SALISBURY – County leaders voted this week to approve $100,000 in funding for park planning at the West Metro Core property in Wicomico.
On Tuesday, the Wicomico County Council voted unanimously to amend the fiscal year 2022 capital budget and fiscal years 2022-2026 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to include $100,000 for the development of a park master plan at the West Metro Core property on Levin Dashiell Road.
“The intent would be to put out an RFP for a master planner this fall …,” Recreation, Parks and Tourism Director Steve Miller told officials this week. “The typical planning process would be a six- to 12-month process.”
Earlier this year, Miller came before the county council seeking a Program Open Space (POS) land conversion from the West Metro Core property to the Connelly Mill property, a parcel of land the county purchased in 2019 for future recreational use.
The transfer, he explained at the time, would allow the county to develop Connelly Mill into a public recreation space using lease monies from the West Metro Core. While the county purchased the West Metro Core in 2009 with plans to develop a public sports complex, those plans never materialized and for the last 12 years the site has been leased to a local farmer, bringing in roughly $300,000 in income for the county.
In May, however, the council voted to table the land conversion over concerns the West Metro Core property would be abandoned. Councilwoman Nicole Acle pointed out that residents supported the development of a park at both Connelly Mill and the West Metro Core.
“I don’t want us to lose sight of this resolution as a conversion,” she said. “We will be abandoning the West Metro park on the west side and converting it to Connelly Mill.”
The council went even further during its CIP adoption in June, removing any references of a potential sale of the West Metro Core property to fund the Connelly Mill project.
“We’ve been 10 years without building a park down there, and I’ve been getting phone calls from people in that area wanting that park,” Council President Larry Dodd said at the time. “If we sell that park, then they’ll never get a park.”
Back on the table for discussion last month, the council conceptually agreed to include funding for master planning at the West Metro Core. And on Tuesday, the council held a public hearing on a proposed $100,000 budget amendment for the project.
“The conversion did not go through, so at this time the entire 100 acres is under a POS restriction,” Miller said of the West Metro Core property this week. “Our plan right now is to develop a plan. I can’t tell you at this point how many acres that plan will recommend, whether we build on 15, on 50, or whatever. That will be part of that process.”
Miller noted the county was still leasing the property as farmland, but that the lease expired this coming winter. Councilman Joe Holloway, however, questioned if the county would renew its contract for the time being.
“We’ve not decided because there were so many unknowns with what was going to happen,” Miller replied.
When asked about his plans for the property, Miller said he could envision the West Metro Core being a multi-use park with courts and fields. He noted, however, that plans for the park would largely depend on public input.
“To say now is premature,” he said. “I think we need to go through that planning process, having public input and having a master planner really look at it.”
After further discussion, the council voted 7-0 to amend the capital budget and CIP to include $100,000 for planning purposes at the West Metro Core property.
