Bollinger Park is nearing its completion with the contractors having cleared up to the second bridge on the one-mile trail. Once the clearing is finished the next step will be to grade the trail and take measurements for stormwater management. The six foot wide trail will then be leveled with the excavator to prepare for a stone base. The final step for the trail is to place the brown porous pavement which is tentatively planned for the second week of October. This last step will take about a week to finish.
Once the trail is finished the parking lot and entrance will be paved and the amenities will be installed. These include security cameras, benches, signs, trashcans, bike rack and a dog-waste station.
The Director of Parks and Recreation Lorena Vaccare said, "we hope to have the park opened by the end of October so everyone can still enjoy the fall foliage."
The park’s splash pad is gaining momentum toward becoming a possibility. The design proposal is for a 5,000 square foot pad and the current price estimate is $675,000, the majority of which is for the water recirculation system. This system takes water used on the splash pad and treats it with chlorine and UV light so it can be reused over and over on the splash pad.
Vaccare said she has applied for a grant through Community Parks and Playground to help offset the cost. Unfortunately, since Bollinger Park currently has a grant from the same program for an ongoing project, that project would need to be finished in order to proceed with a grant for the splash pad. The earliest they would hear about grant approval would be March.
Some of the proposed features for Taneytown’s splash pad include a dump bucket, single stream jets, misters and water cannons. The surface of the splash pad will be concrete with grit to help prevent slipping.
Flickinger Park will see re-grading to improve water flow to the storm drain on the edge of the park. All three pathways into the park will be repaved and the drivable path will be extended from Kenan Street to the playground. Vaccare plans to plant weeping willows strategically to help absorb some of the water that causes flooding in the park.
Memorial Parks’ Field One will be leveled this fall and pavilions Four and Five will receive new concrete floors and bleachers. New metal roofs will be added to the football field house and press box. The lights in the tennis and basketball courts will be retrofitted into LEDs for more energy efficiency, which also comes with a rebate from Potomac Edison which can be credited toward the cost.
Roberts Mill Park will receive new basketball poles and backboards. A pollinator garden will be installed along the pathway by a local boy scout as his Eagle Scout project. The fence between the soccer fields and Wantz Chevrolet will be completed to help prevent destruction to the fields. Roberts Mill Park will also gain bike racks and a repair station in the larger parking lot.
All Taneytown playgrounds will be mulched this year and trees will receive their regular maintenance.
