Upcoming construction on Chevy Chase Park proved to be a hot-button issue at the Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting for Ward 3E on Thursday night.
Board members and local residents implored local officials to give them a more definitive outline of when construction will take place, and what kind of inconveniences the residents of the surrounding community will have to endure during the construction.
D.C. Parks and Recreation Chief of Staff John Stokes and Avon Wilson, the Senior Project Manager for the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, gave a short presentation to the ANC 3E Commissioners with details about what will go into the park and the schedule of construction.
The park is located at 3315 Shephard Street in Chevy Chase, according to the website for Montgomery County Parks.
ANC 3E Commissioner Matthew Frumin said he was frustrated that it has taken so long for this project to get off the ground.
He told Stokes that he remembers going over plans for the park over two years ago.
“No progress seems to have been made on this since June,” he said. “This is not rocket science. This [park] hasn’t happened for over two years.”
ANC 3E Commissioner Beverly Sklover said she was also dissatisfied with the progression of the park plans.
“I hate to say this, but at this point we consider this [park plan] a joke,” she said.
Stokes said he regrets that the park construction project has taken so long to get off the ground, but “it’s not as simple as you think to do all of this.”
He also said he only started in his current position four weeks ago, so he should not be held fully accountable for any perceived missteps his predecessor made.
Wilson said the new Chevy Chase Park will include a baseball field, a new playground and a dog park.
He noted that plans for the dog park are still being finalized, but they should be finished by November.
He listed a few aspects of the newly renovated park: old water fountains will be replaced, a handicap-accessible ramp will be installed at the park entrance and the softball field will have entrances on the first-base and third-base sides of the fence.
The construction company will send out notices to local residents on Monday informing that the park is now closed for construction. Wilson estimated that the park will be completed by early March.
The company will carry out most of the major construction between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. during the week. Wilson stressed that the construction crew will park on the existing fields in the park, and will not take away parking spaces from residents in the surrounding area.
He also acknowledged that neighbors may complain about the construction noise during the day.
“If they get too noisy, let us know and we will respond as quickly as possible,” he said.
The total cost of the Chevy Chase park remodeling project was over $3.5 million dollars, according to Wilson. He said $1 million dollars of this will go towards the construction of the baseball park.
Stokes assured the residents that he will make sure the lights from the park go off after 9 p.m. every night. He said he will also look further into the new parking layout, and he will report back to the ANC board at their meeting in November.
The ANC board also heard a crime report from MPD Officer Shannon Williams.
She explained four recent robberies in the ANC district in detail, but said that crime rates are down overall.
This is due in part to the recent arrests of a pair of burglars who had been targeting houses in the neighborhood with open windows and doors. One of the two suspects would wait in the getaway car, while the other would steal objects from the house.
Williams could not give the full names of either suspect, because the arrest is still a “closed case,” she said. But she added that since their arrest, burglary rates have gone down over 75 percent in the area.
Williams said the other burglaries in the area not connected to this crime spree were the result of residents not locking their windows and doors at night. She urged those present at the meeting to be vigilant about locking their windows and doors, “even though we’re still in warm weather months.”
The ANC commissioners hope to continue making progress on construction at the Safeway supermarket located at 4203 Davenport St. N.W.
Frumin said the ANC commissioners had a meeting with Safeway representatives about
the 42nd St. entrance to the store. The current 42nd St. entrance empties out at the intersection of Ellicott St. N.W. and Wisconsin Ave N.W., causing traffic problems.
He said the Safeway representatives were “reconsidering what they are going to do about the approach for the future store,” and he hopes to meet with them in the coming weeks to finalize plans for the Safeway renovations.
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