Northwood News ♦ February 2004

Update on North Four Corners Park

By Carole Barth

NFCCA continues to track the two competing planning processes for the North Four Corners Park.  The Montgomery County Department of Park and Planning (part of the bi-county Maryland National Capitol Park and Planning Commission) is putting even more time and resources into its planning process.  Staff and consultants are currently revising conceptual plans A (the large inline hockey pad, 44-car parking lot, volleyball field, and formal garden) and B (the huge playing field and 50-car parking lot).

According to staff, the revisions will rearrange some of the elements but not remove any of the features to which residents have objected.  Check the Park’s website (20080131_NorthFourCorners_opt.pdf*) to see the updated plans when they are available.  Park Department staff are also conducting engineering studies of the site.  They expect to hold another public meeting in late March or early April, during which they will present revised plans A and B as well as our plan C.  Based on that schedule, they would then make a recommendation to the Planning Board in June.

At the same time, the Montgomery County Department of Recreation (a completely separate county agency) is continuing to pursue its vision of multiple, super-sized community recreation centers.  The Department has indicated it is interested in the North Four Corners site for a new Kemp Mill Community Recreation Center.  NFCCA representatives attended the meetings of both the Silver and Mid-County Regional Recreation Advisory Boards to hear presentations of the 2003 updates to the Recreation Facility Development Plan.  (We attended both Regional Advisory Board meetings because there is some confusion among the county staff about which region includes our community and the North Four Corners Park.)  We also offered testimony at both meetings citing NFCCA’s plan for the North Four Corners Park addition.

The Rec Department plan calls for three new 33,000-sq.-ft. Community Recreation Centers (Wheaton, White Oak, and Kemp Mill) costing about $39 million total to build plus $1.5 million a year for operating expenses.  It is unclear where the County would find the total $40.5 million in these times of budget cutbacks.  Each center would have a building that alone takes up about an acre of space plus a parking lot for 200 cars.  In fact, the minimum site called for is ten acres.  Thus, if the Recreation Department does build the Kemp Mill Center on the North Four Corners site it would not only take the recently acquired acreage but would necessitate removing part of the existing park facilities, including the Recreation Center.  The Silver Spring Recreation Advisory Board has decided to table their consideration of the proposed center until they have attended the next Parks public meeting.  In the meantime, as far as we know, the Department of Recreation will continue to develop its plan.

This means that the two county agencies are continuing their competing efforts to plan facilities for the same parcel of land.  Unless stopped by citizen action, both agencies will spend your tax dollars creating duplicate engineering and other studies for which only one set will be selected for the 2007 Capital Improvements Budget.  Come to the February NFCCA meeting to hear the latest update on these issues.  If you want to help out on these issues, let Carole Barth know at [contact details redacted].

[*The URL originally printed in the newsletter is no longer viable.  The document link included above is from the Montgomery Planning Board website.]   ■