Beyond the bright lights of a growing Howard County lies a bastion of darkness well-suited for stargazing.
Alpha Ridge Community Park in Marriottsville has “relatively dark skies,” sufficient parking for gatherings known as star parties and few trees to obstruct the view, said Joel Goodman, a member of the Howard Astronomical League.
As the county plans to redevelop the park, the 130-member league is advocating for a place to house an antique telescope and lighting that won?t interfere with stargazing.
“We were looking to piggyback on that,” Goodman said of the county?s budget and design plans.
This year?s proposed capital budget includes $95,000, plus $75,000 from prior appropriations, to design changes at the park, such as bathrooms, a lighted pathway, parking and a pavilion for the rollerhockey rink.
“We thought we would improve the park during this design process,” said Gary Arthur, director of the county?s Department of Recreation and Parks.
Meanwhile, the astronomical league wants to set up a handmade 1950 telescope.
“It?s a beautiful historical piece,” Goodman said.
For an astronomy group and hockey players to coexist in the same park, the county must invest in low-intensity and specialty lights, such as full cutoff lighting, which contains the glow, he said.
“Lighting pollution is always a concern,” Goodman said.
Lighting has been a contentious issue at Alpha Ridge, opposed by neighbors and amateur astronomers, said Council Member Mary Kay Sigaty, D-District 4, a founding but lapsed member of the league.
She said she would prefer no lights, but she was encouraged to see a partnership between the county and league.
“If we light every park, there is no place for people who engage in stargazing,” she said.
