State board funds Baltimore waterfront park, conservation areas

Maryland is investing $15.7 million in open space conservation and recreational space improvements in communities across the state.

The state’s Board of Public Works approved more than $14.2 million in Program Open Space—local funding that will be spread among 12 local government and Maryland Department of Natural Resources land trust projects.

Grants awarded include:

$10 million for Baltimore County to acquire more than 84 waterfront acres along Seneca Creek in Bowley’s Quarters. The site will be developed into a park to be named Carroll Island Park.
$2 million for Montgomery County to build picnic pavilions, a dog park, walking paths and other amenities at Red Gate Park.
$1.7 million for Carroll County to improve three parks, including expanding parking in Millard Cooper Park, reconstructing fields and adding sidewalks and bleachers at the Carroll County Sports Complex and building a new pavilion at Melvin Miller Memorial Park.

Funds from the Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure Program were approved for Frederick County.

The $925,000 grant will fund:

Construction of a skate spot at Middletown Community Park.
Picnic shelters, multi-sport courts and paved hiker/biker trails at Old National Pike District Park.
A children’s basketball hoop array at Wiles Branch Park.
Electrical and water line improvements at Woodsboro Regional Park.
A sensory trail at Catoctin Creek Nature Center featuring tactile signs, Braille panels, sculptures and guide ropes for visually impaired visitors.

The board also approved a $577,000 grant to acquire conservation easements on two properties, totaling 155 acres:

In Baltimore County, the Land Preservation Trust will acquire an 18-acre easement in the Piney Run Rural Legacy Area. The easement will preserve productive agricultural land that is upstream of the Loch Raven Reservoir, a source of drinking water for the Baltimore Metropolitan Area.
In the Huntersville Rural Legacy Area in St. Mary’s County, the Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust will conserve 136 acres of forested land with an easement that will protect more than a mile of forested stream buffers along tributaries in the Patuxent River watershed.

Photo Courtesy
Alan Kotok via Wikimedia Commons
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