BLYTHEWOOD – At what may well have been their last meeting Tuesday evening, the Park Committee finalized its wish list going forward and will present that list at Town Council’s Oct. 28 meeting.
Town Councilman Paul Moscati told the committee that after construction of the clock tower and base, restrooms, grassing the athletic field and installing gates and dumpster enclosures, the $7 million that Town Council designated for the park ($5.5 million bond money and $1.5 million from the sale of the Community Center) will have been depleted. Moscati said he might realize a little savings from ongoing negotiations on the cost of the restrooms and clock tower base, but to complete the park, private money will have to be raised through the newly appointed Park Foundation headed up by Jim McLean.
Ongoing, the committee voted to recommended the following priorities for building out the park: amphitheater ($1.5 million), open-air pavilion for farmers market ($810,000), sprayground (about $75,000) and Adventure Lodge ($1,107,000). Moscati said the amphitheater still needed to be grassed at a cost of $19,732, but that some savings might be realized depending on whether it was sprigged or sodded.
Moscati said construction of the restaurant, which had been scheduled to open next month, has been delayed and is now expected to begin before the first of the year. He said construction should take about six months and the restaurant is expected to open in mid-summer 2014.
McLean said that, after prioritizing the completion of the park, the committee may have reached the end of its usefulness unless Mayor J. Michael Ross wants to call it back into session for a particular need.
