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Franchot tours 100-acre park parcel near Cordova
By KELLEY L. ALLEN Staff Writer
CORDOVA Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot gave the recent donation of 40
acres next to an almost 67-acre protected plot an A-plus Tuesday afternoon after
touring the site with local officials.
In 2007, Maryland's Board of Public Works, which includes Franchot, approved
Program Open Space funds for a $1.8 million purchase of 66.96 acres at 30380
Norwich Creek Drive from William and Lisa Fleetwood. That site includes 22
wooded acres along Norwich Creek and the Tuckahoe River and had a high threat of
development until that purchase.
Three years later, Talbot County Parks and
Recreation Director Rick Towle said the Moore Family Partnership of Queen Anne
donated 40 acres adjacent to that property, which brought the total protected
space at that north end of the county to 107 acres.
On Tuesday afternoon, Franchot, along with Easton Mayor Robert C. Willey,
Del. Adelaide Eckardt, R-37B-Dorchester, Talbot County Councilman Philip Carey
Foster and Harry Rieck III, who is on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
and is vying for a county council seat, toured part of the site with
Towle.
Towle explained how the property meanders up past a bridge that connects
Hillsboro and Queen Anne and up to a Caroline County landing. He then spread out
a blueprint for the site that included: a meadow restoration, a community
garden, a living ditch line, organic farming using Best Management Practices,
pavilions, land and water trails, a nature center, an amphitheater and a place
for canoeing and kayaking.
So far, Towle has secured a permit for an access road and for parking placed
far away from the site's critical areas. And the living ditch project, Towle
said, would serve as a pilot for the county.
Towle said the space has the most waterfront of the county's 29 protected
sites (689 acres total) and his priority there is an access point for the public
to start interacting with the park, which could happen by late fall.
"This is money well spent," said Franchot. "This is just what the state
wants. I give it an A+ for innovation, creativity and
forward-thinking."
County officials secured $45,000 last fiscal year in open space funds for the
property and another $90,000 in the upcoming fiscal year. While the county has
had the land since 2007, Towle waited until the donation to start design work
there.
Public input is part of the process, he said, and the department will make
suggestions then ask what the public wants. Willey, who once worked at a cannery
on the property, said he is happy with anything that keeps open space.
Franchot started his day in Ocean City at the Maryland Municipal League
conference, then stopped in Crisfield before coming here. After the tour, he had
visits scheduled in Annapolis and later in Prince George's County.
