The St. Mary’s County Commissioners on Tuesday approved additional monies so the planned expansion of the Fifth District Park can move ahead. The additional $78 thousand will be used so a bid can be accepted to build three milti-purpose fields at the park on Route 6 in Charlotte Hall.
The park is located between Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School and the solid waste transfer station. Recreation and Parks Director Phil Rollins told the commissioners that the front of the school can be used for parking by people using the park. A parking lot enlargement at the school was in also in the works.
Rollins said that he didn’t expect usage to increase. He said teams are using the park now, but on inferior fields. Those activities would be shifted to the new fields.
The increased monies for the project, which is in the county’s capital budget, were shifted from several others projects which have come in under budget, so the county’s reserve didn’t have to be tapped. “All we are doing is putting it (the money) in to a project that needs to be done,” Rollins said. The extra monies will pave the way for the construction bid to be awarded and for the work to proceed..
