County To Construct New Community Park In Millersville

As early as this summer, Anne Arundel County anticipates breaking ground on a new community park in Millersville. Located across from Millersville Elementary School, the 33-acre park will offer numerous amenities and host local athletic organizations for sporting events.

Millersville Park is expected to cost just shy of $12 million, and it will include tennis courts, pickleball courts, play areas, a playground, a dog park, a one-mile trail loop and open areas. Three multipurpose athletic fields will include irrigation, lighting and bleachers. Pavilions and picnic tables will be available for the public to rent. An onsite parking lot will accommodate nearly 280 vehicles.

Anne Arundel County Recreation and Parks Director Jessica Leys explained that the county purchased the property, which is located near the intersection of Millersville Road and Waterbury Road, in 2008, and they are excited for it to be nearing the finish line. The park will be comparable to Broadneck Park and Davidsonville Park.

“First and foremost, fields are in huge demand in Anne Arundel County. The athletic community in general in Anne Arundel County has been begging for more field space. We tend to fully utilize the fields that we have,” Leys said, emphasizing the need for the three new fields coming to Millersville. “So the idea when we build a new park is to relieve some of that stress on existing park structure, but also serving the growing participants in the athletic organizations. Groups like Arden (Athletics), GORC (Gambrills-Odenton Recreation Council) and Crofton (Athletics) were all at the table during the stakeholders’ group.”

Millersville Park will be accessed from Millersville Road, where Leys said the county purchased an additional two acres of property to provide adequate turn lanes and better access into the park.

Leys noted that the playground will be a welcome amenity for the community as well as the athletic fields, and the loop trail will give people a new opportunity to get out walking in a safe environment, perhaps with their dogs before or after visiting the dog park.

The county desired for Millersville Park to be a collaborative result that would serve the most people with the most amenities possible. To that end, the county hosted several community meetings and solicited feedback from stakeholders including athletic associations, the Friends of Millersville Park, the Recreation Advisory Board, homeowners associations and individual community members. The process resulted in a decision on how many recreational fields to include, among other outcomes.

During the stakeholder process, groups including the Old Millersville Neighborhood Association (OMNA) expressed concerns about the size of the park and its potential impacts on local traffic and the environment.

“We have always welcomed a park in our community. We recognize that people need a place to play, relax, socialize, and we’ve always supported a park,” OMNA President Deborah Weller said. “But what we’ve always wanted was a mixed-use park that serves multiple user groups and ages, and reflects the county’s own land preservation parks and recreation plan and protects the environment and fits in the traffic infrastructure.”

Weller expressed gratitude for the county’s inclusion of a playground, pickleball courts and tennis courts in the plans for Millersville Park, but she contends that community concerns regarding traffic and environmental impacts were not adequately addressed.

With the design phase for the park wrapping up soon, next steps for the county include the Department of Public Works receiving bids from contractors. Construction of the park is expected to take approximately 10 months from start to finish, and it will likely begin this summer or fall.

Leys shared that the plans for the park reflect a collaborative effort. “I really think that this park represents the importance of public feedback and the community’s role in our project development process, so I think the community can look forward to something that they were part of,” she said.

To learn more about plans for Millersville Park, go to www.aacounty.org/recreation-parks and browse the Capital Projects tab.