Getty Road
Time to reimagine Fort Getty potential
March 12, 2026
Fort Getty could be a crown jewel for islanders to enjoy and proudly share with visitors.
The town’s comprehensive plan identified the need to make coastal, scenic, historic views and open space a priority. Fort Getty is a town-owned resource with spectacular views of the West Passage, Dutch Island, the bay, the bridge and the ocean that could meet this town mandate.
A permanent Fort Getty committee and a master plan are needed to identify, prioritize and implement new revenue sources, capital improvements and best shared use of the park and its waterfront.
Refurbish the battery, a hidden gem that could be an amazing resource and source of revenue for the town. Improve the beaches at Fort Getty to relieve congestion at Mackerel Cove. Direct all park revenue to Fort Getty and other Jamestown Parks and Recreation Department priorities — athletic fields, bike path, Mackerel Cove, community center etc.
Park revenue currently gets swallowed into the general budget. In the recent survey, 70.5% of respondents overwhelmingly ranked new types of revenue as important to essential.
End the exclusivity of the longterm, full-season renewals. Consider a lottery or more turnover. Both strategies would yield more access and revenue. My family, avid RV enthusiasts, love the freedom RVing provides to explore new places.
The semi-permanence of the current situation seems antithetical to the true RV ethos. Improve and expand tent camping to a more appealing site to attract more revenue while having minimal environmental impact on the park.
Reduce the number of RV sites and relocate to a more thoughtfully designed area that frees up and beautifies more open space for walking paths and picnic areas and other shared use.
Seize this opportunity to reimagine a beloved space for all.
Kathleen Delorey Brown
Fort Getty Road
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