Walkersville getting $238K in grant money to revamp parks
Oct. 4—Walkersville will get $237,635 in state grant money to spruce up the Walkersville Community Park and Heritage Farm Park.
At Walkersville Community Park, the money will help redo and expand the parking lot, Commissioner Mary Ann Brodie-Ennis said during a town meeting Thursday night.
"Since we have put in the new playground equipment, that parking lot seems to get filled pretty quickly, especially on weekends," she said.
Some of the paths at the Heritage Farm Park will also get redone, since they are starting to get worn from the tree roots pushing through, she said.
"The Department of Public Works will check out the paths and see where the worst parts are and go from there," Brodie-Ennis said.
Additionally, the city will create shaded areas around the parks with the grant money, since community members have been requesting it.
The money is coming from the Local Parks and Playground Infrastructure (LPPI) grant with the state's Department of Natural Resources.
This year, the state awarded Frederick County $5.5 million, half of which goes to Frederick County Parks and Recreation, Brodie-Ennis said in an interview Tuesday morning.
The other half — $2,750,000 — is split between municipalities, she said. Municipalities that wanted LPPI money had to submit requests to the county by May.
On Sept. 22, Brodie-Ennis and Burgess Chad Weddle attended a Maryland Municipal League meeting with all nine municipalities that requested LPPI money, and were told that Walkersville will get all of the money it requested.
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