Takoma-Piney Branch Park Renovation on Schedule

The renovation of the 30-year-old Takoma-Piney Branch Park is on schedule and is expected to be completed by Spring 2012. When complete it will feature sculptures by an internationally recognized artist, said a spokesperson for the Montgomery County Department of Parks, which is rejuvenating the recreation area.

The Takoma-Piney Branch Park—which is on Grant Avenue adjacent to Piney Branch Elementary School—“is badly in need of refurbishment,” said the county parks department, which is overseeing the renovation of the 17.4-acre park. The project was approved and adopted in the 2000 Takoma Park Master Plan, and the Montgomery County Council approved funding for the park’s renovation.

In 2005, the Montgomery County Planning Board approved a facility plan for the park, according to Kelli Holsendolph, the media relations manager for the county parks department. The plan maintains the existing ball fields; replaces existing basketball courts and playground; adds a playground next to the school; converts a tennis court to a skateboard park; provides a loop path; natural surface trails and pedestrian connections; improves an entrance plaza and parking lot at Darwin Avenue; provides handicapped parking and maintenance access at Grant Avenue; constructs a new shelter; and enhances wetland areas.

In addition, the project will include public art created by sculptor Judy Sutton Moore, Holsendolph said. Moore’s sculpture—The Takoma Trees—was selected through a competitive bidding process by a public art review panel through the Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council.

Sutton Moore said she is producing two 20-feet tall, stainless steel trees that will be erected at the Grant Avenue entrance to the park. “They (the sculptures) will form a type of gateway to the park at the top of the stairs, that are going to be put in, as well as a ramp,” she said.

Because Takoma Park “is very proud of its trees,” Sutton Moore said she was inspired to create trees for the entrance. “I don’t live in Takoma Park, but I live about a block from the line, so we do a lot of shopping and activities in Takoma Park,” she said, adding. “I’m very familiar with Takoma Park, and I do know that the trees are quite valuable to the people there.”

The Takoma-Piney Branch Park “has the uniqueness of being totally surrounded by trees,” she said. “It has this forest area around it, so there’s only one major entrance, there’s a minor entrance on Darwin Avenue, so I thought it (the sculptures) was a way to express and honor the feelings of Takoma Park’s residents.”

Within the tree’s branches will be prisms, so as the sun shines on the prisms “there will be little rainbows reflected on the ground and the surrounding area, Sutton Moore said. Because the sun is moving, the color patterns reflected by the prisms will move as well, “so they are ever moving and casting rainbows on the ground,” she said.