Ramping Things Up on Gwynn Oak Avenue

A quarter acre and two apple trees. It's a blank slate for the Graystone Community Association, which represents neighborhoods on either side of its borders, including Broadacres and Carlynn Heights.

NeighborSpace purchased the land in 2009 and the Graystone Community Association formed to unite the above-named neighborhoods through activities on the site.  The group has had no shortage of ideas, hosting farmers markets ...

... and movie nights, wherein the apple trees support a painter's tarp for a projection screen,  just to name a few of the association's activities.

The picture is rosy one but for a steep, three-foot grade change beginning at street level that puts the site off-limits for some community members, without a very sturdy helping hand.  Wanting to support the Graystone Community Association's efforts to program the site, NeighborSpace began looking at ways to make access easier in 2013.  In 2014, a landscape architecture student from Morgan State University produced a preliminary design and in 2016 NeighborSpace bid the project.

Shown below is work completed from December 2016 to date and supported through the open-space waiver fee funding that comes to NeighborSpace when contractors can't meet the requirement of providing 1,000 square feet of open space per new development unit in the county.

Some may ask why we undertake such projects. The simple answer is that undertaking them is at the heart of our mission. Well-improved open space helps people stay active, encourages interactions with one's neighbors, helps to reduce crime, and tends to raise the real estate values of properties nearby. The investment is typically a "win-win" for all involved, which is why we considered this effort so worthy of our focus. We look forward to activities on the site in 2017 and to seeing many more residents of Carlynn Heights and Broadacres in attendance!