[0:06] Uh good evening everyone. Thank you uh
so much for being here. It's a beautiful
[0:09] evening. I really appreciate you being
here inside. Um this this microphone and
[0:15] this microphone don't do anything to
make you hear better what we're saying
[0:18] or what you're going to be saying to us
later. This is for the recording. The
[0:23] folks from Rundle TV are here recording
this meeting tonight. It helps the
[0:28] Department of Recreation and Parks with
our note takingaking and make sure that
[0:32] we accurately record the comments that
you provide us tonight and uh it'll give
[0:38] you an opportunity to see yourselves on
uh YouTube on the Rundle TV channel. So
[0:43] uh anyhow again, thank you so much. I'm
Bruce Bruchcci from the Department of
[0:48] Recreation and Parks and we are here
tonight to talk about the department's
[0:53] 2027
Land Preservation, Parks, and Recreation
[0:57] Plan. And the little logo down here at
the bottom, uh you'll see it on the
[1:03] literature and the the signs advertising
things to do with the the 2027 plan. The
[1:10] focus is the your wreck and parks.
That's us. Your future. And why we're
[1:16] here tonight is to hear your voice into
what goes into the future of our our
[1:21] recreation and parks system. So, with
that, let's get uh let's get started. Uh
[1:30] let's start with what is an LPPRP?
And I won't keep saying land
[1:37] preservation, parks, and recreation
plan. We we typically just say LPPPRP.
[1:42] It's a whole lot easier and in the next
15 minutes you're going to hear it more
[1:46] than you you care to. But the LPPRP
is an important part of the county's
[1:53] overall planning process. This is the
county framework and there are all kinds
[2:00] of county plans, very specific
management plans. There's storm water
[2:06] plans, there's transportation plans,
there's a bicycle plan, there's the
[2:11] county code that governs everything, but
the largest cog that you see here that
[2:16] that makes it all work together is the
general development plan, what Annaundle
[2:21] County calls plan 2040. Plan 20 240
meshes with these other plans, various
[2:30] functional plans, regional plans, small
area plans, and one of the one of the
[2:36] things that it works with is the land
preservation, recreation, and parks
[2:40] plan. Now, the the uh plan 2040
establishes the vision, the goals, the
[2:47] policies, and strategies that guide
development of the county as a whole.
[2:52] Uh, plan 20 240 sets the policy
framework to protect our environment, to
[2:58] shape the development of things in
Anaonda County to provide services to
[3:03] promote healthy communities and support
a diverse and resilient economy. There's
[3:09] there's four key parts of plan 2040. And
if you're not familiar with plan 20 240,
[3:15] I would encourage you to spend some time
online. It's a very informative plan.
[3:19] It's very easy to flip through. But
there are four key parts to it. Focused
[3:23] on the natural environment, the built
environment, on developing and
[3:28] maintaining healthy communities, and
promoting and maintaining a healthy
[3:33] economy. Plan 2040 drives zoning
decisions, public policy, just about
[3:40] everything. As I said, it's the
framework for the county.
[3:44] Another one of those incremental plans
that meshes with the overall county
[3:50] general development plan is the green
infrastructure master plan. And the
[3:55] green infrastructure master plan focuses
in on green infrastructure. And what is
[4:01] green infrastructure? Green
infrastructure is the connection of
[4:06] natural features, conservation
easements, parks and natural areas, our
[4:11] preserved agricultural lands, and the
trails that connect all those green
[4:16] spaces. Again, the green infrastructure
master plan is posted on the Office of
[4:23] Planning and Zoning's website. If you're
not familiar with it, I'd encourage you
[4:28] to take some time and go look at it. Uh
some very interesting things in there.
[4:32] You can see the plans for our county and
how we're going to maintain our our
[4:37] healthy green environment.
As I said tonight though, we're here to
[4:41] talk about the most important plan in
the county. And that is the land
[4:45] preservation parks and recreation plan.
Why do I say it's the most important
[4:51] plan in the county? Because it's the one
that drives the department of recreation
[4:56] and parks.
The LPPRP
[5:00] serves as the advisory master plan for
the county department of recreation and
[5:06] parks. The plan evaluates the demand for
parklands and recreational facilities
[5:13] and it makes that evaluation on the need
for those facilities or the demand for
[5:18] those facilities based on three things.
What we call need, proximity and equity.
[5:26] the the demand based on need is is
actually fairly straightforward. It's
[5:32] it's counting and measuring. We count
how many how many people enroll in our
[5:37] recreation programs. How many people
visit our parks? We count the things
[5:43] that make up the recreation and park
system. How many pickle ball courts? How
[5:48] many basketball courts? How many
softball fields? So we use the demand
[5:55] for based on need to measure very simply
do we have enough? Do we have enough
[6:00] according to national standards? Do we
have enough to respond to the needs of
[6:06] the people of Anaundle County? The
second demand that we analyze is called
[6:12] proximity. And that is when we have all
of those baseball fields and basketball
[6:16] courts and swimming pools, are they in
the right place? The proximity, the
[6:22] location of parks and recreation
facilities,
[6:27] are they in the right parts of the
county? Are they where the people are
[6:32] and where people can get to those
facilities? And then the third demand
[6:37] that we analyze is equity.
Are the parks and recreation facilities
[6:43] and the individual amenities that you
find in our parks distributed equitably
[6:50] around the county? Do we reach
communities of need? Does everyone have
[6:56] equal access to those facilities? And so
the analysis of the demand for those
[7:04] those three kinds of needs need,
proximity and equity, those form the
[7:10] outline for the policies, goals,
objectives and priorities for the next
[7:16] five years and actually for the next 10
years and even 15 years from now.
[7:23] Why we're here tonight?
Because the insight that you provide
[7:29] gives planners and county officials a
clear understanding of the goals and
[7:34] priorities of county residents for
improving parks, recreation facilities,
[7:40] and open spaces. This is why we
appreciate you being here so that you
[7:45] can tell us the kinds of things that are
important to you.
[7:52] The LPPPRP
is required by the state department of
[7:57] natural resources and the Maryland
Department of Planning and it's required
[8:01] from each of the 23 counties in the
state of Maryland to be updated every
[8:06] five years. The last time Anna Rundle
County and all the other counties
[8:11] updated their their plan was in 2022.
This is the 2022 LPPRP.
[8:19] Again, this document is posted on the
Wreck and Parks website. You're welcome
[8:24] to go look at that, but we're here to
talk about the replacement plan for
[8:29] that, which is the 2027
LPPPRP.
[8:36] Talk about this 2022 plan for a minute.
And just to give you some examples,
[8:42] we did public meetings similar to this.
Although in 2021, as we were preparing
[8:47] the 2022 plan, we were all locked inside
the dark days of the pandemic. So
[8:55] meetings like this were held virtually.
They weren't in person. We couldn't we
[8:59] couldn't all go in a meeting room like
this. So we had similar meetings. We
[9:05] conducted similar public engagement and
these were the needs that were
[9:10] identified. These were are the top four
needs that were identified in the 2022
[9:15] LPPRP.
Need for trails, need for more
[9:18] multi-purpose fields, need for water
access, and a need for recreation
[9:24] centers. This plan has guided the
Department of Recreation and Parks for
[9:28] the past five years. And so when we look
at at these kinds of needs,
[9:34] we see that that the trails needs well,
the department responded by completing
[9:39] the Broadneck Peninsula and WBNA trails,
and we're in planning and design for
[9:44] more trails and trail spurs and
connectors.
[9:48] when the need was identified for more
multi-purpose fields. We've been working
[9:53] on designing and building new
multi-purpose fields at Brooklyn Heights
[9:58] Park, at Tenard Springs Park. We're
under construction at Millersville Park.
[10:03] We're in design for an multi-purpose
field at the North of Rondo Aquatic
[10:07] Center. And this year, we we bought
additional land to expand Bell Branch
[10:13] Park to accommodate more multi-purpose
fields.
[10:17] the need was identified for expanded
water access for the people of Anna
[10:22] Rundle County. So, some of the things
that the department has been involved in
[10:26] over the past five years, improvements
to Spriggs Farm on the Magathy Park,
[10:31] Cartop uh boat launch, kayak launch,
water access, repairs to Cars Wararf and
[10:38] Dealswarf Park. Construction is already
complete at Cars Wararf except for the
[10:43] living shoreline and soon we'll be
starting down the street at Deal Wararf
[10:47] Park and planning and design continues
for a new West County swim center.
[10:53] Again, responding to the need for
expanded water access. And finally,
[10:59] recreation centers were identified as a
need. So, we are in the process of of
[11:05] planning, designing. Actually, Deeprun
Recreation Center in Hanover is already
[11:10] open and operational. We'll soon be
starting construction on a new community
[11:15] center in Brooklyn Park. And yesterday,
we started construction on a new
[11:21] community center in Edgewater. So, those
are the kinds of outcomes that come out
[11:27] of the plan.
So, tonight is part of our public
[11:32] engagement. We want to we want to hear
from the people of Anaundle County about
[11:38] what you want to see in your parks and
recreation system in the coming years.
[11:45] So, what have we heard so far? Well,
our public engagement, we we have a
[11:51] couple of surveys that I'll talk about
here in a second. We hold listening
[11:56] sessions like this one tonight where
we're here to listen to you folks and in
[12:01] a couple of months when we get a draft
of the plan put together and that will
[12:05] be by the end of this calendar year. So
in January there will be a draft plan we
[12:12] will post that we'll put a copy here at
the library as we've done previously.
[12:17] We'll put physical copies out in a
number of places and we'll post it
[12:22] online and we'll ask you folks to please
look through it. Give us more comments.
[12:28] Does the plan respond to what your
thoughts were? The does the plan reflect
[12:32] what you think is needed in the county
recreation and park system.
[12:38] We start each of these LPPRP efforts
conducting various surveys.
[12:46] this the the major survey, our online
survey was conducted back in the spring.
[12:52] You may have seen signs in the park, ads
on Facebook, postings like this on our
[13:00] social media sites asking you to please
scan the QR code, log on to the website,
[13:07] and participate in the survey.
We also looked at a couple of different
[13:14] surveys. So this was our primary our
online survey and nearly 2500 residents
[13:21] of Anaonda County participated. This was
one of the social media post associated
[13:26] with that survey.
We put one question at a time up on our
[13:32] various social media channels. The
department has Facebook. We have
[13:37] Instagram. We get support from the
county council members and from the
[13:41] county executive's office to post and
repost things. We had over 5,000 people
[13:49] react to social media post on those
various platforms.
[13:55] Our partners at Anaundle County Schools
were also very helpful. They distributed
[14:01] a a very simple survey to every middle
school student and their family in the
[14:09] county. And we asked those people to
respond. We got almost 500 responses
[14:15] back from the middle school survey. And
lastly,
[14:20] we ask our partners at Anaundle
Community College at the Center for the
[14:25] Study of Local Issues to include some
parks and wreck questions in their
[14:31] bianual survey. Uh you may have
participated. They tend to ask questions
[14:36] about do you think the president's doing
a good job? Do you think the governor's
[14:41] doing a good job? Do you think the
county executive is doing a good job?
[14:45] So, we asked them to
ask a few questions as part of their
[14:50] survey about what people thought about
recreation and parks.
[14:55] The primary survey, as I mentioned, our
online survey ran from February, late
[15:01] February through early July. It was
offered in both English and Spanish. We
[15:07] asked people to identify the kinds of
recreational activities that they
[15:11] engaged in. We asked them what they did
in our parks. We asked them to identify
[15:16] the parks that they go to. Uh we asked
them some very specific questions about
[15:22] what were their perceptions about the
parks and recreational facilities that
[15:26] they visited. And we asked them what
they wanted to see in future facilities.
[15:33] As I said, 2500 people responded. You
can see some days we we had 150 200
[15:40] people a day taking the survey. Had a
very robust response.
[15:46] People checked in on the survey. Each of
these little dots on this map is where
[15:52] somebody marked it either on their
computer or their phone as they took the
[15:56] survey and said, "Oh, I'd like to go
here. I I'm at this park or I'm using
[16:02] this trail." and told us what they were
doing on those. We asked them what where
[16:10] they were and and these are the kinds of
responses. They're in a park, they're on
[16:14] a trail, they're in a playground,
they're on a they're on a court, they're
[16:19] on a ball field.
We asked them very specifically to tell
[16:24] us about what their experiences were.
There's two examples here. A person
[16:29] checked in from Oh, this is Beachwood
Park up in Pasadena. A person checked in
[16:34] said, "Hey, I'm at Beachwood Park. Enjoy
the undeveloped rural vibe of this park.
[16:40] Would like improvements to make the
kayak launch more accessible." So, they
[16:45] told us what they liked about the park.
They told us what they were doing in the
[16:49] park, and they told us how it could make
it better. This person checked in from
[16:54] Spriggs Farm on the Magathy Park uh down
in the Arnold area. They were in this
[17:00] part of the park and they said, "We love
this park. We use it for family. Nature
[17:04] walks through the woods and by the
river." They didn't offer any
[17:08] suggestions about what else they wanted,
but at least we know that they were out
[17:11] in one of our parks enjoying themselves.
We we got some good news for those of us
[17:17] who work for recreation and parks. 66%
of the people who responded to the
[17:22] survey thought that that they are either
satisfied or very satisfied with our
[17:28] parks and facilities. Fewer than 15%
were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.
[17:36] And 22% of the people that responded the
survey were like, "Ah, they're okay.
[17:41] They're parks."
[17:44] So, so what else have we heard at
through the survey effort uh to this
[17:50] point in time? Well, we've gotten a lot
of general comments about facilities,
[17:55] pickle ball, tennis, water, bikes, etc.
We we we've gotten some specific
[18:03] comments. We said, "What wreck program
should be expanded?"
[18:07] You can see the size of the of the words
tells you the number of people that
[18:11] responded.
indoor community, swimming, nature,
[18:17] pickle ball, splash, pools. People,
that's people in the comments telling us
[18:24] the kinds of things they want to see in
the recreation and park system.
[18:30] We said, "Okay, that's what you want to
see. What are you doing there now? What
[18:34] what kind of activities do you engage in
in our parks?" Well, we we we we walk.
[18:39] We play soccer. a lot of walking. We
play basketball. We play lacrosse. We go
[18:45] hiking, uh, dog park, uh, in there,
tennis. So, we we got from the comments,
[18:52] we understood what people like to do in
our parks.
[18:56] In general,
these are the three takeaways so far
[19:02] from the data that we've analyzed from
our surveys. First one is people are
[19:07] very supportive of providing diverse
recreational
[19:11] facilities. They don't want every park
to look the same. Not every park has to
[19:16] have a swing set and a seesaw. Not every
park has to have a basketball court.
[19:20] They want to see diversity in the
recreational facilities.
[19:24] There's been a lot of interest and great
support for developing accessible trails
[19:31] for hiking and biking. Trails have been
a major theme both in our previous
[19:37] LPPPRP
and what we're hearing so far on the
[19:41] development of this LPPPRP.
And an interesting one, people say that
[19:46] they're they're very supportive of
developing smallcale park amenities.
[19:51] They're they're less interested in a
giant field or some type of large
[19:58] recreational facility, but but they'd
like to see more benches, more picnic
[20:04] tables, smaller places where they can
enjoy the parks. When it comes to
[20:10] recreation facilities, we asked people
to identify all the kinds of things that
[20:14] they like to do. These are the top three
responses from our surveys. People said
[20:19] more pickle ball courts, more tennis
courts, and more open field areas.
[20:26] When it comes to community parks and and
a sense of place, more community and
[20:31] recreation centers, interesting people
say more outdoor concerts and theater
[20:37] venues
and more ornamental and botanical
[20:43] gardens, something that we only have a
handful of in the county.
[20:48] When it comes to sports facilities,
people are interested in fitness. They
[20:52] want want to see more more fitness, more
yoga, more Zumba, more dance type
[20:59] activities offered in our facilities.
More bless you, more more ice skating
[21:05] and and indoor sports fields, not just
not just courts and fields outside, but
[21:12] indoor court fields. We asked about
adventure sports. Uh the middle
[21:17] schoolers are big on this. Uh but we get
a a tremendous response from everyone on
[21:23] adventure sports. People want to see
opportunities for rock climbing. They'd
[21:29] be interested in seeing ziplining and in
archery ranges, something that uh we
[21:34] only have one of in the county at
present.
[21:38] We ask about natural areas and courses
outside.
[21:44] Back to more hiking and biking trails.
People have indicated that they'd like
[21:48] to see nature centers, places where they
can experience and learn about nature
[21:55] and more natural areas for things like
bird watching.
[22:01] So, we finally gotten to the part the
best part of the meeting. There's
[22:06] there's two things that make it the best
part. First is you stop listening to me.
[22:12] Second thing that makes it so great is I
get to listen to you. So, I'm going to
[22:18] ask you to please step up to the
microphone here so we get your comments
[22:25] and I'll give you a couple of prompts
here just like in the surveys. So, you
[22:31] can tell tell us please which parks
which county recreation facilities do
[22:36] you go to? What what's your favorite and
least favorite experience in any of
[22:41] those? Give us some ideas on how we can
improve that. Tell us what activity or
[22:48] program the county should add to the
system in the future. Tell us more of
[22:53] what we've heard in the survey so far.
Do we need more basketball courts? Do we
[22:58] need more softball fields? Do we need
more fitness programming? Do we need
[23:03] more natural places? So, please, if you
could, one at a time,
[23:09] step up here and and share your thoughts
about the future of your parks and
[23:14] recreation system. Who's going to go
first? Thank you, sir.
[23:18] » I'm not going to follow your leading
questions. So, and your presentation was
[23:23] wonderful, but it doesn't reflect what's
happening here in South County.
[23:27] » Okay.
>> We have no pools. There are no
[23:29] basketball courts. As far as I know,
there's no pickup boards. There's no
[23:34] indoor opportunities for uh activities.
Uh I know in Edgewater there's a
[23:39] community center that's been promised. I
think it's probably moving. I'm not
[23:45] sure. Um water access is a big big thing
down here. And um if I get out, I'm not
[23:54] going usually to a park. I'm out on the
water. And there's very few
[23:58] opportunities really to put craft in the
water down here. Um, I don't have a boat
[24:03] ramp on my property. I'd like one. I'm
sure the county won't give me one, but
[24:08] um I'd like to see more of that. I um I
would like to see um
[24:16] a pool down here. I think that would be
wonderful. I think the people would use
[24:20] it. I would like to see basketball
courts and pickle ball courts.
[24:24] Um and um and nature is a big thing down
here. I would like to see a lot more
[24:30] nature activities. So,
>> Okay. All right. Very good. Thank you so
[24:34] much for your comments. Le Let me pick
up on I I heard you mention a place to
[24:38] put in your boat and and opportunities.
If you're going to go out, you're going
[24:41] to go on the water. So, in addition to
providing your input tonight to our long
[24:46] range plan. Coincidentally, the
Department of Recreation and Parks is in
[24:50] the process of evaluating water access
opportunities in South County.
[24:57] And so if if you'll see the sign over
here on the side of the room,
[25:02] we are in the process of taking a survey
that's independent from the LPPRP
[25:07] process. So if you haven't done so
already, please make sure you
[25:11] participate in that survey. We want to
hear from folks just like you in South
[25:17] County that are interested in more water
access opportunities. So please
[25:23] everyone, please make sure that that
thank you so much for your comments. I
[25:27] appreciate it. Ple, please, in addition
to your comments that you're offering in
[25:31] this session, please take the time to
participate in that water access survey.
[25:36] Okay. Who else wants to to tell the
department what to do?
[25:40] » I'll tell you what to do.
>> All right. Thank you. [laughter]
[25:46] So, am I looking into the camera here?
>> All right. I'm Bill Sherbo. I live in
[25:50] Shady Side. Um, water, water and water
access
[25:56] is the life's blood of this community.
Um,
[26:01] it's not pickle ball courts, although I
think we do have a few pickle ball
[26:04] courts in the area. Um, I was on the
general development plan and the small
[26:09] area plan twice
and
[26:14] water access has come up going back 20
years from from today. And um in the
[26:23] last small area plan,
the county working with the county and
[26:28] the and the and the folks uh
they surveyed the area
[26:35] for water access. We spent a lot of time
talking about water access, boat ramps
[26:40] in particular, and what it what you need
to have for a boat ramp.
[26:46] Only two places came up that fit the
bill in this area.
[26:50] One of them is Discovery Village, which
is still available. The other one was
[26:55] Woodfield property in Gailsville, which
is now off the table. Um,
[27:02] having little marinas
take care of the amount of boats that
[27:07] need that are put into the water on
weekends in the summer around here will
[27:12] not work.
The marinas don't really want a horde of
[27:16] of boats and trailers and trucks because
they don't have parking areas for that
[27:20] kind of thing.
>> And you can't just like gather up 10
[27:24] little marinas down here and say we're
going to have a little access here,
[27:26] there, and everywhere. It's not going to
work. We've already been through that in
[27:31] the small area plan talking about it and
with the experts and the developers and
[27:34] all to that effect. So,
the other thing that I'm going to break
[27:40] the ice on is
[27:44] folks down here have tried to get the
county interested in Discovery Village
[27:50] as a park for multiple uses, as a
enhancement to the economy down here, as
[27:57] an educational facility, as an access
point to the water, as as access to the
[28:03] environment.
the county is not really interested in
[28:07] it.
And
[28:12] after seeing how the county managed to
park next door here,
[28:16] I don't think the county is capable of a
job as big
[28:21] as Discovery Village.
That's my comment as of
[28:26] » All right. Thank you. I appreciate that.
>> All right. Who else?
[28:30] » I I want to say one thing about the
Discovery Village site that is
[28:34] important. And I'm VK Holtzenorf. I was
on the smaller airplane with Billy and
[28:38] he is absolutely correct that water
access is a lifeblood for this area. But
[28:43] one thing that Discovery Village brings
to the table as far as water access is
[28:48] not only the boat ramp but also a safe
place for small boat launch because it's
[28:53] a protected harbor. So, back in the day
when Al Adam Hison owned the place,
[28:58] every Wednesday they had uh rental
kayaks that families could come or bring
[29:03] their little canoes, get their family in
a little canoe pretty much unless it was
[29:08] a gale force wind. That's a protected
harbor. So, you could go out there and
[29:12] be safe. I was on Londontown board and I
was trying to figure out how can we
[29:17] possibly connect some of these um
very very special county properties.
[29:24] quiet water in London Town, you know, to
get them to thrive and be better. And
[29:28] they were going to put all this money in
the London town dock for what reason?
[29:33] Oh, so the pride of Baltimore can come
once a year. I said that I I I can't
[29:38] invest in that. I can't I can't work
that with the county because I think
[29:41] that is money just um inappropriately
used for one purpose and one event once
[29:47] a year. It doesn't make any sense to me.
So, let me see if I can tie these two
[29:50] together. Let's go and do a ferry from
Quiet Waters to London Town. Of course,
[29:54] Quiet Waters doesn't have dock. Also,
they have very shallow water. The other
[29:58] thing is is if we wanted to say, "Hey
everybody, let's enjoy big parks."
[30:02] Crossing the South River with a family
in a canoe is like crossing 97 in a
[30:08] wheelchair. You just simply can't do it.
It's unsafe. No matter what time of
[30:13] year, it's too rough, too many boats,
too much south wind, too much weather.
[30:17] It won't work. Discovery Village will.
So, we need to to take off our
[30:22] blindfolds and start looking at there's
people in this community that do things
[30:27] other than play pickle ball. There's
people that their recreational
[30:32] um activity is the arts. There's people
who their recreational activity is
[30:36] dancing. There's people whose
recreational activity is families going
[30:40] out in a little canoe for a for for in a
picnic. You know, there's lots of things
[30:45] that can happen and Discovery Village is
the one place where it can happen.
[30:50] But we've just blown $7 million on a dog
park and a very small kids playground. H
[30:56] how are we going to pull this one off?
You know, I mean that park I just drove
[31:00] by and there's not a soul out there.
[snorts] So, um I think Billy's right
[31:04] that this may be but as in London Town,
London Town is managed by a nonprofit.
[31:10] It is owned by the county. The c county
provides the services as far as
[31:15] maintenance and and things. But it I
know it's taken them God at least eight
[31:20] years to come up with a dock plan. I
presented one to the county eight years
[31:23] ago and had already talked to all the
the charter boat people, all the I took
[31:29] them over to CIRC and let them see what
a good dock supposed to look like. I I
[31:32] talked to all the captains of all the
schooners. I I used to run a charter
[31:36] boat. I know what I need. You know,
these are all the things we need if you
[31:39] want us to come and provide boat access
and service. But if you build it, they
[31:45] will come. I used to run a charter boat
out of Discovery Village. What was
[31:49] unique about my charter boat? My charter
boat took women, kids in wheelchairs,
[31:54] people uh people in wheelchairs. I took
every single sinner center in South
[31:59] County in in all of Anonda County out
with their wheelchairs and their walkers
[32:03] because I had because I was set up to
handle the handicap people in my boat.
[32:07] So, we need to get we need to think
beyond some kid with a baseball because
[32:11] there's a bunch of us who aren't those
people. Thanks.
[32:13] » Okay. All right. No, thank you so much.
I appreciate that. Good. Some good
[32:16] comments there. Thank you. Who else
wants to add to that?
[32:21] Please, folks, you drove out on this hot
night, gave up your evening.
[32:26] » Yes, ma'am. She beat you to it. I'll
I'll invite you up next.
[32:31] » That's pretty hot.
>> For one, I really appreciate your
[32:36] comments. Um, I do think that any
opportunity to encourage people out and
[32:42] about. The one thing that I was thinking
that um the way your surveys ran, one
[32:48] area that might have also been important
could have been um looking at either
[32:55] surveying people that are coming to
health care areas because generally
[32:59] there are people that in fact can't
access equally things and would have
[33:04] perhaps a different perspective on what
they need for Rex and parts and they
[33:09] probably wouldn't even think, oh yeah,
that should include me. So that's kind
[33:14] of a special needs component. My one
comment in terms of what the county
[33:20] needs to have also besides water is I
think there's a pretty uh high interest
[33:27] and growing in terms of cultural arts.
So there's a whole venue of artists and
[33:35] I also think most of the restaurants
around here offer small venue
[33:41] opportunities for concerts, but I think
that in this area there would be a huge
[33:46] interest in some sort of outer outdoor
concert area.
[33:51] » Okay, that's it.
>> Great. Thank you so much. I appreciate
[33:53] your comments. That's some some fresh
perspective. Yes, ma'am. Your turn.
[34:01] My name is Randy. Hi. I live on Idaw
Wild Road and I grew up in Shadyside. I
[34:06] grew up on in Snug Harbor and I went to
Shadyside Elementary School. So, I have
[34:11] a vested interest in the entire area
between Idaho, Jax Creek, and Discovery
[34:16] Village. And one of the opportunities
you guys have had for years and
[34:21] somewhere it fell apart, but the county
owns the property where the dredge site
[34:25] is on Idawa Road and somebody in the
county started to put in the trail
[34:31] between Idaho Road and Shady Side
Elementary School over to I think it's
[34:36] Atwell Drive. I don't know why they gave
that up. There's a wonderful opportunity
[34:42] to allow the people that live on Ottawa
Road to have a trail that's safe to get
[34:46] from one side of the community to the
other and then we would be able to go to
[34:51] a place like V, you know, Discovery
Village which could have concerts and
[34:55] events and you know when my kid was at
Shady Side Elementary School, the Bay
[35:00] Restoration Projects and Oyster um
restoration was there and one time um
[35:07] Steny Hoyer came and uh did a program
with the kids and at at Discovery
[35:12] Village. So, it's like there is so much
opportunity already there, already here
[35:17] to save our community and to give us
opportunities for walking and trails and
[35:24] safety. We do not have a safe road to
walk on in South County. Let's give it
[35:30] up, people. There are no walking trails
here except in the parks. So, we need to
[35:36] look at being able to connect our
communities to other places and getting
[35:42] one road to another road safely. So,
thank you.
[35:44] » Okay. No, thank you. That's great. Got
connectivity. That's that that's a
[35:48] that's a new nude conversation. So,
thank you so much. We appreciate those
[35:52] comments. Okay. Who's Yes, sir.
[35:59] » So, you're hearing a Discovery Village
theme here for a reason. It's because
[36:04] it's that important. Um, and there is no
way that this community can thrive in
[36:12] the way it could if it has to pay $25
every time it wants to put something in
[36:18] the water. That's that's the beginning.
But I was looking at the at the word map
[36:25] that you had up there and
I'll just run through it in my mind. If
[36:31] you wanted a small park, not a large
one, probably 7.1 acres would be
[36:35] probably a good size. If you wanted
something that had a different
[36:39] opportunity for the public to come out
and enjoy, you might have a band shell
[36:44] or you might have a performance space on
the waterward side of this Discovery
[36:49] Village. You could have in that same
area, you could have an art show twice a
[36:55] year in the building itself. One of the
biggest words up there was inside.
[37:02] And I agree that not every everybody
around here is a stick and ball person.
[37:07] So inside may mean a learning center. It
may mean an opportunity to have
[37:14] educational opportunities within a
building. Maybe it has kids dance. Maybe
[37:20] it has the y uh the uh ability to uh
bring people on the inside on a winter
[37:25] day and have them enjoy the arts. And I
think that the one portion of all this
[37:32] discussion that has not been emphasized
enough is that um as we look at the
[37:36] community and not everybody's under 40,
not everybody's out there sweating it
[37:42] out. You know, a lot of people want to
come in and they want to express their
[37:46] their themselves and they want to do
that through the arts. And the Discovery
[37:52] Village building, which we hope to show
to the county and others, is a very
[37:57] viable facility, is exactly the place
where arts communities, which right now
[38:03] are bursting at the seams down near
Arrington Harbor North. They're bursting
[38:07] the seams. They cannot find a place to
even display their work, much less get
[38:10] together.
That's a massive building that has so
[38:15] much potential and it is not underwater
as people say and it does not have
[38:20] asbestous. So like I said, the reason
that people are just coming up here and
[38:24] talking about it over and again is it
hits so many different places of of
[38:29] opportunity. Um
and then there's the boating, you know,
[38:35] I mean it it's like the the boating
everybody wants to say, "Oh, Discovery
[38:38] boat ramp." Well, it's it's really the
Discovery Village Community Center,
[38:42] which is the vision that I hope you all
will take away from this as a small park
[38:49] with diverse opportunities, whether it
be music, dance, arts, education,
[38:56] simply going out to one of the most
beautiful promitories, looking out on
[38:59] the bay that you can find that's free. I
mean, this place is so locked down to
[39:04] get a beautiful view of the bay when
you're is just it's a precious resource.
[39:11] And to allow it to slip through your
fingers because of one vote on one day
[39:17] because it costs $ three.5 million is
not, I think, a forward-looking view of
[39:23] a plan that is supposed to last for five
and 10 and 15 years. Because the South
[39:29] County of 15 years from now is going to
look back and say either I am so glad
[39:35] that the county and the state and others
worked together to preserve this for us
[39:39] or they're going to say can you believe
they had a 35 year lease on this and one
[39:45] vote one day they gave it up and they
didn't care. They didn't care enough put
[39:51] their shoulder to it, put it in the
plan, put it in five, 10, 15 years.
[39:56] That's what we need.
So, I'm a little passionate about it,
[40:00] » but I think it's with good reason.
>> Okay. Well, good. Thank you. I
[40:04] appreciate Appreciate your passion.
>> All right. Who else? Yes, ma'am.
[40:11] » Um, I feel like I'm a little slow. Um, I
didn't take the survey. I'll admit it. I
[40:17] didn't know there was a survey. Maybe I
didn't get an email. Maybe I didn't go
[40:21] to the park 30 miles from me where there
was a little QR code for me to to click
[40:27] on. Um, in South County, you are in our
community center right now. This room is
[40:35] it.
And what I hear in my community is not
[40:40] what I see in your survey.
partly because we're talking we're not
[40:45] able to go to those places as much as
other people are. Um we're not going to
[40:52] the indoor pool because it's too far
away or we don't go as frequently
[40:58] in my neighborhood. I hear people
talking about wanting a pool. I hear
[41:02] them talking about really wanting a
community center and that that has been
[41:07] on on in discussions for 10, 15, 20
years. I think when they built the gas
[41:14] station across from Christophers, that
property was being looked at as a
[41:19] community center. Didn't happen.
So today I um I took a look at at the
[41:25] 2040 plan online. It is easy to access.
Um, and of the items that are listed
[41:32] there, um, one of the items is, uh, boat
access, a ramp, right? And there were
[41:39] two, I think, in the whole county, but
now I guess there's still one, but it's
[41:46] hanging on by a thread, by a a little
thread. So, the county council isn't
[41:52] paying attention to the 2040 plan when
they vote on things. They're not paying
[41:57] attention to South County. I don't think
our representative was really
[42:01] representing what the people in in our
part of the county want in terms of of
[42:07] being able to to have a community
center, whether we're doing arts, we're
[42:11] doing education, we're bringing in
speakers, we're having book clubs or
[42:16] whatever. Um, I will say that I think
there's a lot of frustration with the
[42:22] park next door because we finally got
some attention
[42:27] to bring a project into this area and in
my view it was really mismanaged.
[42:34] There's a whole lot of asphalt out
there. I I all I see is a parking lot.
[42:39] Um, so I think I have um I'm a little
skeptical. The next project I saw coming
[42:48] was the sidewalk. I don't know if you
know the sidewalk project. There's a
[42:52] sidewalk that's being going to be built
apparently between the library around
[42:57] the corner and down to the bridge. It's
going to include parts of a bike path,
[43:03] but there are no other pieces to it.
There's no place for those bikes to go
[43:07] after they are able to ride that
threequarters of a mile.
[43:12] Um, there are a lot of people in I ride
bikes and it's dangerous. So, just
[43:18] having a shoulder would be helpful. A
whole group of bikers went by when we
[43:23] were coming into the library and it they
were in a single file. They were paying
[43:30] attention, but their shoulder is less
than three feet wide. So, it's dangerous
[43:36] for us to get outside. Maybe we need to
be indoors to do our activities down
[43:41] here. But one thing I would suggest is
I'm not sure your survey reflects what
[43:47] I'm hearing in South County. If you had
5,000 respondees, there are 600,000
[43:52] people in the county. That's less than
1%. So, I would encourage you to to get
[43:58] out there and get some more people
giving you input.
[44:01] » I I I believe me, I I share that
thought. We we wish that more people
[44:05] came out. Thank you so much for your
comments. We I I do appreciate that.
[44:09] That I'm glad we got all of that on on
the record, your contribution. Thank you
[44:13] for coming tonight and and and being a
part of that. Have Have we had everybody
[44:19] up that that wanted to add to their
comments?
[44:22] » I'd like to add something else when
everybody else is done.
[44:25] » Is there is there anyone else?
>> Okay.
[44:27] » Does doesn't look like you're going to
have a fight on your hand, so come back
[44:30] up.
>> Nobody else wants to. So, we're working
[44:34] with the county currently on five sites
of reclaiming 90 acres of lost march
[44:39] lands down here. The plan is that three
sites are in development or in design.
[44:48] The plan is to make those bird
sanctuaries and maybe on the BMS have
[44:52] walking trails. Are y'all in the loop on
that or not?
[44:57] » Are are do you have plan to build
trails? Are we talking about bird
[45:00] watching on on these this new claimed
marsh areas?
[45:03] » Well, for for the purposes of of
developing our plan, we're hearing
[45:07] people say they want those kinds of
things.
[45:09] » This has been going on for years. I I
don't know.
[45:12] » And now we finally have money to do
this.
[45:14] » Which which county agency are you
working with?
[45:16] » We're working with department uh public
works.
[45:19] » Public works.
>> Public works.
[45:21] » Okay. Well, we can certainly follow
that. Follow up with that. That's not
[45:25] But if we want bird sanctuaries and
they're talking about bringing back the
[45:28] marsh bird habitat, we should we should
be working planning now. And if we're
[45:34] talking about building walking trails
over by Franklin Manor and and Kan,
[45:41] those should be in plan now because uh
materials are starting to to move. Uh
[45:46] but I have a feeling that none of that's
happening and it'll be a lost
[45:50] opportunity.
>> Okay. All right. Good. Thank Thank you.
[45:52] Thank you for that addendum. We
appreciate that.
[45:55] » One more.
>> One more. Go ahead, sir.
[45:58] [clears throat]
>> Uh, and this is not about the long range
[46:01] plan. This is about your short-term need
for input. And you said, you know, you
[46:05] wish you had better input from the
public.
[46:09] Can you take that sign, laminate it, and
put it in front of the Discovery Village
[46:13] boat ramp?
>> Is it? Yes, we can certainly look at
[46:17] that.
>> That would be an excellent idea. If you
[46:20] really want to reach the Boers,
>> I know they were put out in Alison, is
[46:23] it at Discovery Village?
>> Yeah.
[46:27] » Okay. Okay. Well, this week. All right.
>> So, done.
[46:30] » That's right. Good. Good. Done. Done.
Now, all you need to do is put out a
[46:33] sign that tells people where Discovery
Village is, and you might even get even
[46:37] better response.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
[46:45] » I'm Jennifer Grryer. I've lived in
Tracy's Landing for 25 years, raised
[46:50] family here. They went to all Antaronda
County Public Schools. Um, I visit the
[46:56] South County Recreation Center often to
play pickle ball. So, that's answering
[47:02] that first question up there. I love
going over to Jug Bay um to launch a
[47:06] kayak. So, I'm going to PG County to
launch kayak um until the deal warf
[47:10] came. So, that's that's been a nice
improvement um closer to home. I really
[47:15] like the suggestion of better
connectivity through deal. Um I'd love
[47:19] to be able to ride my bike here to the
library. It's not safe to do that or to
[47:23] the new um deal park perhaps to walk my
dog. Um
[47:29] I think there's a a missed there's
there's likely going to be a big missed
[47:33] opportunity if if the county doesn't
seriously reconsider keeping Discovery
[47:38] Village. a lot of the comments you've
heard tonight about um the the potential
[47:43] for that site to support a broad
spectrum of recreational opportunities
[47:49] for for so many different people with
different interests, I think it's really
[47:53] one that should not be overlooked. Um,
and as far as an activity or program
[47:59] that the county could consider adding,
something that we tried out at Puxent
[48:04] Wildlife Refuge that was really popular
is we partnered with Buoie State
[48:08] University to get kids on the water who
had never paddled before and and had
[48:14] never experienced being on the water.
So, with all of the miles of shoreline
[48:19] in this county, um there are a lot of
people, not just youth, but but people
[48:24] who probably would love an onwater
experience who haven't had that
[48:28] opportunity. And I think that would be
something that again Discovery Village
[48:32] has a lot of opportunity um to offer
that. And one last point, um pick back
[48:38] to pickle ball Gailsville um to have
lights there at those courts. I I'm
[48:43] driving down to Dunkerk District Park to
play pickle ball where there's good
[48:47] lighting and bathroom facilities at the
outdoor courts. So Gailsville has
[48:52] courts, but they could definitely use
some some improvements and enhancements.
[48:56] Thanks.
>> Thank you. That's that's great. Thank
[48:58] you. I appreciate that. Covered a little
bit of everything there. Okay. Have I
[49:02] have I heard from everyone? It's Yes,
ma'am. Please.
[49:06] Um I would just like to understand how
the survey transacts to an evaluation
[49:14] and then to a vote. Is it by the number
of comments you receive or your uh parks
[49:22] evaluation that goes to the county
council? How does it work to get an
[49:26] action point?
>> Very very good question and and let let
[49:30] me respond to that. All of the public
input from the survey, the comments from
[49:36] this evening, the comments that we get
on the draft, there is a planning
[49:40] consultant who takes all of this
information and puts it together for the
[49:46] county and formulates a plan that
responds to these comments. We get lots
[49:52] of requests either through the survey or
these comments for boat ramps, water
[49:57] access. So that's going to be flagged as
a priority in our plan. The challenge
[50:05] then comes in executing that plan,
finding the property, getting the budget
[50:11] support from county council to move
those projects forward. But all of this
[50:15] public input will contribute with the
mapping analysis and the equity analysis
[50:21] that I spoke of. All of that will come
together to guide the Department of
[50:26] Recreation and Parks in our planning for
what facilities we need to acquire,
[50:33] build, or improve.
>> Okay. So, if South County residents did
[50:38] not receive the survey or had less of uh
knowledge of it, so to speak, would that
[50:46] um would that harm us in in having some
of our wishes uh presented? Well, not
[50:54] necessarily. It's it's not a it's not a
contest. It's not a number of votes.
[50:59] » So, no. So, it's it's we we look at the
request that that come in in any of the
[51:05] public engagement and all of that is
considered. Everybody in the county had
[51:10] the same opportunity. There were there
were over 600 signs put up on county
[51:16] property in South County, in North
County. It was posted on the internet.
[51:21] It was posted in the county executives
newsletter, in your county council
[51:27] members communications.
So, we really put a lot of effort. We
[51:31] even paid for advertising to get the
word out so that that people would
[51:36] participate. Unfortunately, somebody
made reference to the numbers earlier.
[51:42] There's 30,000 people in South County
and 14 of them found their way here this
[51:46] evening. We we I wish we could hear from
all 30,000 because those are all the
[51:51] people. They're paying taxes. That's who
we work for. We're trying to develop a
[51:56] recreation and park system that that
those people, all of them can be proud
[52:02] of. So, thank you for coming out
tonight. I wish there were more of you,
[52:07] like I said earlier. So, yeah, we we try
and we want to hear and we're going to
[52:12] keep listening. this we have a couple of
more of these listening sessions and
[52:16] then there will be other opportunities
and is there anybody else I I'll I'll
[52:21] move on here so I I can I can wrap this
up and I'll share this with you. Uh what
[52:26] what's next? Uh the question you just
asked processing the feedback from the
[52:32] surveys from this meeting and from our
other listening sessions we'll be
[52:36] developing a draft plan between now and
the end of December. And then when that
[52:43] draft plan is completed, we'll be
posting it for public review, hard
[52:48] copies in libraries and senior centers
online for people to look at. But here's
[52:54] the thing to do. Those those 29,816
people who are not here tonight, please
[53:01] tell them to go to send an email to
lpprp2027ount.org.
[53:10] work. That's the gateway to provide
input. You can go to recreation and
[53:17] parks and just put in LPPRP or long
range plan and you'll end up at the page
[53:22] that will will allow you to link to
this, but but go tell the people that
[53:28] aren't here tonight that they still have
the opportunity. The Department of
[53:32] Recreation and Parks wants to hear their
voices. So please, please don't miss
[53:39] that opportunity.
This whole presentation will be posted
[53:43] on the department's website and our
friends here from Arundle TV are
[53:48] recording this. It'll be available on
YouTube. If you look for Arundle TV,
[53:55] tell your friends and neighbors, please
look at that. fast forward to almost the
[54:00] end of the presentation and get that
email address and and share whatever
[54:05] comments you have.
[54:10] Thank you once again for taking time to
be here tonight for sharing some
[54:14] thoughts. I I heard some great ideas
here tonight, things that we hadn't
[54:19] necessarily heard in other places.
Enjoy the rest of your evening.
[54:24] » Thank you.