Montgomery County (Map, News) - The backlog of Montgomery County parks facilities in dire need of either maintenance or replacement is just under $2 million and will take years to get through, officials told Planning Board members Thursday.

This list does not delve into the dollar amounts needed for daily maintenance of the 3,000 acres the Parks Department maintains or preventative maintenance measures, which Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson called an “insidious problem.”

“The more you defer it, the more costs you have to absorb later,” he said.

Specifically, the cost to tackle all deferred maintenance projects is $815,000, while it will cost $1.09 million to catch up with replacement work. Some of the buildings in the worst shape are Norwood Local Park and Randolph Hills Local Park.

The findings come from a two-year inspection process completed by an independent contractor. It was discovered in 2005 that the Parks Department had nothing close to a complete assessment of its parks and recreational facilities.

In response, the county has paid Facility Engineering Associates $450,000 for such an analysis.

The next course of action will be to prioritize work needed at more than 30 facilities.

From there, officials will take the lists to the public and develop a strategy for making upgrades over the next three years.

Also during a span of Thursday’s meeting covering parks matters, board members voted to support a 5.8 percent rental rate increase for the 60 houses located on parks properties.

According to Park Property Manager Carrye Palleschi, these residences are occupied mainly by parks workers, who have an agreement to help with upkeep of the land, and other county workers, who receive a reduced rate.

In fiscal 2007, the average rental rate for park houses was $940 per month.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com

Comments from Examiner Readers

11:15 AM MST on Tue., May. 13, 2008 re: "Pet owners getting dogged looking for a place to park"

Miraloma neighbor said:
Dog owners at Miraloma Playground do not follow the leash rules up there. The dogs crap and pee all over the field, on the tennis courts. They dig with their paws. The grass field will be wrecked before the summer is over. Dog owners rationalize having their dogs with stupid arguments. Let the kids have a nice field to play on, keep your Mutt on leash and walk it around the block!

9 agree | 0 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

12:32 PM MST on Mon., May. 12, 2008 re: "Pet owners getting dogged looking for a place to park"

Examiner Reader said:
Yeah, hardly any dog owners ever pick up after their dogs ... it is disgusting. How is it any differnt from humans using the streets for toilets? It smells just as bad. Why don't those people have their dogs crap and urinate in front of their OWN HOUSES instead of in front of MY HOUSE? My favorite comment this week "get over it -- when it rains, it will wash it away" ...uh, it is the month of MAY, idiot.

5 agree | 2 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

11:56 AM MST on Tue., Apr. 29, 2008 re: "City rejects PGA Tour�s bid for fungicide use at Harding"

Examiner Reader said:
Rather than pressuring SF to use dangerous chemicals the PGA ought to be threatening to stop having tournaments at golf courses that don't use recycled water. Harding Park uses Hetch Hetchy water. What a terrible waste.

2 agree | 0 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

9:20 AM MST on Sat., Apr. 26, 2008 re: "Neighborhood parks are making the grade"

Examiner Reader said:
I wish Supervisor Maxwell and others so inclined, would stop with the comments re: the more affluent neighborhoods receiving the bulk of park funding. As an employee of the Recreation and Park Dept. I can tell you that, through the years, a lot of tax dollars have been allocated to the southeast quadrant of the city, more often at the expense of other areas of the city to address such concerns as playground/field maintenance and recreation programming. This is an area of the city that appears to expect certain entitlements, yet cannot uphold their end of the bargain to respect and work with our department to help maintain our resources. It's tiring to constantly hear that this area is so underfunded and how it's the Recreation and Parks Dept's fault for not doing this, or not doing that. When their play structures, buildings and equipment are vandalized and program attendance is low, we still make the necessary repairs and do the community outreach. And this is still our fault? C'

8 agree | 0 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

10:39 AM MST on Sun., Mar. 16, 2008 re: "New proposal for downtown space wins over hearts"

Justine said:
it looks weird that the building is on a high side n the surrounding is low.. why not make it same plane field so it won't look like theres a huge building out of no where???!?!? or face the other building towards ryans park n not block behind JCC...

1 agree | 0 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

3:04 AM MST on Sun., Dec. 2, 2007 re: "Once empty lot, now part of community"

Examiner Reader said:
You should see the beautiful 20,000 Christmas lights on the garden of eden on 2600 block of Eager street. This is the twelve years of lifting the spirit of the children and residents. Another example of what to do with a vacant lot - save lives. The lights are on from 5p.m. to 1.33a.m.

94 agree | 102 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

6:46 PM MST on Fri., Jun. 1, 2007 re: "Future park among largest in county"

Examiner Reader said:
The traffic on woodbine road is bad enough as it is so lets build something to bring in more. The people that were born and raised in woodbine have moved away because of the over crowding and the outsiders coming in. We don't need another yuppie park where people can drive in with their lexus', what about a park were you can drive your tractor in,you know something for the farm people.Lets listen to the people OF WOODBINE not the people thats lived here for a few years.

369 agree | 266 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate

7:35 PM MST on Thu., May. 24, 2007 re: "Future of Rash Field�s volleyball park is uncertain"

Ryan said:
Its interesting that with such a large demand for the Volleyball courts, all of the proposals for the new park have less area for volleyball. There is nothing like city officals that don't listen to the people. You got to love it!

376 agree | 266 disagree
Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree

Report as inappropriate