Renovations Approved for
Calverton-Fairland Park

The Calverton-Fairland Local Park is on its way to getting a major facelift.

The Montgomery County Park and Planning Commission approved plans Monday night for renovation of the community park at 3039 Fairland Road in Silver Spring.

The park was built about 20 years ago on top a reclaimed rubble landfill. Some of the ground on the reclaimed site later settled, damaging some of the park facilities.

Redevelopment plans for the 52-acre park include the addition of a roller hockey court, hiker-biker and nature trails, and portable public restrooms.

Renovations will be made to two of the existing tennis courts and the playground. The new plans for the park retain the baseball and softball fields and one shelter.

There will also be improvements made to the front entrace of the park from Fairland Road, and improved access from Marlow Road.

The renovation of the Calverton-Fairland Park will join it to the neighboring Galway Drive Local Park, an adjacent nine-acre facility which has two ballfields and is located next to Galway Elementary School.

These plans were approved on the condition that the planning staff investigate noise levels that would be created by the roller hockey rink. ONe speaker at the Monday meeting expressed concerns that the rink, which is situated next to homes, may create a commotion.

Two public meetings had been held to get input from the community on the proposed redevelopment plans. Since the last of those meetings, revisions were made to the plans.

ithose revisions included moving the roller hockey and tennis courts outside of the landfill limits. The planners added a soccer field and increased the number of parking spaces at both Calverton-Fairland park and Galway Drive park. The amount of new trails proposed in the lower portion of the park was also reduced.

The project will include connecting trails from adjacent communities to Calverton-Fairland and Galway parks.

The start of the park's renovation depends on the availablity of funds in the Capital Improvement Project budget.

The Fairland area has 10 parks, with three more proposed in the current draft master plan being reviewed by the County Council.