(4/10) The long awaited expansion of Taneytown’s Memorial Park is set to begin this summer, and town staff hopes to have it completed by the end of 2024.
The park consists of 40-acres, with open green space, athletic fields, tennis courts, a fishing pond, 2 playgrounds and pavilions.
The land for the ‘expansion,’ which will add 21.43 acres to the south of the current park, was purchased by the town in 1999 and was originally scheduled to be added to the park back in 2009 but was put on hold due to the need for the City to focus its financial resources on completing important water and sewer projects.
As a result of discussions about field requirements between the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Taneytown Athletic Association in 2021, the long overdue ‘expansion’ was approved in the City’s 2022-2028 Capital Improvement budget.
While still in the planning stages, the ‘expansion’ is centered around four new multipurpose fields intended for soccer, field hockey and lacrosse. While artificial turf was initially considered for the fields, the plan now calls for natural Bermuda grass as the most financially responsible and safer option.
Artificial turf requires $7-20k of care per year, per field. It also requires a sub base and other materials that contain PFAs, which are carcinogenic chemicals that are known to leach into the soil and spread throughout the soil and groundwater. Artificial turf also needs to be replaced every 8-10 years and costs 800k per field to install, thus totaling 3.2 million.
Although natural grass requires mowing and must be rested when wet out, Park staff felt it a much safer and cheaper option than artificial turf. In terms of maintenance for the natural fields, discussions are planned with each association to determine who will be doing the mowing and line striping as required per sport.
Also included in the ‘expansion’ are two new parking lots, one long lot with 156 spaces and a smaller lot with 130, for a total of 286 new parking spaces. LED lighting is planned for both the fields and parking lots. Netting is also planned between the fields and the parking spaces just in case a stray ball gets sent the wrong direction to protect parked cars.
There will be a new multipurpose building in the center of ‘expansion.’ The 5,000 sq. ft. "fancy pole barn" will be divided into three spaces. One will be for storage of equipment, one as a kitchen/concession space and one for indoor sports practices and community meetings.
The space intended for indoor practices will be 2,300 square feet and have a minimum of 12’ ceilings. There will also be one indoor bathroom for Athletic Association use only. Porta-Johns are planned for the general public.
Other items in the books include bleachers for the fields, a tot lot and a pedestrian walking path around the ‘expansion’s’ perimeter with solar lighting. A second entrance to the full park is also planned from RT 194 just south of the new Evapco manufacturing facility on the west side of RT 194.
To control speeding in the park, the plans call for speed tables, which are asphalt or rubber mounds that go the full width of the road. Basically they are speed humps that have a flat top so they don't disrupt traffic too much but they slow vehicles down.