SNOW HILL – Funding from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will allow several county parks projects to move forward.
The Worcester County Recreation and Parks Department was awarded $1 million in Local Parks and Playground Infrastructure (LPPI) funding for fiscal year 2022 through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The funding will be used for projects at the Northern Worcester Athletic Complex, John Walter Smith Park, Showell Park and Stockton Park.
“The Local Parks and Playground Infrastructure provided some funding through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in the amount of 1 million for Worcester County,” said Kelly Rados, the county’s director of recreation and parks. “This is separate from any Program Open Space allocation. It does follow similar policies with the exception that it is 100% reimbursable.”
The LPPI funding, according to Rados, will be used for five projects. The Northern Worcester Athletic Complex will receive $860,000 for lighting and $25,000 for bullpens.
“Currently out of the three soccer fields only the one middle field is lighted,” Rados said. “That field is getting overused and we’re having to turn away people because we don’t have lights on the other two fields. This will solve that problem. We’ll be able to light all three fields in addition to redoing the lighting on the senior league field that is just adjacent to the soccer fields.”
The rest of the funding will be used for a batting cage at John Walter Smith Park ($35,000), a fencing extension and batting cage at Showell Park ($55,000) and fencing at Stockton Park ($25,000).
“When we did the fencing projects recently at all the parks, when we did Newtown, we did a batting cage there,” Rados said. “We did not do that at the additional fields so we want to do that at John Walter Smith in addition to Showell.”
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the proposed projects.
