Popular Howard County Park to get $ 7.3 million facelift

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A popular park in Howard County, Maryland recently received money for major renovations.

The athletic fields in Centennial Park will be replaced with one or two artificial stadiums. (WTOP / Valérie Bonk)

The parking lot on the west side of Centennial Park will be renovated. (WTOP / Valérie Bonk)

Centennial Park in Ellicott City will get $ 7.3 million in renovations to its parking lots, baseball fields and athletics. (WTOP / Valérie Bonk)

A popular park in Howard County, Maryland recently received funding for major renovations.

The county is using $ 7.3 million in public funds to renovate the west side of Centennial Park in Ellicott City.

The renovations include replacing rusty lighting, converting three baseball fields to artificial turf fields, realigning and renovating the parking lot, new trails and one or two artificial turf stadium fields.

“No matter what time of day, you’ll always find Centennial Park, our largest park in use,” said Calvin Ball, Howard County Manager.

“These enhancements will benefit our daily park visitors and our many athletic programs, teams, players and coaches, and expand our portfolio of quality grounds that attract tournaments and other programs to Howard County,” said Ball.

Howard County Council has unanimously approved the transfer of funds allowing the county to design and begin construction of the proposed improvements by the summer of next year.

“These critical improvements benefit our residents and visitors of all ages and abilities and we look forward to getting started,” said Ball.

Brian Stauffer, adult softball league player and team manager, said one of the major issues was rain delays due to the condition of the grounds.

“One thing that has always been a problem, and in a way frustrating for us, is the number of lost time and postponed games that we encounter throughout the season. So we look forward to the new synthetic fields helping to solve this problem, ”said Stauffer.

Authorities said they had seen an increase in the number of people using the park since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our parks are in high demand – they are used Monday through Sunday for practices, tournaments, league games and special events. This additional funding will allow us not only to improve the existing infrastructure of the park, but also to create even more enjoyable experiences for visitors of all ages, ”said Director of Recreation and Parks, A. Raul Delerme.

District 9B Del. Courtney Watson said she was grateful that the Maryland General Assembly used so much money to fund renovations to local parks.

The county received a total of $ 8 million for local parks; the remaining $ 700,000 will be divided between two other areas.

The grant will also support new playground equipment and safety liners at $ 400,000 for Schooley Mill Park in Highland and $ 300,000 for Warfields Pond Park in Glenwood.

“This is a huge and unexpected boost for our fleets which are more used than ever,” Watson said.

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