Thanks to $5 million in capital funding from the state secured during the 2025 legislative session, Montgomery Parks can move ahead with renovating four parks across the county and push closer to fully funding the construction of the Action Sports Park in Wheaton Regional Park, according to department officials.
The sports park is a long-awaited update to the F. Frank Rubini Athletic Complex that will include a new skate park, bike skills track, climbing wall, adventure playground and more social gathering spaces, according to the parks department.
Before learning of the state funding approved during the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session, the parks department was expecting it would have to delay the projects due to a $2 million reduction in anticipated county bond funding for the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission. The commission oversees Montgomery Parks as well as the county’s Planning Board and planning department.
The reduction stems from County Executive Marc Elrich’s (D) revised affordability reconciliation for the commission. The revision delays the issuance of $2 million in general obligation bonds, $1.5 million of which will impact fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1.
Montgomery Parks Director Miti Figueredo told Bethesda Today last week that the $2 million reduction in funding for the department’s multi-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) would have resulted in further delaying construction of the Action Sports Park or changes to the project’s plan.
The funding reduction also would likely cause a delay in implementing other projects at Wheaton Regional Park recommended in the parks department’s master plan, according to Figueredo. In 2022, the Planning Board approved the 2022 Wheaton Regional Park Master Plan, which aims to guide future renovations at the 538-acre park for 15 to 20 years. According to Montgomery Parks, many of the park’s facilities were designed and constructed from 1960 to the 1980s.
According to Figueredo, the parks department was planning this year to begin improvements to sports courts in the Rubini complex and the conversion of tennis courts into pickleball courts. In addition, the department was planning utility and lighting upgrades in fiscal year 2026.
Figueredo said $3 million of the state capital funding will go toward the Action Sports Park project.
While the state funding is good news, the $3 million to be dedicated to the sports park project “doesn’t completely close gap” between available funding and what’s needed to build the project, she said. As much as another $5 million is needed and the funding gap could widen due to the “uncertain tariff situation,” she said.
In a press release announcing the state funding, Figueredo praised the county’s Maryland General Assembly delegation for supporting the parks department and securing funding to help it complete the projects.
“These grants aren’t a substitute for county bonds, which fund most of our Capital Improvements Program, but in a year when we’ve been asked by the county executive to cut $2 million for Wheaton Regional Park, we are very thankful for the additional funds,” Figueredo said.
On top of the state funding, Figueredo is hopeful that the County Council will restore the $2 million in anticipated bonds during its county operating budget deliberations to keep all parks projects “on track.” She told Bethesda Today that if the funding comes through from the council, the department can begin construction on the Action Sports Park in fiscal year 2028-2029, which would begin on July 1, 2027.
Members of the county Planning Board also expressed their disappointment and frustration with the reduction in county bond funding during an April 3 meeting attended by Figueredo and parks department officials.
Board Chair Artie Harris noted it was “disturbing” to hear about the reduction.
“As you know, and with my background in development, the longer you wait, the higher the costs go up. The more the costs go up, then you need more money, right?” Harris said. “So, it is a direct impact on getting these amenities that the residents want, when we said we were going to deliver them.”
In addition to the reduced bond funding, Montgomery Parks also has been grappling with what officials said was Elrich’s underfunding of the department’s spending plan in his fiscal year 2026 county budget proposal. In a March 21 letter to council President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4), Figueredo said Elrich’s budget underfunded employee compensation and failed to fund increases to cover maintenance of new parks, debt service and inflationary increases.
However, Elrich announced this week that he will be amending his proposed $7.65 billion county operating budget after his staff “inadvertently underfunded the amount necessary to fully fund the Parks Department’s employee contract obligations” by $1 million, according to a letter he sent Tuesday to Stewart.
Reasons for delay in county bond funding
Scott Peterson, Elrich’s spokesperson, said in an early April statement to Bethesda Today that “reductions in revenue projections” led to a reduction in CIP funding for all government and quasi-government agencies, including the parks department. The reduced revenue projections can partly be attributed to the County Council’s recent passage of legislation that changed the timeline for the collection of development impact taxes from developers for projects under construction, Peterson said. Those taxes will now be due at the final inspection of a completed structure instead of possibly earlier.
Elrich, who opposed the change, attempted to veto the legislation, but the council unanimously voted in favor to override his veto in early March.
Peterson also said a $13.7 million decrease in county recordation taxes resulted in reductions “in the early years” of the county’s current six-year CIP period. The nearly $6 billion for fiscal years 2025-2030 was approved in 2024.
Figueredo said it was disappointing that Elrich had recommended the reduction in bond funding for the parks department during an “off year” for the CIP.
“We were very surprised to find out at the same time that we got our operating budget recommendation, that we were being asked to take a $2 million cut to our CIP,” Figueredo said.
In addition, Figueredo noted the $3 million in state capital funding would have gone a long way toward funding the construction of the Action Sports Park if it weren’t for the reduction in anticipated county bond funding. “If we hadn’t gotten that cut … this gap that we have to fill in order to get the project fully funded – so that we know we can begin building all of it over the next few years – would have been much, much smaller,” she said.
Other park projects to be funded
With $3 million in state capital funding to be spent on the sports park, the remaining $2 million will support projects at four parks across the county. According to the release announcing the state funding, here’s how the money will be spent:
- $828,000 will go toward redeveloping New Hampshire Estates Neighborhood Park in Silver Spring. Accessibility improvements, a new playground, picnic shelter, urban plaza and an updated athletic field are planned;
- $500,000 will help fund the construction of a new skatepark at Centerway Local Park in Montgomery Village;
- $400,000 will go toward replacing the playground at Dalewood Drive Neighborhood Park in Silver Spring; and
- $275,000 will pay for the design and construction of a playground renovation at Calverton Galway Park in Fairland.
