Community groups to work on nursery school future

Residents, officials from town, county and school system to plan for future of nursery school and community center

The center was one of five that will either be demolished or transferred from the parks department to another county agency, according to a June report from Montgomery County Department of Parks.

But residents said the nursery school helps form the base of the community by bringing young parents and families together and they want to keep the center open.

The building, known as the Garrett Park Community Center among residents, is located next to Garrett Park Elementary School, which is supposed to be torn down for modernization in 2010, but planning is expected to start next fall.

The community center and elementary school share water lines and other utilities, and it would be complicated to work on the new school and keep power and water to the center, according to Deborah Szyfer, county school construction manager. However, she said it could be done.

Wallis said a decision on the future of the center should be made before the end of the year, so as not to interfere with the school’s planning and modernization.

A series of community meetings that have yet to be scheduled will include representatives from the nursery school, community center, school system and parks department to evaluate the options for the center — like preserving or relocating it.

‘‘We’re not sure how this is going to go from here,” said Tara Flynn, co-chair of the Save our School foundation, a group dedicated to keeping the school open and in the community center. ‘‘So far, we’ve heard nothing.”

Flynn and other residents interested in keeping the center open said they look forward to the meetings.

The parks department’s June report evaluated 31 small and medium recreation centers on financial aspects of keeping the centers open. Four other sites — in Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Kensington — were used less than 30 percent of the time they are available.

The Garrett Park center loses $3,400 annually between maintenance costs and fee revenue, and will need a new roof among other improvements, estimated at $117,000, according to the report.

Wallis said the report was released prematurely and that planners should have met with residents before creating solutions like donating the land to the school system or razing the building — two options mentioned in the report.

The community center opened in 1949 by residents using materials from two abandoned Fort Meade barracks that were purchased by the county.

Since then, the center has held community events, Boy Scout and Girl Scout meetings and the Garrett Park Cooperative Nursery School. Residents want to keep the center open, and said the nursery school helps form the base of the community by bringing young parents and families together.

Wallis said county planners will make a final recommendation on the parks’ future to the Montgomery County Planning Board in February, but will need a decision on Garrett Park’s center ‘‘sooner rather than later.”

Szyfer said planners made designs for the new elementary school based around the community center.

‘‘If it stays, that’s fine with us. If it goes, that’s fine, we could certainly use more space,” she said. ‘‘But either way, we’ve made plans to move forward that include [the community center] being there.”

Mark Wallis, county parks spokesman, will meet with the following neighborhoods to discuss their parks and recreation or community centers. Meetings have taken place at Garrett Park, Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Silver Spring and Clarksburg.

7 p.m. Nov. 14 at Norwood Local Park center, 4700 Norwood Drive, Bethesda

8 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Viers Mill Recreation Center, 4425 Garrett Park Road, Wheaton.

Upcoming community meetings with county parks department will be available at www.parkplanningandstewardship.org