Park Activity Buildings
Park Recreation & Ancillary Buildings Study
Randolph Hills Community Meeting
6 December2007 - Veirs Mill Recreation Center. Summary prepared by Mark Wallis, Department of Parks.Please send an email to MCP-RecBuilding@mncppc.org to provide additional comments, request a community meeting or to be added to an email distribution list.
Thank You,
Mark Wallis, Project Manager
Montgomery Parks, Park Planning & Stewardship Division
Minutes
8:15 pm
The Randolph Hills recreation building was the second item on the agenda and started with introductions of Department of Parks staff: Lyn Coleman and Mark Wallis, Park Planning and Stewardship Division; Kathy Deerstine, Park Design, and Park Manager Steve Chandlee.
Staff explained the Randolph Hills Recreation Building destructive testing process. Mike Saunders acknowledged the opportunity to see in person the condition of the Randolph Hills Building foundation sill plates. The final written Facility Engineering Association structural testing report had not been received by the time of the meeting. Staff explained they expected a finding that the building condition and subsequent cost of repairs are of such an extent that complete rebuild rather than repair would be the most cost efficient option.
The Community Values statements produced from the October Town Hall Meeting at Brookside Gardens were presented. Additions are listed below:
• Air conditioning needed to increase summer use
• Updated heating system
• Veirs Mill Recreation Building type kitchen
• Handicap accessible
• Meeting place for the community
• Proper building maintenance important
• New building should have same square footage as current building
• Men’s/ women’s bathrooms need upgrading
• Use existing building slab to reduce new building construction costs
• Need class space
• Keep existing trees
• Keep existing picnic tables
• Concern if new building is too large, it will attract non-community users and more traffic
• Rental fee needs to be reasonably priced
• Explore possible transfer to Randolph Civic Association
• Compare costs of Silver Place verses community needs
• Park is selling feature at the beginning of community
• If building goes, what’s next?
• Need hard numbers for existing building repairs
• What about possibility of using Montgomery County Construction Trades Program?
• Should new building be a code complaint building?
• Worried about reported 2% County budget cut
• What would Recreation Department want in a building to increase use?
• New building codes tough – should have maintained the old building
• Rental rates too high
Community values will be added to any final decision matrix. The Percent Capacity building usage and physical condition chart were discussed. There is a Planning Board Policy of no new Recreation Buildings to be constructed, but whether that policy precludes replacing existing buildings is unclear. Staff stated the issue of replacing existing buildings that are beyond their useful life cycle needs to be discussed with the Planning Board. Community members suggested discussion of replacement options should include less costly building options like prefabricated buildings.
Kathy Dearstine gave a playground update and showed how a replacement playground could fit on the existing recreation building site if desired by the community. Community members concurred that replacement of the existing playground at its current site should await final decision on whether or not the recreation building will be replaced. If the building is not replaced, the site should be considered for the new playground because of the shade trees. This approach will not delay installation of a new playground if the Planning board makes a decision in early spring.
The meeting ended near 10 pm. The next meeting is the first Thursday in February at Viers Mill 8- 10 PM
Montgomery County Department of Parks