WORK SESSION OF THE GREENBELT CITY COUNCIL held Wednesday, March 30, 2005, for the purpose of holding a stakeholder meeting with representatives of Greenbelt Park.

Mayor Davis called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m. in the Senior Classroom of the Community Center.

PRESENT WERE: Councilmembers Konrad E. Herling, Leta M. Mach, Rodney M. Roberts, and Mayor Judith F. Davis.

STAFF PRESENT WERE: David Moran, Assistant City Manager; and Kathleen Gallagher, City Clerk.

ALSO PRESENT WERE: Gayle Hazelwood, Superintendent, National Capital Parks-East; Fred Cunningham, Manager of Greenbelt Park; Major Dorsey, Assistant Manager, Greenbelt Park; Sheldon Goldberg, Advisory Planning Board; and Al Geiger, Greenbelt News Review.

Introduction of New Superintendent: Ms. Hazelwood provided some information about her own 22 years of experience with the National Park Service, including having served as Assistant Superintendent prior to John Hale’s retirement last year. She described the large area encompassed by “National Capital Parks-East,” of which Greenbelt Park is only one of 14 sites. Mayor Davis praised the publication she had received recently from National Capital Parks-East about their programs and activities. Ms. Hazelwood said she had initiated the publication when she became superintendent last fall.

Protection of Federal Lands: Mayor Davis said the City is always concerned about rumors that the federal government will sell parcels of land from the Greenbelt Park, BARC, or NASA properties. Ms. Hazelwood said it is not always the case that the decision-makers fully understand the value of the services provided by Greenbelt Park. She said the park is not only a national asset but an asset to the City of Washington, a fact that she tries to share with Mayor Williams, and she does not think the federal government will attempt to de-authorize it. She said she thinks of the sites of National Capital Park-East as a portal for children in Washington.

Camp Grounds: Mayor Davis asked about use of the camping area. Mr. Cunningham said there are 174 sites, and they have to use a reservation system beginning Memorial Day. He said they are always full on holidays. They are inexpensive ($14/night for a maximum of 14 nights), but they have no utility hook-ups. They do have restrooms and showers. Regarding metro connections, he said people can catch the bus on Good Luck Road, but they are warned that the trails are not lighted if they return after dark. Later, the Mayor asked if the stories were true that there were homeless people living in the park. Mr. Cunningham said there were, especially on the Good Luck Road side. He said they had had to turn the heat off in the restrooms because people were staying there and doing damage.

Friends Community School: Major Dorsey said the park is planning to so some interpretive programs with their science teachers, but everything is tentative until the school is actually open. They do plan to make available a demonstration project to allow the park staff to explain the straw-bale construction process. He said one serious problem is that the school will have to hook into the sewer line that runs under the park from Westchester Park. This line has been leaking and is in need of major repair to bring it up to code. He said WSSC is working with Westchester Park, but WSSC will not take responsibility for it until it is brought up to code. Ms. Hazelwood said if necessary they might call on the City for assistance in resolving this.

Mr. Roberts asked what had happened to the southern part of the former Jaeger tract, where the state had done some dumping. Mr. Cunningham said the state and the previous park management had not seen eye-to-eye, with the result that no remediation has ever been done, and the land has been left alone to grow naturally. Mr. Roberts said that was fine with him.

Programs with the Schools: Mr. Dorsey said they had “adopted” at various times and done programming with Yorktown, Magnolia, and Berwyn Heights elementary schools. Greenbelt’s schools have not indicated an interest in participating, but they have worked with the Adult Day Care Center. Ms. Mach suggested that they consider doing something with the Greenbelt Nursery School, which does participate in programs with the Adult Day Care Center as well.

Volunteer Programs: Mayor Davis suggested that members of Citizens to Conserve and Restore Indian Creek (CCRIC) might be interested in assisting with trail work. Mr. Cunningham said they had worked with students seeking community service credits. Mr. Moran said he would add the park to the list of community service opportunities kept in the City office. Ms. Hazelwood said that they are also equipped to use participants in youth offender programs for trail work.

Mayor Davis thanked them for coming. She expressed how very important the park is to Greenbelt and encouraged them to let the City know if there was any assistance they needed. Ms. Hazelwood said she appreciated the invitation to the meeting and would be happy to come back to talk with other City groups if that would be helpful.

Other Business

Ms. Gallagher distributed registration materials for the MML annual meeting and said the deadline for lower rates is April 15. She also confirmed that Council wished to go to GHI for their stakeholder meeting in June.

Mayor Davis reported on a meeting she had with Mayor Calvo but said she would not be submitting a written report since nothing of significance was discussed.

After brief discussion of several other informational items, the meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Gallagher

City Clerk

City of Greenbelt, Maryland
City Offices, 25 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Phone: 301-474-8000 FAX: 301-441-8248