A key figure in the management of Monroe Park who was the focus of much of the criticism of the park’s operation is stepping down.

Alice McGuire Massie, who has served as president of the Monroe Park Conservancy for more than a decade, confirmed that at the end of the year she will be leaving the board of the nonprofit that now has charge of the 170-year-old park.

“I notified the city in July that I would be retiring when my term expired,” said Ms. Massie, who was a key community advocate for years for the park.

The 7.5-acre park is located on Belvidere Street in front of the Altria Theater. The park also serves as a gateway to Virginia Commonwealth University’s academic campus.

Ms. Massie’s departure comes after she was charged with assault in connection with an altercation with two VCU students. But Ms. Massie indicated there was no relationship between her decision to step down and the criminal charge.

While some people are cheering her depar- ture, she has been the most engaged of the 11 members of the board of the conservancy since its formation in 2011. Though unpaid, Ms.Massie is listed as spending 30 hours a week on the park’s manage- ment compared to one hour a week for all other members, according to a conservancy report to the Internal Revenue Service.

At this point, her successor would be retired banker and lawyer John W. Bates III, who serves as vice president of the public-private operation whose membership includes representatives of VCU and of the city.

The conservancy officially began managing the park in September 2018 following a city-led renovation that took 22 months. More than $7 million was invested, part of which came from private donations.

One of the big challenges for the conservancy will be to raise money to support the park, which receives virtually no city taxpayer support. Based on its financial reports to the IRS, the conservancy devotes much of its money to repaying an outstanding loan. In the 2020-21 fiscal year, the conservancy spent less than less than $15,000 on park improvements.

Charles Todd Woodson, an Oregon Hill resident who served with Ms. Massie on a city advisory group on Monroe Park prior to the renovation, regards the departure of Ms. Massie as a plus, but noted in a Facebook post that “isn’t enough to gain (the conservancy) credibility or viability.”

Mr. Woodson has called for the city to retake control of Monroe Park that he believes the conservancy has poorly managed. He has complained publicly and repeatedly via Facebook and in letters to elected and appointed city officials about the outcome of the renovation, including eroding and rutted pathways, the inoperable central fountain, the loss of public restrooms and most notably, the loss of a major portion of the park’s trees.

In posts on the Facebook site he created called “Fans of Monroe Park,” Mr. Woodson noted the removal of many of the trees that had been part of the park since 1904 as the result of the work of Richmond nurseryman C.N. Williams. Mr. Williams planted 362 trees comprised of 26 different species, Mr. Woodson stated. During the renovation, only 76 trees survived, he noted. Since then, 89 new trees were planted, bringing the total to 165 in the park, he stated. “I call this a real environmental disaster.”