08/19/2026
💣 A Bombshell at Burns Park — Literally
Burns Park sits on WWII-era Camp Robinson training grounds, and old munitions buried on the site have put The Gardens at Burns Park on hold.
If you have been following our story, then you know SJCA has been trying to establish community & educational gardens at Burns Park since July of last year, after the loss of our home for the last 15 years. As soon as the City of NLR was ready to accept proposals for Burns Park, we submitted ours. And on June 15 of this year, the Parks & Recreation Commission unanimously voted to approve the proposal.
Then the “bombshell” dropped: the site was placed under federal remediation review, and the Commission has voted to hold the project until the Army Corps of Engineers clears the land — an estimated 3 to 5 years.
Our gardeners, farmers, students, and animals can't wait until 2029. So while Burns Park remains the site we hoped for, we are now actively searching for other locations — including outside North Little Rock.
The full story, with a complete timeline of the past year, is here:
👉 https://www.stjosephcenter.org/bombshell-at-burns-park
Growing food, farmers, and community — wherever we land.
Turns out the site of our future garden sits on WWII-era training grounds, and buried munitions have put the whole project on hold.
