Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007

Residents ask county to spare rec center

Officials plan to replace old Clarksburg building within six years

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Brian Lewis⁄The Gazette
Patrons of the Clarksburg recreation center fear it will be demolished or used by another county department to make way for a new center. Local groups that use the center regularly include the Clarksburg Seniors, (standing, left to right) Joann Woodson, Helena Hawkins, Rita Royster, Jopi Heeres, Margaret Williams and Evelyn Ripoli, and (seated, left to right) John Nazarian, Katie Harper and Betty Hawkins.
Some area residents are concerned by the Park and Planning Commission’s announcement that the Clarksburg recreation center might be demolished or transferred to another county department within the next six years.

The center, officially known as Clarksburg Neighborhood Park, was built in 1969 and is located at 22501 Wims Road, which is directly across from Clarksburg High School.

A new 33,000-square-foot recreation center is coming to Clarksburg within six years and Park and Planning would like the Department of Recreation to consider placing the new building at the site of the current recreation center.

‘‘We think, from a planning point of view, the proximity to the schools makes it a desirable site,” Lyn Coleman, trail planning supervisor for the Park and Planning Commission, said.

Coleman attended the Clarksburg Civic Association meeting Monday night to gauge the community’s reaction to the possible transfer or demolition of the recreation center.

Park and Planning analyzed the condition and usage of 31 county recreation buildings and determined that five of them — including the one in Clarksburg — should be considered for either transfer or demolition. Officials said the Clarksburg building is underutilized.

The maximum amount of time the recreation center could have been rented was 4,000 hours in 2006, Coleman said. But the building was only rented 23 percent of that time, or 920 hours, she said.

The county Department of Recreation was the most frequent user of the recreational center, accounting for 44 percent of the time it was used in 2006.

The expense of keeping the building open in 2006 was $12,000 more than the revenue generated, Coleman said. The building also needs $5,000 worth of repairs, she said.

Park and Planning’s analysis of the 31 recreation buildings was presented to the Planning Board in June and public meetings will be held regarding the five buildings over the next few months.

Jeffrey Bourne, chief of the recreation department’s community service division, said the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan indicates the new recreation center should be located at Ovid Hazen Wells Park, which is less centrally located. The park is on the eastern edge of the town, at 12001 Skylark Road.

The recreation department will make the final decision regarding the location of the new recreation center after studying the issue, he said.

Joann Woodson, director of Clarksburg Seniors, said her group has been meeting at the Clarksburg recreation center for 32 years. Graduation parties, family reunions and Boy Scout meetings also have been held at the building on a regular basis, she said.

‘‘I see a lot of activities that go on at the community center,” Woodson said. ‘‘It is hard to believe it is underutilized.”

Woodson said she does not want the recreation center to be demolished because the community helped build the building and it means a lot to the community. If a new building must be located on that site, then it should become an addition to the existing center, she said.

Wilson Wims, 91, a longtime Clarksburg resident who played an integral role in its history, hired a contractor to help build the Clarksburg recreation center in the late 1960s. Wims, who coached and owned the Maryland Wildcats, an African-American baseball team in the early 20th century, was a builder, master carpenter and brick mason.

Kathie Hulley, president of the Clarksburg Civic Association, also said the recreation center should stay because it has so many historical ties to the community.

She also said that she has found it difficult to reach the appropriate county departments to rent the recreation center in the past and that might have caused the building to become underutilized. Clarksburg residents have said that if the process for renting the building were easier, then more people might be using the building, Hulley said.

‘‘We don’t want it destroyed,” she said. ‘‘Wilson Wims is responsible for building that building. It is a building Clarksburg owes to Wilson Wims.”

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