(Sept. 29, 2016) Town Administrator Laura Allen sat in during a town parks commission meeting earlier this month to give a briefing on potential directions for the new Berlin Falls Park on Old Ocean City Boulevard.
Parks Commission Chairman Mike Wiley said he visited the site after Jeep Week to check on the condition of the area that was used during the event – a muddy celebration that included hundreds of jeeps driving over a temporary obstacle course built on the property.
The company behind Jeep Jam, Ocean City 4X4 LLC, paid the town $4,000 to lease the park for four days.
“I say hats off to Chris Cropper and his group, because they really cleaned it up nice,” Wiley said. “They gave me a ride around to inspect it and … they completely restored it. They did an excellent job.”
Asked whether that event would return next year, Allen said that depended on what kinds of developments were pursued at the park. She said the town had gotten feedback from the public during planning meetings last year, and that town staff also had discussions on various uses.
“We have a lot of interests that are competing in nature,” she said. “For example, I’m not sure that the park can really support Jeep Jam and nature activities. I think there’s some potential conflicts there.”
She said the town had been working with Jim Rapp and Conservation Community Consulting LLC, among others, while gathering ideas.
“He’s helping us identify what would be complimentary uses,” Allen said. “In the wide variety of suggestions people have made, what are the complimentary uses versus the conflicting uses? Part of why I’m here is I want to talk to the parks commission about just getting it on your radar screen in the coming months to talk about that.
“I think we’re already at the point with the park where we can start drilling down on uses and what are compatible versus what are in conflict. Ultimately, that will answer the question as to whether or not we can continue with the Jeep Jam,” Allen added. “We’re having some professionals look at it [and] I’m not sure how conducive that is to passive uses.”
Committee member Patricia Dufendach agreed there could be potential conflicts.
“It’s a choice. How do jeeps runs around with nesting birds and rare butterflies? It’s great if you can collect all those butterflies from the grills as they’re driving through,” she said with a laugh.
She added that there were also potential safety concerns with allowing vehicles to drive near the many ponds on the property.
Allen said the town was still working on restoring the quality of the ponds, which were once part of a Tyson’s Chicken processing plant. The Maryland Department of Environment inspected the property and Allen said the town did stop its work briefly as it waited to hear the department. She said its response was “was basically just follow the requirements of your permit.”
Two phases of environmental assessments have been completed and Allen said the town was “dealing with what we think are some potential environmental concerns with the ponds, which is mainly us being responsible.”
With the tentative name “Berlin Falls” being adopted, more of an emphasis was put on using the ponds in some fashion than was initially anticipated. As a result, the town is doing more in that area to insure the safety of the public.
“When that shifted, it became incumbent on us, I believe, to dig a little more deeply into the whole ponds [concept], and that’s what we’re doing right now,” Allen said.
If their health can be restored, activities such as kayaking and paddle boarding could take place there, Allen said.
Berlin also is working with volunteer scientists from the Thriving Earth Exchange, a Washington, D.C.-based collective that, with assistance from the American Geophysical Union, has access to more than 62,000 scientists who study the Earth and space.
Allen said the next step with Berlin Falls, likely coming toward the end of this year or early next year, would be a “discussion about what ultimately would we like to see there.”
“One of the things we were talking about in a staff meeting recently was … some policies that talk about structure and use and what’s appropriate. I think that’s where we kind of need to go next,” she said.
The town is also reviewing applications for a consulting position related to the park.
“The way we structured the position was as a contractual [one]. I think we had $40,000 in the budget,” Allen said. “The person wouldn’t be in the building working full time, but would be assigned specific tasks to accomplish, or goals to accomplish. They would be almost like a consultant, but a contractual employee.”
She said the main role of the position would be to “develop the park.”
“This conversation we’re talking about in terms of what’s the ultimate combination of uses – this person would be driving that,” Allen said. “If the decision was made to do a skateboard park, this person would be driving the development of a skateboard park. There’s been an interest expressed in having a train station – they would be driving the process around a train station.”
Allen said it has been difficult for her and other town staff to tackle their already large workloads and help develop the park at the same time.
The town finalized a $3 million deal to purchase the property in February, and the majority of the improvements there so far have been related to safety and cleanup of the grounds.
“What I asked the council to do was get some help so we can move that park development process along more quickly. Right now it’s just getting a fraction of my time,” Allen said.
“It’s going to be wonderful to see what can happen at Berlin Falls – but it’s going to take money,” Dufendach said. “Rehabilitation for the passive uses – the bird watching and the native plants, [those uses] are so complimentary. And it just makes it a beautiful place to walk, which is, of course, good for our health.”
Parks Commission Chairman Mike Wiley said he visited the site after Jeep Week to check on the condition of the area that was used during the event – a muddy celebration that included hundreds of jeeps driving over a temporary obstacle course built on the property.
The company behind Jeep Jam, Ocean City 4X4 LLC, paid the town $4,000 to lease the park for four days.
“I say hats off to Chris Cropper and his group, because they really cleaned it up nice,” Wiley said. “They gave me a ride around to inspect it and … they completely restored it. They did an excellent job.”
Asked whether that event would return next year, Allen said that depended on what kinds of developments were pursued at the park. She said the town had gotten feedback from the public during planning meetings last year, and that town staff also had discussions on various uses.
“We have a lot of interests that are competing in nature,” she said. “For example, I’m not sure that the park can really support Jeep Jam and nature activities. I think there’s some potential conflicts there.”
She said the town had been working with Jim Rapp and Conservation Community Consulting LLC, among others, while gathering ideas.
“He’s helping us identify what would be complimentary uses,” Allen said. “In the wide variety of suggestions people have made, what are the complimentary uses versus the conflicting uses? Part of why I’m here is I want to talk to the parks commission about just getting it on your radar screen in the coming months to talk about that.
“I think we’re already at the point with the park where we can start drilling down on uses and what are compatible versus what are in conflict. Ultimately, that will answer the question as to whether or not we can continue with the Jeep Jam,” Allen added. “We’re having some professionals look at it [and] I’m not sure how conducive that is to passive uses.”
Committee member Patricia Dufendach agreed there could be potential conflicts.
“It’s a choice. How do jeeps runs around with nesting birds and rare butterflies? It’s great if you can collect all those butterflies from the grills as they’re driving through,” she said with a laugh.
She added that there were also potential safety concerns with allowing vehicles to drive near the many ponds on the property.
Allen said the town was still working on restoring the quality of the ponds, which were once part of a Tyson’s Chicken processing plant. The Maryland Department of Environment inspected the property and Allen said the town did stop its work briefly as it waited to hear the department. She said its response was “was basically just follow the requirements of your permit.”
Two phases of environmental assessments have been completed and Allen said the town was “dealing with what we think are some potential environmental concerns with the ponds, which is mainly us being responsible.”
With the tentative name “Berlin Falls” being adopted, more of an emphasis was put on using the ponds in some fashion than was initially anticipated. As a result, the town is doing more in that area to insure the safety of the public.
“When that shifted, it became incumbent on us, I believe, to dig a little more deeply into the whole ponds [concept], and that’s what we’re doing right now,” Allen said.
If their health can be restored, activities such as kayaking and paddle boarding could take place there, Allen said.
Berlin also is working with volunteer scientists from the Thriving Earth Exchange, a Washington, D.C.-based collective that, with assistance from the American Geophysical Union, has access to more than 62,000 scientists who study the Earth and space.
Allen said the next step with Berlin Falls, likely coming toward the end of this year or early next year, would be a “discussion about what ultimately would we like to see there.”
“One of the things we were talking about in a staff meeting recently was … some policies that talk about structure and use and what’s appropriate. I think that’s where we kind of need to go next,” she said.
The town is also reviewing applications for a consulting position related to the park.
“The way we structured the position was as a contractual [one]. I think we had $40,000 in the budget,” Allen said. “The person wouldn’t be in the building working full time, but would be assigned specific tasks to accomplish, or goals to accomplish. They would be almost like a consultant, but a contractual employee.”
She said the main role of the position would be to “develop the park.”
“This conversation we’re talking about in terms of what’s the ultimate combination of uses – this person would be driving that,” Allen said. “If the decision was made to do a skateboard park, this person would be driving the development of a skateboard park. There’s been an interest expressed in having a train station – they would be driving the process around a train station.”
Allen said it has been difficult for her and other town staff to tackle their already large workloads and help develop the park at the same time.
The town finalized a $3 million deal to purchase the property in February, and the majority of the improvements there so far have been related to safety and cleanup of the grounds.
“What I asked the council to do was get some help so we can move that park development process along more quickly. Right now it’s just getting a fraction of my time,” Allen said.
“It’s going to be wonderful to see what can happen at Berlin Falls – but it’s going to take money,” Dufendach said. “Rehabilitation for the passive uses – the bird watching and the native plants, [those uses] are so complimentary. And it just makes it a beautiful place to walk, which is, of course, good for our health.”