Roxhill Park safety, Barton CSO update @ WWRHAH council meeting

Following up on last month’s meeting (WSB coverage here), the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council last night continued its discussion of Roxhill Park safety improvements. The line-of-sight blockage caused by Metro buses on SW Barton remains a major concern, as does the lack of light in the park – note our photo above, taken early this evening by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand, who was at last night’s WWRHAH meeting. One of the ideas that has picked up steam: Lights around part of the park’s perimeter. WWRHAH president Amanda Kay Helmick said she had talked with Chris Arkills, transportation adviser to County Executive Dow Constantine, about the possibility of at least illuminating Barton in the bus-stop areas. The park’s restroom/playground areas would be an area of focus, too. New Department of Neighborhoods district coordinator Jenny Frankl talked with the council about grants they might pursue for the park.

Another major item on the agenda: The latest on the Barton Combined Sewer Overflow control project. Mary Wohleb from the county Wastewater Treatment Division briefed WWRHAH, saying gas-line and tree-transplanting work is done. Work is still to come for the heart of the project, building raingardens/bioswales starting next year in planting strips along 15 blocks (see the map here). The county will maintain those raingardens, she explained, and has already worked on timetables of general and seasonal maintenance. Attendee Rory Denovan told Wohleb that the county should consider more native plants for the raingardens, saying that some of the plants mentioned on the project website are non-native and invasive. The county announced last week that it’s chosen a general contractor for the $5 million project, Goodfellow Brothers; the next round of public meetings is planned for January 23rd and 25th. Project planning and community discussion have been under way for more than four years; our earliest reports are from fall 2009.

For more notes from the WWRHAH meeting, check out secretary Joe Szilagyi‘s detailed summary on the WWRHAH website.

1 Reply to "Roxhill Park safety, Barton CSO update @ WWRHAH council meeting "

  • JoB December 5, 2013 (6:40 am)

    i love the idea of lights in the bus stop area and the restrooms…
    i would also like to see them along the path that connects the bus stop to the housing to the south of the park

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