Work is starting soon to put some fun into the 18 acres that Chestertown acquired for a park behind Rolling Road but hasn’t had the money to develop into anything useful.
Word came Monday from the Board of Public Works that it has signed a letter of final approval to grant $144,000 to start improving the site, located between Chestertown Landing and Heron Point.
The money will go for a gravel parking lot, a small dog park and a walking trail around the edges of the park. Another grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust will pay for the planting of some 400 trees to shade the walking paths.
“Between this and the Living Shoreline (at Wilmer Park) we got some things going even in hard economic times,” says Mayor Margo Bailey. “We’ve managed to pull rabbits out of a hat.”
The Rolling Road property is intended to become an “active recreation park,” as compared to Wilmer Park, which is termed a “passive park.” As Bailey explains it, Wilmer is for strolling and sitting and taking in the view. Rolling Road will have ball fields and possibly tennis courts.
Chestertown acquired the 18 acres about eight years ago with grants from the state’s Project Open Space, and from Kent County Parks and Recreation, plus some town money. But ever since, when it’s wanted to develop the park, funds have had to be diverted elsewhere.
The ultimate cost for making the property a recreation mecca is estimated at about $1 million. Funds for that are nowhere in site, as yet.
But the Board of Public Works grant will go a long way toward making the land – long used as farmland – much more welcoming for the neighborhood. As Town Manager Bill Ingersoll noted, “There are hundreds and hundreds of (housing) units around it.”
Dave Hanlin says
Please include tennis courts.