Northwood News ♦ October 2005

Park and Planning Dismisses Community Opposition to Field

By Carole Barth

On September 1, we had a good turnout at a special meeting called to hear the Park and Planning staff’s proposal for North Four Corners Park.  We had to call a special meeting because the MNCPPC staff sat on this project for a full year with nothing to say or discuss despite monthly phone calls by us, only to suddenly decide that it must go forward to the Park and Planning Board on a schedule so tight that it is virtually impossible for the community to distribute, study, and discuss the Facility Plan before the Board acts on it.  (In fact, this two-inch thick document was only made available to us seven days before the Planning Board meeting.)

The proposal MNCPPC staff presented for the park addition showed a few changes from the original plan conceptual plan “B” presented in June 2003.  For example, instead of a stormwater management pond, the final design shows rain gardens and underground filters for stormwater management.  It also added more parking to the existing parking lot.  However, the fundamental plan to raze the bulk of the addition in order to construct a large parking lot and rectangular sports field was unchanged despite three years of public input asking for a facility plan focused on family and individual (lower impact) recreational features rather than team sports.

0n September 1, staff claimed that new and improved studies document the “critical need” for this rectangular sports field but did not bring those studies, even though this has been a central issue for the last three years.  They were also unable to answer basic questions we posed a year ago about the number of permits issued and other fundamental management statistics.  They told us the needs justification data and methodologies were contained in the draft 2005 Land Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan.

We asked for that report, and when we received it after the meeting found it contains neither the raw data nor the detailed methodologies but simply the results of this rather mysterious process.  It appears then, that the Emperor has no data to support adding another field to the 528 ballfields (not counting the 19 existing at the soccerplex plus four to be built) fields already in the county.  The plan nonetheless calls for adding 129 more fields in the next 15 years.  This is like building six socccerplexes, one every two-and-a-half years.

Similarly, staff presented little assurance that ongoing problems of park overuse with its fallout of trash, human urination and defecation, and parked-up streets and driveways will finally be meaningfully addressed.  Although the staff memo expresses the hope that conditions will improve, the only concrete action taken in three years was lowering the size limit for groups renting the recreation center.  In fact, North Four Corners Park is not even included in Park and Planning’s “pilot” program for addressing overuse and maintenance issues.

At the September 1 meeting, a resolution was duly passed to prepare a rebuttal to the staff facility plan for presentation at the September 22nd meeting of the Park and Planning Board.  Since this issue will go to the printer on or around September 22, we will have an update at the October meeting.    ■