County still weighing options for Hillandale rec building

But parks officials said the study was just one part of a system-wide look at the park system to determine what improvements were needed and should be funded.

‘‘All we have done so far is gone to our Planning Board to request to talk to you all. They want to know what’s going on and they want to know what people want,” Hench said. ‘‘We’re hoping to get from you [the] word that you’re willing to work with us.”

Hench and other parks officials attended the association’s monthly meeting to discuss the study done over the summer about the status and use of 31 small and medium-size recreation centers in the county. The Hillandale building, actually two buildings put together, was last remodeled in 1985, said Mark Wallis, a senior park planner.

Residents are opposed to demolition, noting the park building is widely used, including by startup churches. Eileen Finnegan, vice president of the citizens association, brought to the meeting a sign from a party held in the building the previous weekend. Finnegan and a handful of residents also met with Wallis during the summer after the report was released.

‘‘There is a connection that the community feels with the building,” Finnegan said, calling it a ‘‘small gem.”

The study was only the first step in the review process, determining each building’s usage and future maintenance costs, Wallis said. The study also was done in connection with a comprehensive infrastructure review at all county facilities, he said.

‘‘We’re looking at the park as a whole,” Wallis said. ‘‘It’s throwing everything into a stew and seeing what comes out in the end.”

For the Hillandale residents, that means considering the need for public gathering space as two schools in the neighborhood and less than a mile from the park undergo renovations. Francis Scott Key Middle School is closed now through August 2009 and Cresthaven Elementary School is scheduled to close at the end of 2008 for more than a year. Hillandale is also at the top of the parks department’s list of projects for the county’s next Capital Improvements Program, scheduled for 2009, Wallis said.

All of these factors will be considered as parks officials determine the best solution for the park based on the available choices and costs, Wallis said.

‘‘It’s easy just to ask the [County] Council for money,” he said. ‘‘The tough thing is to look at all of the available options and talk with the community about them.”

Residents acknowledged a new park building may prove too costly, but urged parks officials to maintain the existing one. As for the park, residents wanted to see it ‘‘spruced up,” its playground equipment repaired and regular maintenance work performed. They also said the park’s lot is often filled with county police cruisers and parks department vehicles, limiting resident access, something Wallis said he would investigate.

Wallis encouraged residents to contact him with a ‘‘shopping list” of items they want to see at the park.

‘‘Sometimes you can add up the small things and make a big difference,” he said.

The Planning Board is scheduled to make a decision on the recreation center at Hillandale and other parks in the study in February, Wallis said.