Hollywood Wind and Weather Park
The park at the south east corner of Edgewood Rd. and Route 1, which was formerly known as the Gateway Park, will now be called “Hollywood Wind and Weather Park”. The name change was made to reflect the climate related activities that the park will support.
The landscape architecture and engineering design services to Flora Teeter and Whitney Bailey Cox and Magnani, LLC, the designer of the park, came to to last night’s Council worksession, where they presented the park’s final design.
In the fall of 2012, the City awarded a contract for Flora Teeter for an eco-gateway park at the south-east corner of the intersection of Route 1 and Edgewood Road. After that, they prepared conceptual design alternatives and a preferred design was selected by the Project Advisory Committee and presented to the North College Park Citizens Association.
In May last year, Flora Teeter/WBCM also received comments on the design plan from the City Council prior to entering into the final design phase of the project. The theme of the proposed design is Wind and Water, and the design will incorporate educational climate and weather-oriented displays and activities, such as weather vanes, a sundial, a cistern to make rain, and pieces of art incorporating wind and the sun.
The project allows for opportunities for collaboration with Hollywood Elementary School as well as a place for local children to visit and play.
The Park’s construction will begin sometime this summer and will take about 9-12 months to complete, depending on the availability of funds.
Pat
That’s a wonderful rendering, but it bears no resemblance to what this thing will actually look like. The scale is completely off (in reality the park will not be able to accommodate 46 people and two dogs as shown in the photo) and the surrounding buildings are not shown at the correct scale and location (the house next door) or at all (the commercial and condo buildings that back up to the site.)
I’m looking forward to putting together a side-by-side of what was promised and what it actually looks like when it’s done!
bekah
Any decisions on what to do with the spooky house? I think some green space and a sign welcoming folks to college park would be a nice addition across from the new park. Super excited have a park welcoming me home to hollywood!
Fazlul Kabir
Pat,
Thanks for your comments. We noticed the scaling issue too. The rendering is a conceptual one , and so please take a look at the actual engineering design to see the details. You will see the link to the design in my post as well.
Fazlul
Fazlul Kabir
Bekah, We’re still working on it. We’ll most likely do this in two parts. First, use a grant money to demolish the house and then go with other options such as turning the place into a park or other green space area. It looks like we’ll have to wait for several more months to get the next grant money to demolish the house.
anonymous
On a related note, is there anything the city can do about the deplorable street conditions as one enters Edgewood Road from the Beltway ramp and/or Baltimore Avenue? This is easily the worst stretch of asphalt in the entire city. It’s bad enough lacking signs or an inviting streetscape as one enters North College Park through this intersection, but the abandoned houses coupled with awful road conditions make our town look absolutely run down. Please consider addressing this, if not from a practical point of view, then at least an aesthetic view concerned with the perception of College Park. Little things like this make a huge difference to our residents, neighbors and visitors.
Fazlul Kabir
Hi Anonymous, Thanks for your comments. I’ve asked our engineering staff to review the street’s condition. They will review this matter and do what is necessary to maintain the integrity of our street.
Diamondback Reporter
Pat and Bekah,
I am a reporter for The Diamondback and would love to ask you a few questions about your thoughts on the park. If you have time to talk to me that would be great! My e-mail is esilvermandbk@gmail.com.