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The county has agreed to revisit its design for making Kensington Cabin Park accessible to people with disabilities following a grassroots movement begun Friday in response to the additional parking and pathways being paved straight through the park's green space.
Upon seeing the beginnings of what was to be new handicapped-accessible parking and pathways leading from the parking lot to the tennis courts and playground on the site Friday morning, Andrea Murtha and Diane Cameron of Kensington became concerned that the improvements were not being done with proper regard for stormwater management on the site, which is adjacent to a tributary of Rock Creek.
Cameron, the lead coordinator for the Montgomery County Stormwater Partners Network, said her concern was not that the county was bringing the park into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act requirements, but that it wasn't being done with sufficient consideration of other laws like the Federal Clean Water Act and the Maryland Stormwater Management Act of 2007.
Cameron and Murtha were concerned the parking lot constituted a lot of impervious surface — that which water cannot penetrate — leading to potential erosion and pollution problems. Murtha was also concerned the asphalt was going down over the site of a popular park pick-up soccer field without any community input.
"We're fully supportive of [the ADA] and of increasing accessibility for people with disabilities to our parks," Cameron said. "We just want all applicable social and environmental laws to be considered. And that needs to come from the top down, from the parks department, from director (Mary) Bradford all the way down."
By the end of the day, it nearly had. Responding to calls from the women, the county first sent out a representative from the Department of Permitting Services to assess whether appropriate sediment control regulations were being followed. The Department of Parks' construction crew had already responded to conversations they had with Murtha by installing a silt fence and straw matting to mitigate impacts to the stream during construction on their own. Finally, Deputy Director for Park Administration Mike Riley met with the women on site to discuss their concerns, and according to the women, was responsive.
County Parks Spokeswoman Kelli Holsendolph said the county has agreed to "do a better job" reaching out to the surrounding communities before starting similar projects, which are to be undertaken at 15 county parks. The Department of Justice gave a directive to the county more than a year ago to bring its parks up to accessibility standards, Kensington Cabin Park among them.
"What they agreed upon was to examine some of the upgrades," Holsendolph said, including exploring moving the parking spaces to the south side of the historic cabin on the site with an entrance off Everett Street instead of Kensington Parkway. The county will also look at installing a bioretention feature near the parking lot that would absorb runoff.
"What we've talked about doing is doing a better job of communicating with communities as we go into these parks for these projects," Holsendolph explained.
Murtha praised the responsiveness of the county.
"It was a really positive outcome," Murtha said. "I was so impressed. Woo hoo Montgomery County!"
The following parks are on the county list to be updated to meet compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act:
-Merrimac Neighborhood Park (Bethesda)
-Capitol View Homewood Local Park (Kensington)*
-Stratton Local Park (Bethesda)
-Ken-gar Palisades Local Park (Kensington)
-Rock Creek Hills Local Park (Kensington)*
-Kensington Cabin Local Park (Kensington)*
-Newport Mill Local Park (Wheaton)*
-Pleasant View Local Park (Wheaton)
-Burning Tree Local Park (Bethesda)
-Plumgar Local Park (Germantown)**
-Dewey Local Park (Viers Mill)*
-Cabin John Local Park (Cabin John)
-Takoma Piney Branch Local Park (Takoma Park)
-Ayrlawn Local Park (Bethesda)*
-Seven Locks Local Park (Cabin John)*
-Argyle Park Local Park (Silver Spring)
Parks marked with a * will be funded in house by the county. The others are larger in scope and require additional funding through the capital improvements process. Plumgar (**) has already been completed.
