Thirteen years ago, City Hall spent about $400,000 to tear down the decrepit Madison Arms apartments at Lynhaven Avenue and Drake Street in South Side.

At the time, city officials touted plans to market the 17.6-acre property through which Broad Rock Creek flows for a new development that would bring jobs or other opportunities to the area.

But nothing has happened since, and now Mayor Levar M. Stoney wants to turn the vacant land into a new city park, with the potential for a portion of the property to be used for affordable housing.

He used the property as a backdrop Sept. 14 as he announced that he would ask City Council to approve converting the Lynhaven land and four other vacant city properties into new additions to the city’s park inventory.

City Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, who in 2007 led the push to obtain funding to demolish the apartments and create prime development property, is thrilled that something finally is happening.

“This is good news for the 8th District,” said Ms. Trammell, who also is happy Mayor Stoney plans two other new green spaces in the district she represents. They are a 1-acre parcel at 620 Rosemont Road and a separate 2-acre property at Ernest Road and Caldwell Avenue.

Mayor Stoney also proposed two parks in the 9th District that Councilman Michael J. Jones represents: A 7.6-acre property at the Reedy Creek wetland at Beaufont Hills and Lamar drives, and 2.7 acres of wooded land adjacent to the Hioaks water tower at 200 Hioaks Road.

In all, the mayor said the five parcels would include about 31 acres of new green space in a step toward fulfilling his January vow to put a city park within a 10-minute walk of everyone’s home.

It remains uncertain how much city money will be invested to improve the new green space if City Council endorses the proposal given the ongoing struggles of the city Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities to gain sufficient funding to maintain and improve the existing inventory of parks, recreation and other public facilities it manages.

The extra 31 acres of parkland would add to the 20 acres the city Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities has gained since the mayor first took office in 2017, the mayor’s office stated. According to the Trust for Public Land, Richmond currently sets aside about 6 percent of its 63 square miles for parks, well below the national urban average of 15 percent of local public property being devoted to green space.

“The benefits of green space are irrefutable and unmatched,” Mayor Stoney said, but he cited TPL data indicating that lower-income and largely African-American and Latino areas of the city have been shortchanged and tend to be hotter in the summer because of fewer and smaller parks.

The mayor blamed systemic racism for ensuring larger parks in predominantly white neighborhoods and added, “We have a chance to right that wrong and we’re starting with these five parks.”