CGCA Speech at Mayor &
Council:
December 19, 2005
Mayor Giammo, Council Members Dorsey, Robbins, Hoffmann, and Marcuccio,
My name is Mark Pierzchala. I am the President of the College Gardens Civic
Association.
I have been looking forward all year to coming before Mayor and Council to
talk about the efforts of College Gardens neighbors with respect to Low Impact
Storm Water Management initiatives.
I greatly praise these neighbors. The neighborhood came round in wonderful
fashion. Over 50 families participated one way or another. Paul O’Brien,
Jeanne Fuchs, Carol Hall and others spent hundreds of hours on this initiative
in 2005, as did Civic Association officers. A few of these neighbors are here
tonight and I’d like them to stand up and be recognized.
Neighbors installed 9 rain gardens, over 100 rain barrels, and attended three
workshops. The Association sponsored a “Meet Watts Branch” educational
walk in the woods, and published a special newsletter on Storm Water Management.
The rain barrels proved to be popular and over the years we could distribute
many, many more. The 9 rain gardens are but a bare start in satisfying interest
expressed by about 40 other families.
Our Storm Water Management efforts this past year were demonstrations. These
Low Impact Design efforts were never intended to compete with a Storm Water
Management Facility in the Park. We view Low Impact Design techniques as complimentary
technologies. As demonstrations, our efforts in 2005 were greatly successful.
They provided us with the opportunity to learn about these technologies. They
were ill suited, in our view, to provide the basis of cost/benefit comparisons
to a facility in the park.
Our working relationships with DPW staff were good. On the other hand, there
was a large learning curve for us concerning the procurement process. There
was a breakdown in this process in August. Our contractor was in the yards,
digging the gardens, when they were ordered to stop. We lost many weeks. A
subsequent procurement for plants was delayed until late November and some
neighbors were planting them in early December, in the dark, two days before
the first snow. Good grief!
I was shocked at last week's presentation by the Department of Public Works
in which DPW brought forward the idea of using the Park for storm water management.
We were caught by surprise. This incident exemplifies our past relationship
with the City with respect to Storm Water Management.
We have never felt that we were partners. Some of us believe that the City
focuses too much on traditional SWM methods at the expense of almost everything
else. Several LID techniques and other ideas advanced by neighbors over the
years have been shot down. We hear “No, no” so many times; we
start to feel like we’re misbehaving kids.
We, as a community, have come to recognize that the situation with the College
Gardens Park is substantially different than it was 4 to 6 years ago:
The whole park, and perhaps some MCPS school land, can now be considered together
in a unified concept for park, recreation, and SWM,
The City is willing to start with a blank sheet of paper and to work with
the community on concept and design,
The rebuilding of the elementary school in 2006 presents opportunities,
The City has named Marylou Berg, Assistant to the City Manager, as liaison
with the CGCA making it possible to work with a coordinated city staff and
with the authority of the City Manager's Office.
When we, as a community, consider what is best for the neighborhood not only
now but for the next 30 years, we come to the conclusion that now is a golden
opportunity. We should try to get all that we can out of it.
Thus we will work with the City on concept and design for the College Gardens
Park. We will give the City the chance to prove that they can include the
neighborhood as true partners and further, that they're willing to work from
a blank sheet of paper.
Let me now address the neighbors in College Gardens. The use of parkland as
a storm water management facility does not mean that we lose a park. It may
mean that the park will be configured differently and that we'll have a different
kind of pond. There is a good chance we'll get something better. Parks wear
out and they need to be renovated every 2 or 3 decades.
We regret the implication in last week’s presentation that the City
can work only on one kind of project and not the other. We call on the City
to reconsider LID innovations elsewhere in the neighborhood that would compliment
the park project. This neighborhood can be a model for total SWM.
We are thus willing to work with the City on other SWM techniques, including
ground water recharge and projects in the woods. There is much in the neighborhood
that the park project won’t address.Thank you,
Mark Pierzchala
President, College Gardens Civic Association
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