$8M Earmarked For Park, Playground Improvements In Howard County

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — An estimated $8 million has been earmarked by the county to improve local parks and playground infrastructure thanks to a Local Parks and Playground Infrastructure Funding grant from the state of Maryland.

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

A majority of the improvements will be made to Centennial Park West in Ellicott City at a cost of approximately $7.3 million. Improvements include athletic lighting replacements, turf baseball diamonds, one or two turf fields and pathways. The grant also will support new playground equipment and safety surfacing for Schooley Mill and Warfields Pond parks.

“We have some of the best parks in the country, and that is in part to our aggressive and strategic work to seek funding for parks maintenance and improvements – so our community always has the best possible environment to recreate and be outside,” Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said at a news conference. “These improvements will benefit our everyday park visitors, our many sports programs, teams, players, and coaches, and expand our portfolio of quality fields that attract tournaments and other programming to Howard County.”

"This is a tremendous and unexpected boost for our parks which are being used more than ever now,” District 9B Delegate Courtney Watson added. “It was very important to the Maryland General Assembly to find funding to help improve infrastructure in our parks and in open space statewide.”

The LPPIF grant is funded by the Maryland FY2022 Capital Budget (House Bill 590 of 2021) and administered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The purpose of the LPPIF is to provide funding to local governments for the design, construction and/or equipping of indoor and/or outdoor park infrastructure on county-owned and publicly accessible park property. The Howard County Council unanimously approved the transfer of appropriations allowing the county to design and initiate construction of the proposed improvements supported by FY 2022 LPPIF funding by summer 2022.