The only thing playing centerfield at the baseball field in Dundalk?s Concrete Homes park is a graffiti-stained trash can.
But to the delight of nearby residents, Baltimore County officials are trying to make over the weeded park, which is wedged behind abandoned, blighted shops and what could be pristine waterfront near Dundalk Avenue and Sollers Point Road.
“They could make this a marina, or something nice for the kids,” said Maria Chirevas, whose yard backs to the park. “I just hope they clean it up and put it to good use.”
The county has been working to acquire adjacent property, which was occupied by what officials called a “troublesome” liquor store, a warehouse and a laundry. The county?s Department of Recreation and Parks is hosting a series of community input meetings, where neighbors are invited to present their ideas for the space.
Several residents have requested a new community center, said Neil Magness, the county?s southeast program coordinator, where crews are already demolishing some of the abandoned commercial buildings. Chirevas said the field is still used for pick-up football games by kids who have to skirt around trash and, once, a dead deer carcass.
The park?s improvement is part of the county?s $70 million investment in the Dundalk “renaissance” campaign, which includes the acquisition and demolition of the Yorkway apartment complex, renovation of the Dundalk Village Center and a traffic roundabout at the Dundalk-Sollers Point intersection.
“We?re really trying to upgrade the main entrances of communities and improve waterfront access,” Magness said. “A lot of this stuff was built in the ?40s and ?50s when zoning regulations were way different than they are now. We want to make them more appealing.”
The site is known as Concrete Homes Park because of the neighboring Watersedge community of World War II-era homes made of concrete and cinder blocks, some of which still remain.
WHAT?S NEXT?
The county is hosting a second community meeting to present concepts developed from “wants” and “don?t wants” received from residents at the first meeting. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. May 18 at the Loan ESRC cafeteria.
